Many articles and workshops explore complex concepts and tools that may not be suitable for everyone. With this in mind, I asked our instructional design team at ASU Online, “What are some easy, non-technical, low-hanging-fruit-type enhancements for online courses that all instructors should consider? Here are the recommendations we came up with. Continue reading
Does your online course respect and encourage diversity? Here are some facts and questions to consider in order to maximize your course inclusivity. Continue reading
This post was updated on March 26, 2019.
“How do you prevent cheating in online courses?” Since 1995, when the ASU Online instructional design team first started working with faculty to develop online courses, this is one of the most common questions we’ve received.
At ASU Online, our aim is to preserve the integrity of our students, and the credibility and rigor of our degree programs, which requires keen attention to academic integrity.
We provide the following resources in an effort to minimize opportunities for cheating and promote academic integrity in online courses. Continue reading
Faculty, instructors, graduate students, and staff from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS) recently met for the 3rd CLAS Demofest to showcase innovative teaching practices across diverse content areas. For this semester’s event, eight presenters from seven different departments and schools in CLAS shared and discussed their teaching, spanning a variety of course formats (face-to-face, blended, online) and different student enrollment (large lecture courses, small undergraduate and graduate seminars, etc.). Continue reading
This post further breaks down some of the activities of Instructional Designers mentioned in the previous TeachOnline post, Introducing the ASU Instructional Designer, and discusses the importance of the relationship between the faculty and instructional designer.
Do you find yourself wondering whether your online students are really learning? Whether they are really getting it? During face-to-face classes, an instructor often can use visual cues, such as a puzzled look or a nodding head from a student, to gauge whether students are understanding a certain concept. If they don’t, an instructor has the flexibility to easily explain the concept again or even change the lesson’s activities to ensure that students get it. But what if you are teaching online and can’t always see these visual clues?
“Wait, are we already that far into the semester? There is so much left to do in so little time!”
If this is a constant thought on your mind, or an all-familiar expression in recent conversations with other faculty and instructors, we might be nearing an crucial waypoint in the semester (e.g., midterm, holidays). Although it is tempting to be overwhelmed by the approaching deadlines and all the content that needs to be covered, this time also offers an opportunity to address other important elements of teaching and to check in with your students (Chickering & Gamson, 1987).
A hybrid course is much more than just an online course with a face-to-face class session thrown in for good measure. It involves asking, “What is the best way for students to interact with course content, construct knowledge, engage in critical thinking and problem solving?” Purposeful decisions are made by the instructor as to what activities are best included in face-to-face class sessions, and which activities would work well in a virtual environment. The term hybrid, or blended course, signifies a new way of thinking about how to harness the power of technology to promote learning and identify the best strategies to help students master important course concepts. However, it is about more than just teaching an existing course in a new format.
Graham et al. note the following seven lessons for online instruction: Instructors should provide clear guidelines for interaction with students; provide well-designed discussion assignments to promote cooperation among students; encourage students to present course projects to one another; provide prompt feedback of two types–information and acknowledgement; provide assignment deadlines; provide challenging tasks, sample cases, and praise for high-quality work to reinforce high expectations; and allow students to choose project topics.
Dr. Sher Ratnabalasuriar shares her experiences using blogs in her online classes as a learning tool. She wanted an alternative to the traditional discussion boards that would encourage students to engage more, become more mindful about their writing, and to increase student engagement with course materials and with each other. Dr. Ratnabalasuriar has successfully used free blog services such as WordPress, Tumbler, and Blogger with her large and small classes.
