Best Practices in Online Education
The most significant concepts I learned during this course are the following: The best practices in online education, the importance of communication and interaction between instructor and students as well as students interacting with each other, the goal of improving retention rates and assessments.
Best practices
Communication
Increasing retention rates
Assessments
Best practices
- Instructors must provide a clearly defined syllabus that communicates their expectations to all their students. This includes a well-written accessibility statement that provides information regarding accommodations and ways to communicate with the instructor.
- Design the coursework that will provide a positive learning outcome for all students. Plan ahead by including alternate methods of assessments, using alt text when displaying graphs, charts or photos and making text readable by selecting a high contrast text and background.
- Using a good quality rubric for grading consistency to reduce the subjectivity of grading and provide students with the requirements for the assignment.
- The instructor’s responsibility is to create a positive learning atmosphere and provide a variety of materials to engage all learning styles.
- Student’s responsibility is to be actively involved in the learning process.
- It’s importance for instructors to be available and to give constructive feedback regularly.
- When creating material for classes remember to adhere to the copyrights fair use principles by checking the copyright chart for teachers.
Communication
- Interaction and contributions strengthens the commitment to a group. It’s a two-way street in an online environment.
- Utilizing the Bloom’s taxonomy to ask question that stimulate the student’s mind to a higher level of analysis, synthesis and evaluation.
- Encouraging interaction between students and each other and students with their instructor.
Increasing retention rates
- Students need to feel that the teacher cares about them individually.
- The instructor should design courses that are learner-centered.
- The instructor needs to provide prompt feedback.
- Instructors need to continue their own research on engagement and retention. They need to continue to build their skillsets as well as to communicate and collaborate with peers on best practices in their classrooms.
Assessments
- Involving the students in their own grading so they take on the responsibility of evaluating their own work.
- Instructor’s feedback is important so the students know where they need to improve.
- It’s important to have an open and positive classroom environment that allows students to question their grades and have their concerns heard.