The transition to online teaching can be a bumpy one. How can you engage students without seeing them in person? What changes will you need to make to your course delivery to ensure all students—regardless of their learning needs—are equally supported? Fortunately, the wide array of literature and digital resources from educators worldwide can smoothen the transition.
Here are ten invaluable assets to learn from while you consider the best way to deliver your online course while fully supporting students.
1. Small Teaching Online: Applying Learning Science in Online Classes
In this book, Flower Darby, Director of Teaching for Student Success at Northern Arizona University, and James Lang, Professor of English at Assumption College, offer practical adjustments to your online teaching practice that can have long-term effects on students’ learning. Both authors outline feasible ways to apply cognitive theory to an online course and suggest tactics for setting students up for success in a non-traditional learning landscape. The book offers brief learning activities, small course design enhancements and communication strategies for any virtual course.
For more cognitive theory applications, click here.
2. What the Best College Teachers Do
Empathy and passion should be the driving forces behind any college educator’s teaching practices. Ken Bain, President of the Best Teachers Institute, employs insights from a 15-year study of almost 100 college educators to provide actionable tips on how to make the learning experience count. Among Bain’s key takeaways: compassion and the process of communicating material are two of the most valuable factors for instructors to consider. Blended and fully online educators alike will benefit from Bain’s data on how to lead classes, student evaluations and communication tactics to fully support all students.
For more qualitative teaching insights, click here.
3. Strategies for Facilitating Live, Online Sessions
Wondering how to maintain student engagement online? This three-day workshop, hosted by Karen Costa, a specialist in online faculty development and course design, will help turn you from a novice to an expert. By the end of the workshop, you will be able to understand how to maintain students’ attention in live sessions, articulate common mistakes made in online teaching and present a personalized plan for enhancing your online presentation tactics. This workshop will help you take control of your online learning plan—encompassing virtual office hours, instructional sessions and presentations.
Sign up here to learn how to drive student engagement in your remote course.
4. Make it Stick: The Science of Successful Learning
A cognitive science approach may be worth considering to help students succeed in their assignments. Peter Brown and other scholars explore how students retain and master new material. The authors offer learning science tips—including interleaving—that you may wish to share with students to help them succeed in their online or in-person assessments. Insights are broken down by how memory is encoded, consolidated and retrieved, with actionable tips for how students and educators alike may want to adapt their process when reviewing material. Productivity and subject mastery are at the heart of this book with practical solutions for all students to succeed, regardless of their learning style.
Learn more on how to help your students excel in their online or in-person assessments.
5. Teaching Online: A Practical Guide
In today’s teaching landscape, laptops and smartphones are crucial to student success. Susan Ko, Clinical Professor and History and Faculty Development Consultant, and Steve Rossen, Instructional Technologist and Electronic Librarian, outline how to use mobile devices to leverage analytics on student engagement and retention. Through a comprehensive glossary, faculty interviews and case studies, Ko and Rossen discuss how to use open educational resources (OER) in your virtual class and how to effectively implement media in course materials to retain students’ attention.
For more actionable tips to enhance your virtual course materials and teaching practice, click here.
6. Teaching Online: A Step-By-Step Course to Launch and Lead an Equitable Online Classroom
A cookie-cutter approach to online course delivery simply won’t do the trick in today’s teaching reality. Equitable teaching practices—ranging from the technology adopted, to the way in which your curriculum is delivered—are effective pathways for instructors to consider. In a free virtual course—with lifetime access—Sheldon Eakins, Founder of the Leading Equity Center, and Marcus Borders, EdTech Specialist with Kennesaw State University, identify how to maintain equity in setting up your online course, managing assessments and supporting students with individual learning needs. This self-paced course will provide you with the necessary resources to empower students in a way that is ethical and empathetic.
Learn how to bring equity to your online classroom here.
7. How Learning Works: Seven Research-Based Principles for Smart Teaching
Cognitive science can provide insight on how to tailor your online instruction to meet students’ needs. Susan Ambrose, Professor of Education and History, and other scholars outline how to bridge learning research and virtual teaching practices to deliver meaningful experiences for students. The authors discuss how students master content, the types of feedback that enhance learning and how students can take charge of their learning online.
For more cognitive insights on how to best support your students, click here.
8. Creating a Sense of Presence in Online Teaching: How to “Be There” for Distance Learners
In today’s teaching landscape, presence is the best present you can give your students. In this book, Rosemary Lehman, an author and consultant in the field of distance education, and Simone Conceição, Associate Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, offer an instructional design framework that helps educators and students maintain presence and mindfulness in the virtual classroom. The social and psychological elements of online presence are broken down via case studies, suggested methods and practical activities for any online instructor.
Learn how to enhance your virtual presence here.
9. Why Don’t Students Like School?
Engagement is the key to keeping students alert and attentive in your online class. Daniel Willingham, Professor of Psychology at the University of Virginia, shares cognitive principles on how students think and learn in the classroom. This book also outlines how students build knowledge and subject mastery and how instructors—both those who teach fully online and those in a blended class—can create valuable learning experiences. Willingham presents nine digestible, cognitive learning practices that can elevate your teaching practice and boost student outcomes.
For more cognitive science tips for student engagement, click here.
10. Teaching Effectively Online
The transition to online course delivery doesn’t have to be daunting. This YouTube playlist, developed by the Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning (CIRTL)—which comprises 37 research universities—provides resources on online presence, student engagement and inclusivity in synchronous classrooms. Nine short videos guide viewers on how to lead with empathy and insight when choosing what technologies, assessments and online activities will make up a virtual course.
For more techniques on how to deliver your synchronous class, click here.
Learn how Top Hat’s suite of tools can help you and your students thrive in a blended or fully online classroom.
