Best+Practices


 * Group # 3 Best Practices**

**//Teacher//**

 * Expert experience suggests that the instructor of an online course use a multiple array of communication tools such as: **announcements, discussion board postings, forums** and **emails**, to communicate to students. Often in a face-to-face course communication happens in a multitude of ways. Intellectual and personal bonds are formed. With multiple communication strategies used this can be created in an online course.
 * Other aspects of instructor responsibility with online delivery is: **give prompt feedback on projects**, **clear expectations**, and **time limits**.
 * The **Online Rooms**, a web conferencing tool, can function be used to hold question and answer secession and other live interaction with students. This allows students and a faculty member to meet online synchronously where they can talk via a microphone, share a computer screen, chat, and other options. Instead of online office hours you students, any questions they have will try to be addressed/responded to with a day. You can also leave the opportunity for students to contact you to arrange for an individual online meeting. You can use a web conferencing tool to facilitate this or if that will be too much for the student, exchange an "old fashioned" telephone number and talk it through :-)

**//Course Community//**

 * Through a short video introduction you can share your approach to teaching, the content of the course and how everyone will build a learning environment together on line.
 * EXAMPLE In an online Math course, I believe majority of students are afraid of mathematics and statistics. I usually ask students why they have math or statistics anxiety, and students can utilize a**n individual discussion section** set up to respond. By observing the reasons, I will respond to each student in the discussion. I will assure them that I do my best to avoid mathematical issues as much as possible, and will simply focus on the real applications of these concepts. I also try to assess the self-confident each one of my students. I do this by simply asking them to express their own assessment of self-confidence. Online classes need to provide an environment that promotes students' self-confidence.


 * To help get to know your students and have them know one another you may want to start the course with a segment that both gives students a chance to create something personal and introduces them to the course community.
 * EXAMPLE an Elementary Methods in Art course you could begin with an Introductions Unit. First experience is creating a mixed media collage about themselves. Secondly, each student will write a reflection which discusses the PROCESS of making the collage’ as they experienced it and finally a favorite story from their life will be written and posted.
 * **A list of prompts** (i.e. What makes them laugh; what is they have gleaned from education: why they are becoming teachers) to help stimulate their ideas and other parameters for the collage and reflection will be listed on the homepage. A variety of media approaches and some instruction on collage will be given in a **power poin**t or **video** posted on the course site with a**n audio voice**-over discussing the techniques illustrated.
 * Students will post a **jpeg** of their collage and their reflection and story in a discussion labeled “Introductions”.
 * The last part of this first assignment will be using guidelines-posting their response to at least five or more student introductions.
 * This beginning will include prompts of expressing what is important about education and why they are becoming teachers. It will lead into the first course topic of the “Rationale for art in the core curriculum” of K-12 schools. It will also act as an example to examine the second topic “Creativity” as the students look back to their own creative process in completing the Introduction assignment.

**BUILDING AN ON-LINE COURSE**

 * 1) The first step in creating an on-line course is to create a skeleton outline of your course. This should include the content and learning objectives you want met in the course. The outline can be done on a D2L site or the on-line delivery method available to you.
 * 2) Now examine the units or topic sections in the course and try to break them up into “chunks”: smaller segments of each major goal or topic area. On-line delivery will require you to create **short segments of content** (Chunks)with **interactive or individual exercises** to keep the learner engaged, and for the instructor to **check for understanding** as the course continues.