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Sherri Harrelson

Ed Tech 523

Principles for Effective Online Teaching

Highly effective online teaching may often resemble teaching found in a face-to-face classroom,especially as more traditional environments incorporate constructivist style, performance based methods

of instruction. Although some aspects of online teaching can also be found in the traditional environment,

this does not mean that all effective face-to-face teachers will be effective online. While they may be

skilled in instructional methods, teachers in the traditional environment may not have the necessary

technical skills to move effectively into an online format. Online teachers have to adapt to experiences

that can be disconcerting for those unaccustomed to online collaboration, and they must have an

understanding of what the barriers are for students as they pertain to learning within an online

environment. That being said, there are many best practices that are applicable to both environments

and across grade/ content areas, as well as some that tend to be focused more on effective teaching in

the virtual realm.

Principle 1: Establishing Community

One of the most important aspects of online teaching and learning is the establishment of

community. This can be done through a variety of means, but serves to facilitate communication between

students and the instructor, as well as among students as they develop online collaborative skills.

Through the provision of guidelines and timely responses to questions and students work, instructors can

make themselves present. Students should also be encouraged to develop relationships with each other,

just the same as they would in a traditional environment, although it may take a little more effort to

facilitate these interactions. In addition, the use of small groups and focused discussion questions can

further encourage reflection and open communication regarding topics within the course.

Principle 2: Active Learning

The idea of active learning is important for both environments because students are encouraged

and expected not to sit idly by as recipients of knowledge, but to interact with others to build skills, ideas,

and thought processes on relevant topics. Learners should be involved in problem solving and should

have opportunities to create and share work. They should be allowed (and indeed required!) to interact

with their peers and instructor through discussion boards, feedback, blog tools, shared documents, and

other tools for online learning when working in the virtual environment.

Principle 3: E-learning Skills

In order to be effective in the online environment, teachers must have the ability to create an

efficient and easily navigated user interface. In order to encourage appropriate time management andcollaboration, as well as limit confusion for the learner, the teacher must have the ability to organize and

implement e-learning techniques through a variety of virtual tools. Effective online teachers should be

able to work within the required LMS with relative ease, while also managing other features, links, and

incorporated media.

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Principle 4: Instructional Design

While the principles regarding instructional design apply to any learning environment, they can

be especially important when considering online instruction. Due to the nature of online environments,

particularly with regard to asynchronous communication, teachers must attempt to clarify learning

objectives and make clear attempts to facilitate the meeting of those objects. They must also strive to

identify barriers to learning and other student centered issues that could occur because of the inability to

wing it should the lessonor course take a nose dive. If learners stumble across problems with materials

or they lack relevant background knowledge, they can experience frustration and lose the motivation to

learn within the online environment. Even if a teacher strives to contact the student in a timely manner to

address issues, it could be 24 hours or more before the issue is adequately resolved. By implementing

instructional design principles while establishing the course and laying out the materials, instructors can

limit some of these problems, thus allowing them to serve as more effective facilitators of learning.

Citations:

Chickering, A. W. & Ehrmann, S. C. (1996). Implementing the seven principles: Technology as Lever.

Retrieved fromhttp://www.tltgroup.org/programs/seven.html

Graham, C., Cagiltay, K., Lim, B. R., Craner, J., & Duffy, T. M. (2001). Seven principles of effectiveteaching: A practical lens for evaluating online courses. The Technology SourceArchives at UNC.Retrieved fromhttp://technologysource.org/article/seven_principles_of_effective_teaching/

Pallof, R. M., & Pratt, K. (2007). Building online learning communities: Effective strategies for the virtualclassroom(2nd edition). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Thanasoulas, D. (n.d.) Constructivist teaching. SEAsite Northern Illinois University.Retrieved from

http://www.seasite.niu.edu/Tagalog/Teachers_Page/Language_Learning_Articles/constructivist_learning.htm

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