Excellence In Online Education

Online education offers incredible potential to reach students and their context for Christ, but doing so requires intentional implementation of a philosophy and practice of online education. As online professors and administrators seek to create a Christian community on mission, students can be transformed, and the gospel will be spread throughout the world. Excellence in Online Education provides an overview of the debates surrounding online Christian education, a framework for building community online, and practical advice about course design, delivery and program management.

Assessment has provided educational institutions with information about student learning outcomes and the quality of education for many decades. But has it informed practice and been fully incorporated into the learning cycle? Conrad and Openo argue that the potential inherent in many of the new learning environments being explored by educators and students has not been fully realized. In this investigation of a variety of assessment methods and learning approaches, the authors aim to discover the tools that engage learners and authentically evaluate education. They insist that moving to new learning environments, specifically those online and at a distance, afford opportunities for educators to adopt only the best practices of traditional face-to-face assessment while exploring evaluation tools made available by a digital learning environment in the hopes of arriving at methods that capture the widest set of learner skills and attributes.

The author gives us a vision of educational reform that transcends standards, curriculum, and instructional strategies. He argues for a paradigm shift-a schoolwide embrace of an "ethic of excellence" and with a passion for quality describes what's possible when teachers, students, and parents commit to nothing less than the best. The author tells exactly how this can be done, from the blackboard to the blacktop to the school boardroom.

Teaching Health Professionals Online: Frameworks and Strategies is a must-read for professionals in the health care field who strive to deliver excellence in their online classes. This compendium of teaching strategies will assist both new and experienced instructors in the health professions. In addition to outlining creative, challenging activities with step-by-step directions and explanations of why they work, each chapter situates these practical techniques within the context of a particular theory of learning: instructional immediacy, invitational theory, constructivism, connectivism, transformative learning, and quantum learning theory. The authors also address other issues familiar to those who have taught online courses. How can a distance instructor build teacher-student relationships? How does one create a sense of community in the virtual classroom? How can an online instructor best support students in their future pursuit of knowledge and their development as competent professionals? By considering these and other concerns, this handbook aims to help instructors to increase student success and satisfaction, which, the authors hope, will in the long run contribute to improved patient care.

Bring pedagogy and cognitive science to online learning environments Online Teaching at Its Best: A Merger of Instructional Design with Teaching and Learning Research is the scholarly resource for online learning that faculty, instructional designers, and administrators have long been awaiting. Over 70 percent of degree-granting institutions offer online classes, and while technical resources abound, the courses often fall short of integrating the best practices in online pedagogy, even if they comply with online course design standards. Typically these standards omit the best practices in teaching and learning and the principles from cognitive science, leaving students struggling to keep the pace, understand the material, and fulfill their true potential as learners. This book fills the gap, providing evidence-based practices for online teaching, online course design, and online student motivation integrated with pedagogical and cognitive science to help you build the distance learning courses and programs your students deserve. As more and more students opt for distance learning, it's up to designers and instructors to rethink traditional methods and learn to work more effectively within the online learning environment, and up to administrators to provide the needed leadership. Online Teaching at Its Best provides practical, real-world advice grounded in educational science to help online instructors, instructional designers, and administrators deliver an exceptional learning experience. Adopt new pedagogical techniques designed specifically for online learning environments Ensure strong course alignment and effective student learning for online classes Increase student retention, build necessary support structures, and train faculty more effectively Integrate research-based course design and cognitive psychology into graduate or undergraduate programs Distance is no barrier to a great education; what do stand in the way are inadequate online course design and implementation and deficient faculty training and support—all of which administrators can mitigate. Online Teaching at Its Best will help you ensure that your online classes measure up to the rigor and quality of excellence in teaching and assessment, build in the personal touch for developing a learning community and equip your students to succeed in the next challenge.

"Neither an academic tome nor a prescriptive 'how to' guide, The Theory and Practice of Online Learning is an illuminating collection of essays by practitioners and scholars active in the complex field of distance education. Distance education has evolved significantly in its 150 years of existence. For most of this time, it was an individual pursuit defined by infrequent postal communication. But recently, three more developmental generations have emerged, supported by television and radio, teleconferencing, and computer conferencing. The early 21st century has produced a fifth generation, based on autonomous agents and intelligent, database-assisted learning, that has been referred to as Web 2.0. The second edition of "The Theory and Practice of Online Learning" features updates in each chapter, plus four new chapters on current distance education issues such as connectivism and social software innovations."--BOOK JACKET.

Drawing on nearly a decade of teaching online, and many years working as a technical adviser and faculty developer in higher education, author Aaron Johnson will walk you through sixteen distinct characteristics of excellent online teaching. What you'll learn: - Strategies for connecting with your students - Effective ways to save time in grading - Ways to give your students meaningful feedback - How to communicate effectively in the online environment - How to begin and end your course with excellence - How to effectively facilitate online discussion Preview the table of contents for more Excellent Online Teaching also has a companion website with resources for each chapter. Because this is a rapidly changing field, this book focuses on enduring online teaching methods. The companion website contains updates, technical helps, and other resources. "My hope is that you'll end the semester with a new level of confidence and with course evaluations that let you know that you are on the right track. More importantly, I hope that you and your students will be experiencing a vibrant learning relationship. If you have been teaching online for a while, I think you'll find some ways to improve your game." - Author, Aaron Johnson