Tips for RU Online Faculty

Interaction

Give frequent and consistent feedback. Without it, your students will be frustrated.
Clearly indicate how and when you will be available.
Use threaded discussions to provide motivation, support, and feedback. Invite students to share challenges (assure them that their grade will not be affected).
Be patient. Many students are taking online courses for the first time. If a student misses because of illness, help them. Give them opportunity to make up their work. It's much easier to do this with online courses than face to face.

Engage Learners

Encourage student-to-student interaction. Make students responsible for summarizing the week's discussion, taking the lead of a discussion, or teaching others a concept.
Create activities where students integrate new ideas with existing knowledge. Provide them a frame of reference within the online environment.

Use Student-Centered Techniques

Assign group projects and small group discussions. Have students role-play, create simulations, or engage in mock trials and debates.
Use peer-review for projects or papers. Students can assist each other before grading, motivating them to display their work publicly and receive feedback from more than just one person.
Involve students in their learning, remember the adage that students remember only 10% of what they read or see, but 80% of what they do and 90% of what they teach others.

Motivate Students Online

Require class participation. Make class participation a weighty part of student grades. Use the threaded discussions as your "in-class" time and create rubrics for discussions and assignments so students will have clear guidelines.
Give positive feedback to help motivate students. Send them on virtual vacations or send virtual greetings or other rewards for outstanding work.
Engage "silent" students. Reach out to them with private email/phone messages of concern.
Emphasize "netiquette." Words can be interpreted very differently online. Make sure you explain your feelings with cues like, "I feel very strongly about this," or "I'm confused by your answer. Is this what you mean?"

Design with Appropriate Use of Technology

Achieve balance between presentation and content. Use technology appropriately. You want students to spend their time learning the course content, not tinkering with new technology.
Establish your "voice" online. Personal touches make a huge difference in how a student views the learning environment.
Solicit and consider student feedback in redesigning parts of your course.

Preparation

Learn the technology. Get your computer literacy and knowledge of Blackboard up to speed well in advance of the course start date.
Rigorously follow all RU Online guidelines for course development. Establish clear policies, set clear deadlines, and implement a clear organization of your course.
See your course "from a student's perspective" before class starts. Make sure expectations are clearly stated. Don't forget to include when and how to submit course work.
Review your course. Online courses can become obsolete very quickly. Content changes, links go bad, books go out of print. It's important to maintain course currency. Check links and resources by making sure all links work.

Teaching with Courses Prepared by Other Instructors

Check through all content making sure that contact information, syllabus and course information match your own. You are responsible for changing schedule dates for your course. For assistance please contact Kristin Broadwell kbroadwell@roosevelt.edu or Lynette Washington lwashington@roosevelt.edu

Training and Seeking Help from Seasoned Online Instructors

Students have their best most notable online learning with experienced on line teachers. Seek help and mentoring from seasoned online teachers. Also attend the free Blackboard workshops to stay current on training and trends. http://faculty.roosevelt.edu/ruonline/faculty_training.html

Additional Resources

http://www.ion.illinois.edu/resources/ The Illinois Online Network site has excellent resources for faculty. Don't miss the Articles and Tutorials section.
http://www.onlineteachingtips.org/ An excellent site from Dallas Baptist University, especially the Pedagogy section.
http://www.ctdlc.org/faculty/TeachingTips/index.html Some interesting links from the Connecticut Distance Learning Consortium.

Call toll free 866.885.3823 or email ruonline@roosevelt.edu for more information.