1. Online Best Practices Certification: Existing and New Courses ^ Dr. Shakil Rahman and Dr. JoAnna Shore

2. Order of Presentation ^  Frostburg State and online  Higher Education Landscape  When Online teaching is Effective  Understanding the “Best Practices”  Strategies to achieve “Best Practices”  Effective Online Teaching: Dos and Don’ts  What is the Future of Online  Q & A

3. Frostburg State University Goes Online ^^  FSU offered its first online courses Summer of 2003  In 2003, 332 total enrollment (UG and Grad classes)  Undergraduate courses accounted for 82.2%  Graduate courses accounted for 17.8%  In 2003, 22 sections of UG classes and 3 sections of Grad were offered.  FSU is now completed its 12 year of offering courses online  In 2014, 2074 total enrollment (UG and Grad classes. A total increase of 624%)  Undergraduate courses accounted for 83.7%  Graduate courses accounted for 16.3%  In Summer 2014, 167UG classes and 47 Grad classes were offered

4. Changing Higher Education Landscape ^^  There are a number of drivers of change in higher education today, including:  Technology  Globalization  Changing demographics  Economy & Outsourcing  Changing employer needs  Increased job demand for improvement  Flexibility (time and location) and  Changing student expectations: An alternative to the traditional classroom but not at the risk of losing a high-quality learning experience  The challenge is to deliver online courses as effectively as face to face courses..

5. When Online teaching is effective ^  To be Effective online teacher is a challenging task for the online instructor. In a traditional classroom, instructor can adjust content, delivery, assignments, and even the schedule of activities as the course evolves, as they react to the needs of the students.  An online instructor must  design the course in advance,  preparing materials,  schedules,  assessments,  and even discussion topics.

6. When Online teaching is effective ^  Once the course begins, an effective teacher must give considerable attention to facilitating the course. The instructor is fully absorbed with  Communication,  including e-mail,  Threaded discussions,  Social chats, and  Work hard to meet the varied needs and demands of the students.

7. When Online teaching is effective ^  When online teaching is effective—that is,  When students benefit most from an online course  Teachers must remain visibly and  Students are actively involved in the learning, may be even to a greater degree than in the traditional classroom (students’ center learning).

8. When Online teaching is effective ^ Effective teachers, according to the students:  Work hard to involve everyone in the learning activities,  Communicate well,  Motivate students to do their best,  Improve student understanding ---provide meaningful and practical connections between theory and practice,  Show concern for student learning, And  Committed to an online course effectiveness.  This includes providing a structured yet comfortable classroom environment and communicating with students in a consistent, thoughtful, and personal way (Young 2009).

9. Now question is: How to be effective online instructor? ^  To answer above question  Understanding the “Best Practices”  Strategies to achieve it

10. Understanding the Online teaching Best Practices ^  Why should we focus on best practice?  Before implementing a best online teaching practices, we must agree how to define them. In education, the phrase best online teaching practice is used for a wide variety of activities and approaches that may or may not have been rigorously evaluated. Due to frequent use, the term is practically meaningless. A Google search for this phrase identified nearly over 550 million web pages. Adding the word definition to the previous search phrase helped slightly; Google identified 172 million web pages

11. Contd.: Online teaching of Best Practices ^  This presentation defines Best Online Teaching Practices as the wide range of individual activities, policies, and programmatic approaches to achieve positive changes in student attitudes or academic behaviors. This umbrella term encompasses the following outcomes: promising, validated, and exemplary. o Promising practice: Contains detailed information describing the practice with its theoretical basis and how to implement it. o Validated practice: A promising education practice that has undergone rigorous evaluation documenting positive student outcomes in online setting. o Exemplary practice: A validated education practice successfully replicated at multiple online settings with similar positive student outcomes.

12. Contd.: Online teaching of Best Practices  Best online practice activities: o These activities are behaviors or policies by faculty, staff, and administrators that result in positive changes in student attitudes or academic behaviors. o Examples include mandatory assessment of students for proper advisement and placement of students in their classes, training/orientation students before they begin their work, active learning activities within the classroom, and classroom assessment techniques to provide feedback resulting in changed student learning behaviors.

13. Contd.: Strategies to achieve the Online best Practices  Instructional Design Elements  Support & Resources: Students are provided information as to where to get technical help.  The “Orientation Guide” section includes: o Technology check, o Help Desk hours, o Communication & etiquette guidelines, o Assignment submission procedures, o Technology requirements, o Navigation menu, o And student support Services  Course Goals/Objectives (Overall and Each Chapter)  Instructional Design & Delivery (Module format)  Syllabus is online and complete (including course expectations, grading criteria, course policies and expectations, schedule with due dates )  Assessment & Evaluation

14. Contd.: Strategies to achieve the Online best Practices  Communication  Interaction among Learners. o Discussion Boards o and/or chat available, o Blackboard Collaborate  Interaction between Learners and Instructor, o Instructor communication style o How feedback is given including frequency o Feedback on discussion forums, o Assignments,  Interaction between Learners and Course Materials, o Resources for completing course activities are provided.

15. Contd.: Strategies to achieve the Online best Practices  Course Management  Time Requirement ( General time requirement expectation and miss deadline penalty)  Evaluating student progress o Syllabus should include the grading system that is used including Weighted grading o Blackboard Grade Center is used for grading o Grading Rubrics o Paper/Case length, format, research expectation, citation, etc o Individual or Group responsibility

16. Effective Online Teaching: Dos and Don’ts ^^  Don’t assume students have the minimum equipment and/or skill requirements needed to be successful in an online course.  Be sure to make the minimum equipment and/or skill requirements readily available to students prior to the official start date.  Don’t assume students understand the workings of an online course.  Offer them tips for online learners that include knowledge of traditional versus online learning, Web etiquette, helpful links, and where to go for help.

17. Effective Online Teaching: Dos and Don’ts ^  Don’t let students think that The online instructor is available to the students 24/7.  Set expectations with students with respect to instructor response times including your daily (Monday to Friday) online working/checking hours.  Indicate when you will be grading assignments, and posting to discussion boards. Also tell students if late assignments will be graded on the same or on an extended timeline  Don’t assume students know the more important rules and regulations in the syllabus.  Give them a short syllabus quiz and require that they score 100 percent before they continue in the course (May be 5-7 questions plenty).

18. What is the Future of Online ^^  Distance learning solutions and online educational tools are rapidly growing in popularity and effectiveness with teachers, colleges and university-level programs worldwide.   One recent survey estimated that at least one in five undergraduates has participated in at least one "distance education" course as part of their studies, and many middle, high and even elementary school teachers have begun using some form of distance learning in the classroom.one in five undergraduates  For modern educators looking to provide the best tools and services for distance learning solutions, here are a dozen top resources to consider:

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