Online Learning Initiative - Free

Check out this link to free materials from Carnegie Mellon (in the great city of Pittsburgh):
http://oli.web.cmu.edu/openlearning/forinstructors/teach-oli

Lots of research, some packaged courses, all of which are free!

Not Necessarily a Best Practice, But...

This post really has nothing to do with Best Practices, but you might want to check out this article:
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/19/study-finds-that-online-education-beats-the-classroom/?em

Bottom line: "The analysis for the Department of Education found that, on average, students doing some or all of the course online would rank in the 59th percentile in tested performance, compared with the average classroom student scoring in the 50th percentile."

Reference

Lohr, S. Study Finds That Online Education Beats the Classroom. Retrieved August 24, 2009 from The New York Times Bits website: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/19/study-finds-that-online-education-beats-the-classroom/?em

Social Learning

In the past couple weeks, I've seen some interesting information about learning styles and social networking. First, the READI (http://www.readi.info/) put out it's report on student readiness for online learning. One item of interest was the data that indicated nearly 30% of learners were identified as "social learners". Then, a great article appeared in Campus Technology magazine about social constructs in learning. You can check out the whole article at:
http://campustechnology.com/articles/2009/07/22/beyond-social-networking-building-toward-learning-communities.aspx

Engaging Students in Math Courses Online

Thanks to Liz Rourke, Donna Sperry, and Natalie Cullen for their contributions to this post!

Several of us (see above) had a great chance to talk about best practices in online math classes last week, and I thought I'd share the results of our conversation. Best practices:

-Early feedback (especially to peer postings or peer reviews)
-Provide lecture materials, particularly for items like common student mistakes. These are best provided in some multi-media format such as videos, powerpoints.
-Another great alternative is the "Lesson Session" Donna Sperry invented. Each week she holds a synchronous "Lesson Session" during which she speaks (in the chat room) on a particular topic. She follows this up with opportunities for students to practice and share results, and then ask general questions. She's had great results, by requiring students to attend 3 out of the 14 or 15 available.
-Modeling good discussion posts and requiring students to reply in an acedemic fashion.
-Creating "good" discussion questions. Keys are to ask questions that are authentic, learner-led, reflective or synthesizing. Asking students to complete questions and post answers is definitely NOT effective.
-Provide rubrics for discussion posts.

Specific activities:
Lesson Sessions
WebQuests
Learner-led discussions: Example- Each student must create a word problem that must be solved using a Venn diagram. They must answer at least 2 other students' problems. They also must provide feedback to those who solve their posted problem.
Student Presentations
Group Projects for Authentic Activities (particularly in higher level courses)

Best Practices in Science Courses Using Online Resources

Question of the Week:

What innovative things do you do to make your online science course better?
Have you web-enhanced your traditional f2f class so you can use online resources? Which ones?
Have you found a great resource online you can share with others?

Post your ideas here using the "comments" link.

Here are a few online resources I use in my online Physics classes:

• Physlets: What a great name for these Physics Applets! Available at: http://webphysics.davidson.edu/Applets/Applets.html
• Videos from Intelecom: Check out the link to CSM's Resources at: http://www.intelecomonline.net) Contact the DLF (joelk@csmd.edu) for user id and password.

Question of the Week: Best Online Teaching Tips Resource

I'd like to start a thread here with links to the best Internet sites with online teaching tips. So, what sites do you use? My favorite (this week) is Faculty Focus: http://www.facultyfocus.com/.
Of course, this is always subject to change - there are so many great sites out there. Use the comments button below to share your favorite site!

Online Gradebooks

We are looking at some options for online gradebooks. One option is Express Services. Another is WebCT. Send us your best practices for WebCT gradebooks here (use the "Comments" button below). Interested in the Express Services tool and how it might work? Check out these links:

Introduction to Gradebook and Preparing to Set Up a Gradebookhttp://breeze.datatel.com/p58872757/

Set Up a Gradebook in Colleague http://breeze.datatel.com/p55449550/

Using Gradebook for Daily Activitieshttp://breeze.datatel.com/p74082414/

Reporting with Gradebookhttp://breeze.datatel.com/p40738079/