The role of a successful online instructor

Slide 1: Instructional Strategies What works?The role of a successful online/blended instructor Keys to What Works? Success Alexandra M. Pickett Assistant Director, SUNY Learning Network Faculty Development & Instructional Design 2001 Sloan-C Award for Excellence in ALN Faculty Development . Alexandra M. Pickett . Boston, 2007 .

Slide 2: Instructional Strategies What works?The role of a successful online/blended instructor KeysAre you ready ? to Success? ! Passion for teaching! Willingness to “rethink” how you teach. Commitment and time to develop. Commit to iterate. Review/Evaluate/Revise/Evolve. Complete course prior to teaching. (Or complete plan for blended course.) Institutional/administrative support. . Alexandra M. Pickett . Boston, 2007 .

Slide 3: Instructional Strategies What works?The role of a successful online/blended instructor KeysWhat worked for us... to Success? !  Faculty-driven course design– course not imposed by the CMS application or the instructional designer, but are well informed and influenced by best practices and standards.  Faculty must develop the course themselves – independent.  Opportunities for participation in online courses or discussion.  Observation of live exemplar online courses.  Access to successful/effective experienced faculty, opportunities for inter/intra disciplinary networking, peer support/training.  Individual ID support and technical HelpDesk support.  Wizard to scaffold faculty with an effective quick start course design.  Robust, reliable, stable network & technology.  Course template that makes technology transparent.  Collecting and sharing best practices.  Longitudinal, systematic data collection and analysis --Nationally recognized scholarly work to back us up.  Resources and support in a variety of media.  Formal opportunities for faculty reflection, evaluation, and revision. . Alexandra M. Pickett . Boston, 2007 .

Slide 4: Instructional Strategies What works?The role of a successful online/blended instructor Whatgeneral. . . ? In works  Successful online courses have effective designs and effective What I have instructors. This requires support. learned from working with  Faculty need to understand the nature of the online environment. This requires training. over 3,000 SUNY faculty,  Faculty need to be able to concentrate on teaching, students need from 40+ SUNY to be able to focus on learning -- technology must be as transparent as possible. This requires robust technology. institutions, and thousands of  Faculty must convert instruction, rather than try to duplicate students since activities online. Conversion requires “rethinking” how to achieve learning objectives & how to assess learning within the options 1994. and limitations of the new learning environment(s). This requires willingness, commitment, and time. . Alexandra M. Pickett . Boston, 2007 .

Slide 5: Instructional Strategies What works?The role of a successful online/blended instructor Introduction W h a tt Wha WORKS Who are you? Faculty/Instructional Designers? Blended/Online? One effective best practice/strategy or tip you would share with online/blended faculty/IDs. ? What are the characteristics of an successful online/blended instructor? . Alexandra M. Pickett . Boston, 2007 .

Slide 6: Instructional Strategies What works?The role of a successful online/blended instructor Successful instructors is to. . . Know their role Interaction Expectations  Create teaching and learning opportunities and environments where students can interact with Collaboration students AND where students can interact with faculty. Simplicity  present. engage. assess. Support SLN student satisfaction surveys: the biggest contributing factor to student satisfaction and perceived learning is student/teacher Flexibility interaction. Second is student to student interaction. . Alexandra M. Pickett . Boston, 2007 .

Slide 7: Instructional Strategies What works?The role of a successful online/blended instructor Successful instructors is to. . . Know their role Interaction  Create and communicate to the student a Expectations reasonable set of expectations for the level Collaboration and kinds of interactions in an online course.  explicitly set expectations for Simplicity interactions, conduct, and completion of Support all course learning activities.  provide models and anticipate issues. Flexibility and questions.  do what they say. . Alexandra M. Pickett . Boston, 2007 .

Slide 8: Instructional Strategies What works?The role of a successful online/blended instructor Successful instructors is to. . . Know their role Interaction Expectations  Promote community, teaching presence, and collaboration. Collaboration  Discussion. Simplicity  Peer support.  Small group activities/projects. Support Flexibility Since student to student interaction is such a significant factor in student satisfaction, any opportunities created in a course that involve collaboration to construct knowledge is an important component of an online course . Alexandra M. Pickett . Boston, 2007 .

Slide 9: Instructional Strategies What works?The role of a successful online/blended instructor Successful instructors is to. . . Know their role Interaction Expectations  Keep it simple.  Its not a course and a half! Collaboration  Provide instructional cues, logical Simplicity organization, easy navigation, sign posts, advanced organizers. Support  Not let the technology/multimedia dog Flexibility wag the instructional tail.  Provide rubrics, examples, self- assessments. . Alexandra M. Pickett . Boston, 2007 .

Slide 10: Instructional Strategies What works?The role of a successful online/blended instructor Successful instructors is to. . . Know their role Interaction Expectations  Support student learning.  Faculty: facilitate and guide student learning. Collaboration Simplicity  Students: are self-motivated and given every opportunity to know how they can succeed. Support Flexibility . Alexandra M. Pickett . Boston, 2007 .

Slide 11: Instructional Strategies What works?The role of a successful online/blended instructor Successful instructors is to. . . Know their role Interaction Expectations  Create a flexible teaching and learning environment that is student-centered and that Collaboration evolves and iterates as their own experiences Simplicity and understanding grows.  FACULTY: have commitment to Support continuous improvement as educators. Flexibility  STUDENTS: have responsibility and accountability for their own learning. . Alexandra M. Pickett . Boston, 2007 .

Slide 12: Instructional Strategies What works?The role of a successful online/blended instructor What works? Best Practices: effective online instructors. . . ! are student centered and sensitive to the 1 student’s perspective. “Assume nothing” and anticipate and address student questions in the design of the course. 2 are responsive and present in the course. Promote teaching presence. 3 follow the simple formula: Present, engage/interact, assess. . Alexandra M. Pickett . Boston, 2007 .

Slide 13: Instructional Strategies What works?The role of a successful online/blended instructor What works? Best Practices: Effective online instructors. . . ! create complete well-explained online and off 4 line activities. provide models and rubrics, use directives, first/second person voice, advanced 5 organizers, the structure of the course/subjects to convey instructional content, conversational tone. encourage a sense of class community & 6 provide community building opportunities & interactions. . Alexandra M. Pickett . Boston, 2007 .

Slide 14: Instructional Strategies What works?The role of a successful online/blended instructor The role of a successful Conclusions online/blended instructor. . . !  maintain accurate assumptions about students.  be prepared.  provide prompt feedback and be responsive to the student needs, experience, and perspective.  demonstrate teaching presence in the course.  understand and leverage appropriately and effectively the options and limitations of the environments in which s/he works.  be willing to rethink how s/he teaches and to evolve.  effectively create and cultivate a sense of class community.  understand how to effectively assess students. . Alexandra M. Pickett . Boston, 2007 .

Slide 15: Instructional Strategies What works?The role of a successful online/blended instructor Any questions Any questions ? . Alexandra M. Pickett . Boston, 2007 .

Slide 16: Instructional Strategies What works?The role of a successful online/blended instructor Thank you! Alexandra M. Pickett alexandra.pickett@sln.suny.edu sln.suny.edu/developer sln.suny.edu . Alexandra M. Pickett . Boston, 2007 .