Category: Best Practices

Quality Evaluative Feedback [INFOGRAPHIC]

Providing feedback on students’ work is a great opportunity to forge a personal connection with students in online courses.

Check out this infographic created by the UW-Stout E-Learning and Online Teaching Certificate Program for tips on how to write effective and personal evaluative comments.

49 Ideas for Online Learning Activities

For a resource of ideas for online educational activities, check out the Online Teaching Activity Index from the Illinois Online Network.

The website suggests 49 activities that can be used in either online or hybrid courses, including some creative activities such as Internet Scavenger Hunt, Concept Mapping, Fishbowl, and Socratic Dialogue.

Active Learning Techniques in Online Courses

Active learning is an engaging form of learning that involves higher-order thinking skills such as evaluation, synthesis, and analysis. It is much more effective than the passive learning that occurs when students simply listen to a lecture or watch a powerpoint presentation. When engaged in active learning, students are forced to process and apply the information that they learned.

Watch this video to understand how professors of online courses can create opportunities for active learning.

6 Characteristics of Effective Online Courses

This well-developed presentation outlines 6 characteristics of effective online courses: access to technology, clear guidelines and procedures, participation, collaborative learning, transformative learning, assessment and evaluation. Six Characteristics of Effective Online Courses by Christopher T. Davis, Ph.D.

5 Components of the College Experience to Integrate into Online Educational Programs

When enrolled in fully online degree programs, students miss out on key components of the college experience that are integral to their overall educational success.

In a recent article on GetEducated.com, Joe Henry points out 5 features of the college experience and explains how to incorporate those features into online degree programs to support student success.

Infographics in Science Education

When teaching a complex scientific concept, process, or mechanism, consider using an infographic. An infographic is an image containing visual representations of statistics, data, maps, or other information. Infographics are often easier to understand than reading long paragraphs of text.…