1. The Online Teaching
Survival Guide
Judith Boettcher and Rita-Marie Conrad
Steve Thompson
EDUC 632 Use of Telecurricular Instruction
Fall 2011
2. “A course is a set of learning
experiences within a specified
time frame, often between six
and fifteen weeks, in which
learners, mentored by an
instructor, are expected to
develop a specific set of
knowledge, skills, and attitudes”.
Teaching Online – the Big Picture
3. 5 major differences between online and
campus courses:
1. The faculty role shifts to mentoring and
coaching.
2. Meetings are asynchronous.
3. Learners are more active.
4. Learning resources and spaces are more
flexible.
5. Assessment is continuous.
Teaching Online – the Big Picture
4. Types of Online Courses:
1. Web facilitated – up to 30%
delivered online
2. Blended/Hybrid – between 30
and 80 % delivered online
3. Online – 80% or more delivered
online
Teaching Online – the Big Picture
5. The four stages of a course:
Phase One – Course Beginnings
Learner – familiarity with course
requirements
Mentor – establish trust, promote social
presence, state expectations
Content Knowledge – access to required
resources
Environment – learners know how to use the
learning tools of the course
Teaching Online – the Big Picture
6. Phase Two: Early Middle
Learner – weekly rhythm: readings, postings,
collaborating
Mentor – guiding the learning of core
concepts, supporting community, balance
coverage of content with understanding
Content Knowledge – exploring, engaging,
and identifying resources
Environment – Community settled into a
routine
Teaching Online – the Big Picture
7. Phase Three: Late Middle
Learner – applying core concepts, supporting
and challenging others
Mentor – personalized instruction, support
learners as leaders, mentoring, providing
feedback
Content Knowledge – creating and sharing:
blogs, wikis, projects, etc.
Environment – active use of course tools,
sharing with the community
Teaching Online – the Big Picture
8. Phase Four: Closing Weeks
Learner – demonstrated knowledge of core
concepts through complex projects and
assignments
Mentor – continues teaching presence,
supporting learner projects, clarifying course
wrap-up activities
Content Knowledge – application of core
content beyond the basics
Environment – Learners effectively evaluate
tools based on need
Teaching Online – the Big Picture
9. Learning Theories and Theorists:
Theory of Social Development – Vygotsky
Experimental Learning – Dewey
Genetic Epistemology – Piaget
Constructivism – Bruner
Cognitive Apprenticeship – Brown
Schema Theory - Schank
Teaching Online – the Big Picture
10. Ten Core Learning Principles
Every structured learning experience has
four elements with the learner at the center.
Learners bring their own personalized and
customized knowledge, skills, and attitudes
to the experience.
Faculty members are the directors of the
learning experience.
All learners do not need to learn all course
content: all learners do need to learn the
core concepts
Theoretical Foundations
11. Ten Core Learning Principles
continued
Every learning experience includes the
environment or context in which the learner
interacts
Every learner has a zone of proximal
development that defines the space that a
learner is ready to develop into useful
knowledge
Concepts are not words but organized and
interconnected knowledge clusters
Theoretical Foundations
12. Ten Core Learning Principles
continued
Different instruction is required for
different learning outcomes
Everything else being equal, more time on
task equals more learning
We shape our tools and out tools shape us
Theoretical Foundations
13. Be present at the course site
Create a supportive online course community
Develop a set of explicit expectations for your
learners and yourself as to how you will
communicate and how much time students
should be working on the course each week.
Use a variety of large group, small group,
and individual work experiences
Use synchronous and asynchronous activities
Ten Best Practices for Teaching
Online
14. Ask for informal feedback early in the term
Prepare discussion posts that invite
responses, questions, discussions, and
reflections
Search out and use content resources that
are available in digital format if possible
Combine core concept learning with
customized and personalized learning
Plan a good closing and wrap activity for each
course
Ten Best Practices for Teaching
Online
15. The essential course elements of an online
course
How not to lose the first week
How an online syllabus is different
Launching the social presence in your course
Getting to know students minds individually
Getting into the swing of the course
The why and how of discussion boards
Characteristics of good discussion questions
Managing and evaluating discussion postings
The faculty role in the first weeks
Tips forCourse Beginnings
16. Tools for communicating
Learning and course management systems
Weekly rhythm
Early feedback loop from learners to you
Early feedback tools
The why and how of group projects within online
courses
Sharing the teaching and learning
Promoting peer interaction and community with
learner to learner dialogue and teaming
Tips for the Early Middle
17. Continued
Online classrooms and tools for synchronous
collaboration
Using audio and visual resources to create a
more engaging and effective course
A good discussion post has three parts
Discussion wraps
Getting an early start on cognitive presence
Launching projects that matter to the learner
Tips for the Early Middle
18. Questions and answers
Three techniques for making your students
knowledge visible
Moving beyond knowledge integration to defining
problems and finding solutions
Simple rules about feedback in online learning
Feedback on assignments
Reshaping learning habits of online students
Customizing and personalizing learning
Tips for the Late Middle
19. Continued
Managing and facilitating group projects
Assessing group projects
A rubric for analyzing critical thinking
Four effective practices during project times
Souped-up conversations that help build up
community
Using social networking techniques to build a
learning community
A touch of spice
Tips for the Late Middle
20. Authentic problem solving
Using what-if scenarios
Stimulating and comfortable comaraderie
Learners as leaders
A strategy for capturing course content
meaningfully
Pausing, reflecting, and pruning strategies
Wrapping up a course with style
Stories and suggestions for closing experiences
Debriefing techniques with students
Tips for the Closing Weeks
21. 1. Just do your best
2. It’s kind of fun to do the
impossible
3. Begin with the end in mind
Advice from Those who have been
There