1. 10 Principles of Effective Online Teaching (and how to operationalize them!)
Ann H. Taylor
Director, John A. Dutton e- Education Institute
The Pennsylvania State University

2. Our Goal
To create a community-generated list of at least strategies you can use to operationalize each of the 10 Principles of Effective Online Teaching

3. Our Agenda Time Frame Activity 8:00-8:15 Introductions 8:15-8:30
Overview of the 10 Principles
8:30-9:00
Strategy Generation
9:00-9:30
Debrief: What did we come up with?
9:30-9:45
Break
9:45-10:15
Make order out of chaos
10:15-10:45
Debrief: What should make “the list”?
10:45-11:00
Overview of supporting resources

4. Introductions Name Institution Role related to online teaching
1 Sentence: What do you hope to gain today?

5. A Quick Look at “The Original”
Seven Principles of Good Practice in Undergraduate Education
Encourages contact between students and instructor,
Develops reciprocity and cooperation among students,
Encourages active learning,
Gives prompt feedback,
Emphasizes time on task,
Communicates high expectations
Respects diverse talents and ways of learning.
Chickering, A.W. & Gamson, A.F. (1987). Seven principles for good practice in undergraduate education. Racine, WI:  The Johnson Foundation, Inc.

6. Our “10 Principles” in a Nutshell
Know your audience
Get organized
Get comfortable with the technology
Communicate expectations
Let your personality show
Be engaged
Build community
Plan for the unexpected
Provide meaningful and timely feedback
Practice continuous quality improvement
Image courtesy of Cristoph Settgast - CC BY- SA 2.0
 Seven Principles of Good Practice in Undergraduate Education
1. Encourages contact between students and instructor, 2. Develops reciprocity and cooperation among students, 3. Encourages active learning, 4. Gives prompt feedback, 5. Emphasizes time on task, 6. Communicates high expectations 7. Respects diverse talents and ways of learning.

7. 1. Know your audience Resident students Online students Adult learners
Military students
Students with disabilities
Part-time learners
International students

8. 2. Get organized Online teaching is VERY different
Out of sight, out of mind?
Best practice dictates daily monitoring (Monday-Friday)
Technology can be tricky!

9. 3. Get comfortable with the technology
Make sure YOU are proficient with a new tool before introducing it to your students
Keep it simple
Know how to tell if the dog really did eat their homework!
Know where to turn for help

10. 4. Communicate expectations for you and your students
Lots to think about…
How often will you log on and interact?
How quickly will you respond to their inquiries?
How do you want them to communicate with you? Each other?
How quickly will you return assignments?
How often should they log on and interact?
How many hours per week should they plan for?
How long should each assignment take?

11. 5. Let your personality show
Online education does NOT have to feel “distant”
A text-first approach (versus talking head video) does NOT have to read like a textbook
Engaging students is the key to success in the online classroom

12. 6. Be engaged Once the course is ready, do NOT “set it and forget it”
#1 student complaint: Absentee professor
3 types of engagement:
Student-instructor
Student-student
Student-content
“Thanks again for being willing to assist me in completing my graduate application… In truth, its tough for me to even consider leaving Penn State. I've really had the most rewarding experience I could have hoped for and so much more. Being fortunate enough to have instructors like you…has been, for lack of a better word, simply unbelievable.”

13. 7. Build community
Chickering & Gamson: “Good practice…develops reciprocity and cooperation among students”
Engage your students with each other, too
Powerful relationships can be built online!

14. 8. Plan for the unexpected
If it can go wrong, it will 
“Life” can get in the way for both students and instructors
The best laid plans can go awry
What will you do if the technology fails?
What will you do when you have to be “disconnected”?
Who do you need to notify about planned, and unplanned, absences?

15. 9. Provide meaningful and timely feedback
Students need to know how they are doing in order to move forward
“Good job” or “needs work” is not helpful
It is hard to move forward if you don’t know if you are on the right track
Communicate what was done well and why… and how can they improve

16. 10. Practice continuous quality improvement
How will you know if things are going well?
Stop? Start? Continue?
Be ready, and willing, to adjust

17. Activity: Strategy Generation
Total Time: 30 minutes
Break into teams of 3-4
For 5 minutes: Brainstorm as many ways to operationalize a Principle
Use a single sticky note for each idea – Post it!
Switch when the timer goes off!
Repeat (3 times)

19. So…what did we come up with?

20. Make Order Out of Chaos Total Time: 30 minutes
Break into new teams of 3-4
For your assigned Principle:
Clear out the clutter
Revise/rewrite each idea as necessary
Add new ideas that come to mind
Identify related resource needs (if any)
Identify barriers (if any)
Share electronically

21. What should make “the list”?

22. Some Supporting Resources
The Dutton Institute’s Faculty Development Site
MERLOT Faculty Development Portal
MSU’s Online Instructional Resources
The POD Listserv
The Sloan-C Listserv

23. Annie Taylor atb3@psu.edu @reallyanntaylor
Keep in touch!
Annie