The document discusses effective teaching styles for asynchronous online classrooms. It outlines Grasha's five teaching styles - expert, formal authority, personal model, facilitator, and delegator. While no single style is most effective, research shows that providing timely feedback, engaging activities, motivation, student interaction, and critical thinking are key behaviors of effective online teachers. The document provides examples of facilitating discussions and assigning student roles to encourage participation.

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EFFECTIVE
TEACHING STYLES
IN ASYNCHRONOUS ONLINE CLASSROOMS
Are teachers with certain teaching styles more likely to do well teaching online?
Tiffany Wang
MSTU 4081: Online Schools and Online Schooling for K-12

2. Outline
2
• Overview
• iNacol Standards
• SREB Standards for Quality Online Teaching
• What is teaching style?
• Grasha’s five teaching style
• Effective online teaching strategies
• Research
• Assessment and teacher evaluation
• Interview with Ellyn
• Conclusion

3. Overview
3
• F2F and online courses are often seen and studied as two
separate environment which requires different pedagogy,
communication, and pacing to be successful
• Alot of research has been done in F2F teaching, but relatively
little about teaching in online classroom
• Issues such as teaching styles and which style/strategies work
best for certain teaching objectives aren’t well understood
• Standards exist, but can be met in many different ways

4. Overview
4
• A teacher who understands the possibilities and limits of his or
her teaching style, or which teaching style works best for
specific objectives will allow the teacher to examine how
particular characteristics affect students and their subsequent
ability to learn.
• Since there is limited research on online teaching style, here
we will focus on the transfer of more successful aspects of
F2F pedagogy and learning styles and adapt them to
online classroom.

5. iNacol Standards
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• The teacher plans, designs and incorporates strategies to
encourage active learning, interaction, participation and
collaboration in the online environment
• Facilitates and monitors appropriate interaction among students
• Builds and maintains a community of learners by creating a relationship
of trust, demonstrating effective facilitation skills, establishing consistent
and reliable expectations, and supporting and encouraging
independence
• Technologically capable and have a robust technology infrastructure

6. SREB Standards
6
• The SREB Standards for Quality Online Teaching, examines
what qualifications are needed to be a quality online teacher
and outlines specific standards for academic preparation,
content knowledge, online skills and delivery, and more.
• The goal this reflects is that every student is taught by
qualified teachers.
For a complete list of criteria for quality online teaching, please see the Southern Regional Education Board’s (SREB)
Standards of Quality for Online Teaching (link in reference in section).

7. What is teaching style?
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• Instructors develop a teaching style based on their beliefs about
what constitutes good teaching, personal preferences, their
abilities, and the norms of the particular discipline.
• Grasha (1996) defines teaching style as a particular pattern of
needs, beliefs, and behaviors that teachers display in the
classroom.
• Some believe classes should be teacher-centered, where the teacher is
expert and authority in presenting information.
• Others take a learner-centered approach, viewing their role as more of a
facilitator of student learning.

8. Grasha’s five teaching styles
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• According to Grasha (1996), teaching style will affect how
teachers present information, interact with students, supervise
coursework, and ultimately student’s success.
• He identified the following five teaching styles:
1. Expert (transmitter of information)
2. Formal authority (sets standards)
3. Personal model (teaches by direct examples)
4. Facilitator (guides by asking questions, exploring options)
5. Delegator (develop students ability to function autonomously)
Source: Grasha, A. (1996)

9. Grasha’s five teaching styles: Expert
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• Possesses knowledge and expertise that students need.
• Strives to maintain status as an expert among students by
displaying detailed knowledge and by challenging students to
enhance their competence.
• Advantage: The information, knowledge such individuals possess.
• Disadvantage: If overused, the display of knowledge can be
intimidating to less experienced students.
Source: Grasha, A. (1996)

10. Grasha’s five teaching styles: Formal authority
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• Possesses status among students because of knowledge and role
as a faculty member.
• Concerned with the standard ways to do things and with
providing students with the structure they need to learn.
• Advantage: The focus on clear expectations and acceptable
ways of doing things.
• Disadvantages: A strong investment in this
style can lead to rigid and standardized ways
of managing students.
Source: Grasha, A. (1996)

11. Grasha’s five teaching styles: Personal model
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• Believes in "teaching by personal example" and establishes a
prototype for how to think and behave.
• Advantage: An emphasis on direct observation and following a
role model.
• Disadvantage: Some teachers may believe their approach is the
best way leading some students to feel inadequate if they cannot
live up to such expectations and standards.
Source: Grasha, A. (1996)

12. Grasha’s five teaching styles: Facilitator
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• Emphasizes the personal nature of teacher-student interactions.
• Overall goal is to develop in students the capacity for
independent action, initiative, and responsibility.
• Advantage: The personal flexibility, the focus on students' needs
and goals, and the willingness to explore options and alternative
courses of action.
• Disadvantage: often time consuming and is sometimes employed
in a positive and affirming manner.
Source: Grasha, A. (1996)

13. Grasha’s five teaching styles: Delegator
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• Concerned with developing students' capacity to function in
an autonomous fashion.
• Students work independently on projects or as part of
autonomous teams.
• Advantage: Helps students to perceive themselves
as independent learners.
• Disadvantage: May misread student's readiness
for independent work.
Source: Grasha, A. (1996)

14. Is one style better than another?
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• Each style has its own unique advantages/disadvantages and
specific learning objectives
• Hoyt and Lee’s (2002) research has shown that there is not one
style that is effective for all objectives/discipline
• Although individuals have a dominant, preferred teaching style,
they will often mix in some elements of other styles.
• According to Garsha (1996), almost all teachers possess a blend
of each five teaching styles to varying degrees.

15. Grasha’s (1996) teaching style cluster
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• Grasha (1996) discusses four blends or clusters of teaching
style and its preferred teaching method:
• Cluster 1: Expert/formal authority
• Cluster 2: Demonstrator/personal model
• Cluster 3: Facilitator/personal model/expert
• Cluster 4: Delegator/facilitator/expert
Source: Grasha, A. (1996)

16. Example of online classes that differ by
teaching style
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17. What is your teaching style?
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• To get an indication of what your main teaching style is, take
a Grasha-Riechmann teaching style survey to reflect on
your teaching style.
http://longleaf.net/teachingstyle.html

18. Effective online teaching strategies
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• Preliminary research indicates five key behaviors as being
related to effective online teaching performance:
• Provide timely and meaningful feedback
• Create learning activities that engage students
• Keep students interested and motivated
• Get students to interact with each other
• Encourage students to be critical and reflective
Source: Kearsley & Blomeyer (2003)

19. Guide on the Side
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Rossman (1999) describes successful facilitation techniques for
asynchronous discussions
• Present a personal introduction to on the first week.
• Make every effort to keep learners up to speed with the discussion's
progress. It is the facilitator's responsibility to monitor the quality and
regularity of learner postings.
• Keep all comments positive in the forum— discuss negative feedback
privately and not on the discussion board.
• Keep the discussion moving and focused on assigned topic.
• Invite selected learners to facilitate a discussion on a special topic
related to an assigned reading.
Source: Rossman (1999)

20. Anderson et al. (2001): examples of
facilitating discussion
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Source: Anderson et al. (2001)

21. The conversational roles
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Brookfield (1999) offers useful method to encourage active participation and
leadership during course discussions. The teacher can assign students different
facilitating roles, such as the following:
• Reflective analyst: a member keeps a record of the conversation’s development,
shared concerns and emerging common themes.
• Devil’s advocate: a member listens carefully for any emerging consensus and then
expresses a contrary view. This keeps group-think in check and helps participants
explore a range of alternative interpretations.
• Problem poser: a member has the task of introducing the topic
of conversation, drawing on personal ideas and experiences as a
way to help others into conversation about the theme.
It has been documented in student’s course evaluations that
almost all students enjoyed discussions when they played a
role of a facilitator, although many were reluctant to do so
in the beginning.
Source: Brookfield (1999)

22. Assessment and teacher evaluation
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• Course evaluations provides meaningful evaluation not only for
faculty improvement but it also is an important way of
providing learners with a forum to express concerns, raise
course-related issues and to provide other feedback.
• Southern Regional Education Board (SREB), 2006. Online teaching
evaluation tool.
• Roblyer & Wiencke (2003) propose a rubric to used
to assess interactivity in an online class.
•

23. Interview with Ellyn at FVHS
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• When you teach in the classes, how do you facilitate interaction between the students?
• “Its very important to make sure students feel like they are in a community. In the beginning of a
course, I’ll upload an introduction of myself and have my students to the same so they get to
know each other and become more comfortable expressing their opinions to one another.
Throughout the semester, I break the big groups down into smaller group to facilitate learning
and so students have the chance to have more in depth discussions and learn from each other.”
• What is your teaching style?
• “I think teachers all develop their own unique styles, either from previous F2F experience or
their own teaching beliefs and philosophies. I started with being more entertaining and
enthusiastic in lectures, and now since its harder to be sure if the kids are understanding without
the personal connection, I have shifted my pedagogical approach to more facilitation.”
• Are teachers with certain teaching styles more likely to do well teaching online?
• “Not specifically. However, there are certainly a few competencies that online teachers must
have in order to do well online. We need to work extra hard to be creative to engage our
students, provide more timely feedback to help students improve, and create questions that
would inspire substantive responses that drive discussions to push students to explain and
improve their understanding.”

24. Conclusion
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• There is no clear consensus about the most effective teaching styles
that is the most effective in online classroom.
• In fact, research has concluded that no one style is effective for all
objectives/discipline.
• Teachers often mix different elements of styles
• Major differences exist depending upon academic discipline, learner
style, and on individual instructor preferences.
• A teacher who understands his or her teaching style (as well as
student’s learning style) and which personal qualities and behaviors
that are shared by other successful teachers would impact student’s
success in learning.

25. References
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• Anderson, T., Rourke, L., Garrison, D. R., Archer, W. (2001, Sept). Assessing teacher presence in a
computer conferencing context. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, 5(2)
• Brookfield, S. (1999). Discussion as a way of teaching: Tools and techniques for democratic
classroom. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
• Davis, N., Rose, R., & NACOL Research Committee and Working Group (2007). Professional
development for virtual schooling and online learning.
• Hoyt, D, & Lee, E.J, "Teaching ‘Styles’ and Learning Outcomes", IDEA Papers Research Reports, 4
(Nov. 2002).
• Kearsley, G., & Blomeyer, R. (2003). Preparing K-12 teachers to teach online.
• Grasha, A.F. (1996). Teaching With Style. Pittsburgh: PA: Alliance Publishers.
• Grasha-Riechmann teaching style survey. Available at http://longleaf.net/teachingstyle.html
• Roblyer, M.D., & Wiencke, W. (2003). Design and use of a rubric to assess and encourage
interactive qualities in distance courses. American Journal of Distance Education, 17(2).
• Rossman, M. (1999, Nov). Successful online teaching using an asynchronous learner discussion
forum. Asynchronous Learning Networks, 4(2).
• Southern Regional Education Board (SREB), 2006. Online teaching evaluation tool.

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