Positivity Blog -- Any Teaching Applications?

I follow the Positivity Blog on a regular basis, and today they've posted an article called "8 Tips for Building a Better Social Life." http://www.positivityblog.com/index.php/2008/12/12/wayne-dyers-top-8-tips-for-building-a-better-social-life/

So I had this weird thought. Could such an article be somehow applied toward the teaching profession? And the answer, I think, is yes. Yes, you can take information like this and adapt it to your teaching -- your relationship with colleagues, students, staff, etc.

What do you think? Do you see the connection between positivity and good teaching?

Online Learning Learning: 10 Tips

From http://www.designingforlearning.info/services/writing/ecoach/tenbest.html

This site provides a nice top 10 list of pretty good practices (I hate the phrase "best practices"). Click the above link for the full details. Below is just the distilled list:

1. Be present at the course site (i.e. post a lot of Announcements, and actively participate with your students in the Discussion Boards)
2. Create a supportive online course community
3. Share a set of very clear expectations for your students and for yourself as to (1) how you will communicate and (2) how much time students should be working on the course each week
4. Use a variety of large group, small group, and individual work experiences
5. Use both synchronous and asynchronous activities
6. Early in the term -- about week 3 -- ask for informal feedback on "How is the course going?" and "Do you have any suggestions?"
7. Prepare Discussion Posts that invite questions, discussions, reflections, and responses
8. Focus on content resources and applications and links to current events and examples that are easily accessed from learner's computers
9. Combine core concept learning with customized and personalized learning
10. Plan a good closing and wrap activity for the course

Online Learning: Faculty Tips

Our faculty friends at Mercy College were asked "Do you use any best practices techniques that you would recommend to other faculty?"

(http://www.mercy.edu/mercyonline/best_practices_report.htm)

Below is what they came up with:

frequent/constant instructor feedback and involvement

praise good work in public; express negative feedback in private

oversee discussions, but have students facilitate them

keep discussions on target and flowing

establish and adhere to deadlines

create and use an anonymous comments folder for student feedback

organize web pages and coursework for easy navigation

establish expectations at the beginning of the course

use small groups to enhance discussions

holding students responsible for higher-order thinking

encourage classmates to submit "suggested points of revision"

provide students with access to online resources

clearly stated classroom etiquette

use grading feature to send quiz and assignment grades with explanations and suggestions

create a separate discussion folder for each week/module

insist on clear and correct writing

keep course materials current; link become dated quickly

use interesting and current articles and provocative question to stimulate discussions

adapt to student needs

offer private responses to papers

give a discussion report card on student activity

have students post assignments in discussion area for all to comment

for each discussion, assign students to perform roles of starter, facilitator and summarizer while others participate in the discussion; student roles vary from discussion to discussion

Online Learning vs. Face-to-Face Learning

From: http://www.mercy.edu/mercyonline/best_practices_report.htm

Faculty at Mercy College were asked to compare online and on-campus teaching methods. Below is what they came up with. What do you think?

Make greater efforts online to communicate clearly

In both, expectations of student curriculum-based participation is becoming more obvious

More dynamic online since it is more difficult to add appropriate emotion and dialogue without chancing misinterpretation

Focus on one aspect of communicating information at a time in class while delivering information from many different directions at once online

Greater relating of course content to actual societal issues online than in class

"Live" examples (guests, videos, group discussions) are not given online as they are in class

Promote greater interaction in discussions online than onsite

Approach onsite class as an "entity" and online with a more one-on-one approach

"Break-up" of activities to avoid monotony and allow a "mental break" in class is not necessary online

Although "labor-heavy," greater one-on-one interaction online than in class

Tendency to "embellish and take chances more" in class than online

Requirement of participation works online, not onsite

Onsite requires paper responses vs. online where responses are placed in discussion

Greater promotion of student-to-student interaction online

Onsite one can "wing" a class through body language; online requires constant feedback and more attention to the written word

Inability to "break in" on discussions and raise questions or provide comments "on the spot" online as onsite

More creativity required in communicating and making connections online

Online allows continuous feedback from day one allowing greater knowledge as to whether students misunderstood or missed important information unlike in class

Using Games in Instruction

Here's a link that's worth mining if you like to add "games" or fun activies to your instruction.

http://www.thiagi.com/freebies-and-goodies.html

If you find any that you especially like (or that you've tried and found useful in the classroom), please leave a comment and let us know.

Online Learning: Course Assessment

From http://www.sjc.cc.nm.us/pages/2852.asp (Some really good stuff here -- please click the link for the full article, including detailed information for each point listed below, as well as the research that backs it all up.)

• Match learning objectives with assessments
• Take precautions to limit the possibility of cheating
• Communicate assessment tasks clearly
• Use formative assessment to promote deeper learning; consider alternative forms of assessment such as portfolios
• Use self-assessments to improve learning and self-awareness
• Have students conduct peer-assessments (may be particularly effective when used in conjunction with group work)
• When conducting performance assessments, take into account the role of feedback in short-term versus long-term retention
• Evaluate your assessment practices
• Conduct a mid-semester and/or end-of-semester course evaluation to collect feedback on the workings of the course
• Select appropriate items for your mid-semester or end-of-semester course evaluation
• If you administer a course evaluation, consider answering the questions yourself and comparing them with the responses of students

Online Learning: Course Communication

From http://www.sjc.cc.nm.us/pages/2851.asp (Be sure to click on the link for the full article -- detailed information for each point listed below, as well as the research that backs it all up.)

• Establish clear goals for classroom or virtual communications, and share these with your students
• Incorporate electronic discussion forums into course design
• Encourage peer-to-peer interaction between students
• Devise a plan for using conscious questioning to encourage, initiate, and guide student discussion
• Use cooperative learning techniques for small group learning activities
• Place students into small groups of 2-4 members (mixed gender and ability) for problem-solving and discussion-oriented activities
• Provide students with strategies for working in groups
• Use collaborative learning to support asynchronous discussion
• For effective discussion teaching, encourage a partnership between the students and instructor, encourage the evolution of a learning community, form an alliance with students, and manage the content and process
• Use good listening skills to be sensitive to the messages being sent and to the multiple dimensions of what participants have to say, and to show respect for participants and their contributions. Create opportunities for participants to develop these skills as well
• Use effective questions, listening, and response to manage discussion
• Help students develop class participation skills

Online Learning: Course Structure and Content

From http://www.sjc.cc.nm.us/pages/2850.asp (Be sure to click the link for more details on each point, as well as the research that backs it up. )

• Set Clear Goals
• Design an Effective Syllabus
• Recognize that students may have different learning styles, and make an effort to match your teaching to multiple learning styles
• Design learning environments that support a variety of learning styles
• If teaching online, create course content pages so that they support web user reading techniques
• Give students significant control over navigation of course materials
• Provide learners with some control over the sequence of learning activities
• When using technologies, provide content in multiple media to support the formation of more robust mental models
• In online environments, be aware of the effects of download time for varying multimedia file sizes
• Recognize that learners will approach the course from different perspectives
• Design activities that encourage "active" learning in which students are expected to participate
• When using case studies, write interesting and effective cases
• Use problem-based learning to apply course concepts
• Adequately prepare students for problem-based approaches to learning, and provide feedback to students during the process
• When using problem-based learning, provide adequate structure for group work
• Provide appropriate individual and creative problem-solving opportunities
• Provide activities such as summarizing or generating questions that will encourage students to think critically and generate their own meaningful connections with the materials
• Insert questions, charts, and/or diagrams into text to help students better regulate their own comprehension or visualize a concept
• Encourage students to use good learning strategies, such as re-reading, note-taking, distributing learning over time, and time management
• Encourage critical thinking by presenting students with tasks that require analysis, synthesis, and problem recognition, and problem solving, inference, and evaluation
• Provide adequate support for students so they can perform course activities successfully and efficiently
• Provide frequent and prompt feedback to students
• Provide opportunities for frequent interactions between yourself and your students
• Convey high (but reasonable) expectations of your students; be careful to hold the same expectations for all of the students in your course
• Observe copyright and fair use policies and guidelines