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Seven Principles of Effective Teaching: A Practical Lens for Evaluating Online Courses

Page history last edited by Beverly Fite 14 years, 7 months ago

This is a research paper done by a team of five evaluators from Indiana University's Center for Research on Learning and Technology (CRLT),.  They used the seven principles of effective teaching and applied them to online learning to evaluate four online courses in a professional school at a large Midwestern university.  These principles are based on 50 years of higher education research (Chickering & Reisser, 1993).

 

Principle 1: Good Practice Encourages Student-Faculty Contact

Lesson for online instruction: Instructors should provide clear guidelines for interaction with students.

  • Establish policies describing the types of communication that should take place over different channels. Examples are: "Do not send technical support questions to the instructor; send them to techsupport@university.edu." Or: "The public discussion forum is to be used for all communications except grade-related questions."
  • Set clear standards for instructors' timelines for responding to messages. Examples: "I will make every effort to respond to e-mail within two days of receiving it" or "I will respond to e-mails on Tuesdays and Fridays between three and five o'clock."

Principle 2: Good Practice Encourages Cooperation Among Students

Lesson for online instruction: Well-designed discussion assignments facilitate meaningful cooperation among students.

  • Learners should be required to participate (and their grade should depend on participation).
  • Discussion groups should remain small.
  • Discussions should be focused on a task.
  • Tasks should always result in a product.
  • Tasks should engage learners in the content.
  • Learners should receive feedback on their discussions.
  • Evaluation should be based on the quality of postings (and not the length or number).
  • Instructors should post expectations for discussions.

Principle 3: Good Practice Encourages Active Learning

Lesson for online instruction: Students should present course projects.

Principle 4: Good Practice Gives Prompt Feedback

Lesson for online instruction: Instructors need to provide two types of feedback: information feedback and acknowledgment feedback.

Principle 5: Good Practice Emphasizes Time on Task

Lesson for online instruction: Online courses need deadlines.

Principle 6: Good Practice Communicates High Expectations

Lesson for online instruction: Challenging tasks, sample cases, and praise for quality work communicate high expectations.

Principle 7: Good Practice Respects Diverse Talents and Ways of Learning

Lesson for online instruction: Allowing students to choose project topics incorporates diverse views into online courses.

References

Chickering, A., & Gamson, Z. (1987). Seven principles of good practice in undergraduate education. AAHE Bulletin, 39, 3-7.

Chickering, A., & Reisser, L. (1993). Education and identity. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Graham, C., Cagiltay, K., Craner, J., Lim, B., & Duffy, T. M. (2000). Teaching in a Web-based distance learning environment: An evaluation summary based on four courses. Center for Research on Learning and Technology Technical Report No. 13-00. Indiana University Bloomington. Retrieved September 18, 2000 from the World Wide Web: http://crlt.indiana.edu/publications/crlt00-13.pdf

Principles for good practice in undergraduate education: Faculty inventory. (1989). Racine, WI: The Johnson Foundation, Inc.

This document link:   http://technologysource.org/article/seven_principles_of_effective_teaching/

The link for the whole document is at:   http://www.technologysource.org/article/seven_principles_of_effective_teaching/

 

Beverly--this is a very good resource.  It should definitely be included in the evaluation section you are working on.--Thanks! Heather

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