Great expectations for teaching excellence

Great ExpectationsHow to Influence Student Learning and Get a Good QA Teaching Review

Increase Student Success

Document

Excellence

Cutting Edge

Instruction

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CCCOnline Core Value

Quality: We commit to excelling in learner-

centered instruction.  Strategic Goal: Student

Success◦Presence, engagement, student outcomes

Department Goal: Documentation of quality instruction

Share the News announcements:Increase student learning I

Make sure Instructor Information is current and personal

Include an image: a personal photo, some clip art, to liven the page. ◦Keep the image small (roughly

500x500 pixels)◦Crop if necessary (use

www.picresize.com )◦All images must be captioned

Post News Every WeekSummarize learning from last

weekSummarize expectations for

coming week, including:◦Discussion topics◦Due dates◦Timeline of larger projects

Share tips or knowledge with students for this week’s work

Discussions: Make yourself Known even before courses start

Seed discussions:◦Introduces the subject, ask thought

questions◦Give information on expectations and

grading informationCreate your own personal and

informal introduction in Discussions. ◦The more human you appear, the better.

Discussions: Online Ice Breakers Help students get comfortable or think about a subject

Ask about a best or worst experience with the subject

Ask about career goals and subject(not great for history classes!)

Share hobbies or interests

Discussions: Personalize!

Address students by nameRespond to every student with a

warm welcome. ◦You might use information on

student interests or hobbies to suggest topics for big projects.

Respond to every student at least once in every module forum◦Offer more information, ask a

question

Discussions: Make your presence known!

Instructor participation is the number one determinant of student engagement

Participate 3-4 days a week. ◦Respond to student discussions within 24-48 hours

◦Post even when students do not◦Re-engage on student comments

Increase Student Learning II: Add information to Discussions

• Post new information in every response• Post new information in News

Post links to sources or bibliography or CCCOnline library journals

• Summarize discussion each week to reinforce learning at the top of the Forum. This may be copied to the News page.

Discussions: Foster Learning by Making Students Want to Participate

Acknowledge student learning in every response: ◦Praise point of view or contribution

to the discussionInteract with the entire class:

◦Post new information or summaries of views by addressing “Everyone” or “Class”

Email: Be responsiveEmail should be answered within

24 hours, no exceptionsIf you are unable to do this, let

your chair know so your course will be covered

Use student’s name in emailsEmail cannot be monitored –

always copy any issues into another format (hidden discussion is good)

Increase Student Learning III: GradingGrade within 72 hoursMark up assignments using Word

commentsMake comments on grade pageUse Rubrics where available:

◦Tell students to refer to them before the project is done

◦Use them to give objective mark, but supplement with written comments

Grading: Make it useful to Students

Keep comments short – don’t overwhelm the student with information

Mix praise with critique – help student want to read more

Grade writing and grammar + content

Do offer additional information on drafts (other sources, other points of view)

Feedback: Be kind, be helpfulAdopt a persona of cheerful

helpfulness (even if you don’t feel it)

Offer praise first, then critiqueInstead of blunt“bad job,” soften

the language: ◦I am confused . . . Why do you say . .

.?◦I wonder if you have considered . . .◦That’s a great point. Another way of

looking at this issue is . . .

Minimum expectations:Presence

◦ Check email daily◦ Post within 48 hours, 3x per week*◦ Grade timely: within72 hours

Personalize◦ Seed discussions, greet students in introduction*◦ Address every student 1x per week by name

Promote Learning◦ Reengage with additional comments*◦ Summarize discussions weekly*

Post News announcement weekly◦ Summarize last week’s learning◦ Summarize this week’s themes & deadlines*QA requirements

One last thing . . .Be mindful of accessibility:

before recommending a link to a student, see if it is accessible to all

Captions.◦Videos. This is easy to do for

Youtube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbUcv3Bc61g

◦Images (and watch the size, too. Crop with www.picresize.com or Photoshop)

◦Podcasts. Use Camtasia, or Voicethread.com

More information: Free images (online courses should be VISUAL!)

Copyright-free images to liven web pages◦http://www.morguefile.com/ ◦http://www.seabreezecomputers.com/tips/

freeimages.htm◦http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/top-5-web

sites-for-free-stock-photographs/

◦Flickr.com with Creative Commons license◦Wikipedia◦Library of Congress, LOC.gov (no known

restrictions clause)

More Information: Student EngagementFaculty Focus: Higher Ed Teaching

Strategies, http://www.facultyfocus.com/

Validating student feedback through review of online program delivery best practices, http://www.deltastate.edu/PDFFiles/DJE/Herring%20and%20Burgess%20Final.pdf

CCCOnline.Org>Teaching Resources>Building Community>Research on Community and Discussions