Online Teaching and Learning Resources

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Preparation

Faculty Preparation

10 Easy Steps to Creating Your Online Course (pdf)- a simplification, to be sure!
Glossary of Terms encountered in many contemporary discussions of student learning in higher education settings (e.g., "Active Learning," "Authentic Assessment," "Problem-Based Learning," etc.)
20 Technology Skills Every Educator Should Have, THE Journal, June 2005 - How do your skills measure up?
The Virtual Vortex: Managing Your Online Course Without Losing Your Mind, by Jennifer McLean
Wearing Four Pairs of Shoes by Ed Hootstein is derived from principles of Zane Berge.
Optimizing Your Syllabus for Online Students, from OnlineLearning.net
Humboldt State's University's Policy on Content of Syllabi (2008)
Syllabus Tutorial from University of Minnesota - Is your syllabus all it can be?
Writing for the Web, by Jakob Nielsen

Student Preparation

Tips for Learning Online, by University of Florida. Time management tips and schedule builder. "Overcome procrastination."
89 Things Students Need to Know in the First 10 Days of an Online Course, from Janice Kinsinger and Patrice Hess of Illinois Central College.
Distance Learning (Savings) Calculator
The VARK Questionnaire

Successful Facilitation

Assessing Online Facilitation, developed by a team of instructional designers, facilitators, and faculty throughout California, this instrument helps guide self-assessment and successful facilitation of an online course.
Staying "In-the-moment" in Asynchronous Online Interaction, by Nancy White, Full Circle Associates
Strategies for Effective Use of Chat: When, Why, and How to Make It Work, from Onlinelearning.net
What Makes a Successful Online Facilitator? from Illinois Online Network
Avoiding Web Discussion Pitfalls, from Monitor on Psychology, April 2000.
Managing Interaction, University of Maryland
Why Johnny Won't Post, by Tim Dotson in Converge
Strategies for Promoting Discussion in Your Online Course, from OnlineLearning.net
Honesty in Online Education, by Virgil Varvel, Illinois Online Network, Pointers and Clickers
Designing Online Courses to Discourage Dishonesty, [pdf] by Barbara Christe, in EDUCAUSE Quarterly, Number
Strategies to Minimize Cheating Online - from Illinois Online Network

Instructional Design

Instructional Design Tips for Online Instruction, [PDF] Joan Van Duzer - Companion document to CSU Chico's Rubric for Online Instruction
CourseCheck Resource Bank provides foundational information and examples of how to incorporate each principle of good (teaching) practice to an online course
Systems Approach to Designing Online Learning Activities - Steps 1-7
About Alternative Assessment, Aurbach & Associates, Inc.
Developing Course Objectives, Illinois Online Network - includes a tutorial: Audience, Behavior, Condition, Degree
Let's Create Web-Based Learning Activities, by Michael Krauss, for ORTESOL Conference Portland, Oregon
Instructional Strategies for Online Courses, Illinois Online Network
Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education by Arthur Chickering and Zelda Gamson
Working with Small Groups in an Online Classroom, from OnlineLearning.net
10 Tips for Managing Larger Classes Online in Blackboard, from OnlineLearning.net
Campfires in Cyberspace, by David Thornburg
The iPod Took My Seat, by Stuart Silverstein for the Los Angeles Times
CourseCheck, from Ohio Learning Network, provides specific examples tied to Chickering & Gamson's "Seven Principles for Good Practice"
Instructional Blogging: Promoting Interactivity, Student-Centered Learning and Peer Input, by Stuart Glogoff in Innovate (login required, subscribing is free)

Learning Activities

Bloom's Taxonomy: Sample Task Prompts & Digital Tools (pdf)
Technologies to Consider to Support Learning ActivitiesAnnotated hotlist
Blog from EDUCAUSE - Seven Things You Should Know About Blogs (pdf)
Cartoons - Comic Boom is user-friendly software to make simple four-panel comic strips.
Case studies
Collages- see this VuVox example, Name the Nutrient
Comic Book - 10-day free trial of "Comic Book Creator 2" software; or try 30-day trial of Comic Life for either Mac or PC
Concept mapping - 30-day free trial version of Inspiration software
Debates - try out ConvinceMe
Discussions - Bloom's Taxonomy Sample Questions - Challenge your students with challenging discussion questions
Essay, report, plan
Games - bring popular games like childhood favorites hangman, word search, crossword puzzles, matching, "Jeopardy", or "Concentration" to your classroom for novelty and fun. Quia and Hot Potatoes Half Baked Software have a variety of games (you customize the games around your own course concepts).
Group collaborations - include evaluations from group members - What Makes an Online Group Project Work? Students’ Perceptions before and after an Online Collaborative Problem/Project-Based Learning (PBL) Experience
Interviews
Jigsaw in the Classroom - Overview of the Technique
Journals - E-Journaling: Achieving Interactive Education Online, by Jonnie Jill Phipps
Learning contract
Podcasting - Seven Things You Should Know About Podcasting (pdf) from EDUCAUSE
Portfolios
Posters see this online poster example on Glogster
Presentation (make universally accessible online presentations using PowerPoint with LecShare Pro
Problem-Based Learning (PBL)
Role playing
Scavenger hunt
Screencasting - try out Jing for short video or screen captures to enhance learning materials
Self assessment quizzes
Trade a problem - Divide the class into teams; each team constructs review questions. The teams trade questions and decide by consensus on an answer. If the team's answer does not agree with the originating team's answer a whole-class discussion on the question can be moderated by the instructor.
Viewlets (screen-based animation) - aka "teach-back" - Experiment with these "how-to" animations using a free demo version of ViewletBuilder from Qarbon.com
Voting or end-of-class query - ask the students to report anonymously two things they learned and what questions remain
Web pages
WebQuest - According to developer Bernie Dodge, a WebQuest is an inquiry-oriented activity in which most or all of the information used by learners is drawn from the Web. WebQuests are designed to use learners' time well, to focus on using information rather than looking for it, and to support learners' thinking at the levels of analysis, synthesis and evaluation
Wiki - Seven Things You Should Know About Wikis (pdf) from EDUCAUSE

Web Accessibility

Introduction to Web Accessibility, from WebAIM
WAVE Accessibility Tool, evaluate accessibility of web pages with this free tool from WebAIM
University Web Accessibility Policies: A Bridge Not Quite Far Enough, by Paul Ryan Bohman for WebAIM

Helpful Tools for the Online Teacher

Tools You Can Use to Mark Students' Papers, from OnlineLearning.net
508 Web Tutorial, by Jim Thatcher
Comic Book Creator 2" software available for a 30-day free trial; or try 30-day trial of Comic Life for either Mac or PC
Comic Boom - an easy-to-use program to create 4-panel comic strips
LecShare Pro, add audio and synchronized captions to your PowerPoint presentations--post them to the WWW in an accessible format
Quia offers an inexpensive annual subscription for creating learning games published on their website.
Hot Potatoes is a free software download for non-profit educational users to create learning games to be published on their own web pages.
Crossword Compiler, create crossword puzzles for vocabulary exercises.
Check your pages for universal accessibility with WebXACT (formerly "Bobby").
Unsure about universal accessibility? Download A-Prompt, a helpful evaluation and repair tool for your web site.
Trillian is a fully featured, stand-alone chat client that supports AIM, ICQ, MSN, Yahoo Messenger, and IRC.
RubiStar is a free tool to help a teacher make quality rubrics.
MERLOT - Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching - a repository of learning objects
Wisconsin Online Resource Center - WISC-Online - The Wisconsin Online Resource Center is a digital library of Web-based learning resources called "learning objects." The digital library of objects has been developed primarily by faculty from the Wisconsin Technical College System