At the end of each best practice, I have added at least one example of how I might incorporate the best practice with the course I expect to design and teach.

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

Here are ten best practices for anyone just getting started in the online
environment. Research and experience suggest that these practices contribute to
an effective, efficient and satisfying teaching and learning experience for both
faculty and students. Using these practices can help develop confidence, comfort,
and experience in teaching online.

Best Practice 1: Be Present at the Course Site

Liberal use of a faculty’s use of communication tools such as announcements,
discussion board postings, and forums communicate to the students that the
faculty member cares about who they are, cares about their questions and
concerns, and is generally “present” to do the mentoring and challenging that
teaching is all about.
When faculty actively interact and engage students in a face-to-face classroom,
the class develops as a learning community, developing intellectual and personal
bonds. The same type of bonding happens in an online setting.
We have learned to quantify what it means to “be present.” The “best online”
faculty – according to students – are faculty who show their presence multiple
times a week, and at best, daily. Setting clear expectations – as to when you will
be present and when you will not – at the beginning of a course with course
policies is very helpful, however, and can reduce the need for daily presence if
that is not your particular style. Setting regular times when you can meet in a
virtual classroom or be available by email or texting, and thus be available –
almost in real time similar to office hours, can be invaluable.
Note: Students who feel abandoned or who feel alone may even post questions,
such as “Is anybody there?” This is a very clear and unambiguous signal that not
all is well. I will have set times and days for contact with students and an open invitation for them to contact me anytime.

Best Practice 2: Create a supportive online course community

A good strategy for developing a supportive online course community is to design
a course with a balanced set of dialogues. This means designing a course so that
the three dialogues of faculty to student, student to student and student to
resource are about equal. In most online courses, the dialogue of faculty to
student is provided with (1) mini-lectures in text or video or audio podcasts, (2)
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weekly coaching and reminder announcements and (3) explanations/interactions
with the students.
Here are three strategies that can be used to encourage peer-to-peer, studentto-
student engagement and thus the building of a course community. Note that
an online instructor wants to develop three types of presence:social presence,
teaching presence, and cognitive/content presence.
Launch the class with a personal introduction posting so that students can
get to know one another and you get to know “where students’ heads are.”
The types of info often shared by faculty and students include info on
professional experiences, personal information such as family/friends/pets,
and a photograph. Faculty also often include a note about their teaching
philosophy and research projects.
Encourage use of a general open student forum for students to post and
request help and assistance from each other through the various studentto-
student tools, such as discussions, help areas, etc.
Set up small groups where students can assume responsibility for
supportive mentoring of fellow students and summarizing key points of a
class assignment. The students might work in groups of 2, 3 or 4. This
strategy is similar to a study group.
Set up problem-solving forums or discussions boards, and assign students
or student teams to monitor and support or direct questions.
Note: Learning within the setting of an online course community will work better
for some students than for others. Some students may choose not to participate
very actively at all; other students find it is the best way for them to learn in an
online setting. The point of this is that for those students who need it, it is an
essential part of how they learn. Vygotsky’s theories remind us that we learn as
social beings within a social context. The online community is part of what makes
this happen for some students. I will definitely have an initial meet and greet with the learner. I can see small groups working along with chat lines.

Best Practice 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

This best practice cannot be overemphasized. Include on your course site a set of
expectations for how students communicate and dialogue online and how they
communicate with you. For example, many faculty tell students that they can
expect a response within 24 hours during the week. Often before a major test or
assignment, faculty will agree to hold special office hours by computer, being
available either by chat/live classroom or email, or phone. In the interests of
time and community, it is best to use a tool where responses and content can be
shared with everyone and archived for flexibility in access and review.
This basic expectation of response time can easily be modified – so long as the
change is communicated to the students. It is easy to know what to do, if we
think about the students as family for the term. Students are very accepting of a
faculty member’s time and life requirements if they know what is going on. And
students often step in and help each other even more when they know a faculty
member is sick, traveling or otherwise not available.
Often students can agree to monitor course questions posted in the Open Forum
or in the discussion boards for a week for example.
Online learning is just as intensive as learning face-to-face, and time to do the
work needs to be scheduled and planned for, just as if one were attending
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face-to-face classes. Being clear as to how much effort and time will be required
on a weekly basis keeps surprises to a minimum. My formatting and information to my learners will follow the example of the PIDP and EDUC programs.

Best Practice 4: Use a variety of large group, small group, and individual work experiences

A community works well when there are a variety of activities and experiences.
Online courses can be more enjoyable and effective when students have the
opportunity to brainstorm and work through concepts and assignments with
either one or two or more fellow students. At the same time some students work
and learn best on their own. So, building in options and opportunities for
students to work together and individually is highly recommended.
Working in teams is particularly effective when working on complex case studies
or scenarios for the first time. Team and group activities are perfect for my ethics and witness statement courses. I will definitely include some examples of this activity.

Best Practice 5: Use both synchronous and asynchronous
activities

When online courses were first introduced, they were almost totally
asynchronous – an updated version of the distance learning courses by
correspondence. Now we have course management systems and virtual live
classrooms and audio tools that make it possible to do almost everything we do
in campus classrooms. Plus we can often engage learners in more collaborative
and more reflective activities, and what happens is recorded and archived and
there for review and occasionally revision.
Sometimes there is nothing better than a real-time interactive brainstorming and
sharing discussion; other times the requirement to think, plan, write and
summarize is what makes learning most effective for an individual. The variety of
activities that are now possible online makes it possible to create many types of
effective learning environments.
For example, in many financial and statistical courses, real time problem-solving
and question and answer review sessions can be very effective learning
experiences. While working professionals often choose to complete advanced
degrees online so that they can make use of the asynchronous, anytime,
anywhere features of a program, these same learners enjoy getting together
from anywhere at a specific time to interact in real time. Reflective activities, brainstorming, sharing discussions, and others are all part of my program and they will be blended into the learning activities.

Best Practice 6: Early in the term – about week 3, ask for
informal feedback on “How is the course going?” and “Do
you have any suggestions?”

Course evaluations have been called “post mortem” evaluations as they are done
after the fact, and nothing can be changed to increase satisfaction or facilitate
learning. Early feedback surveys or just informal discussions ask students to
provide feedback on what is working well in a course and what might help them
have a better course experience. This early feedback is done early in the course
so corrections and modifications can be made. It is an easy opening for students
who might have comments or suggestions or questions. Although my experience teaching has only been face to face, I have always asked for early feedback from my learners. Also, after each quiz and exam, I ask my students how they felt about the questions asked and if or how I could improve the assessment. 

Best Practice 7: Prepare Discussion Posts that Invite
Questions, Discussions, Reflections and Responses
Discussions in an online course are the equivalent of class discussions in a
face-to-face class.

A key difference, of course, is that these discussions are
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asynchronous, providing time for thought and reflection and requiring written
/and or audio responses that become part of a course archive.
Discussions might be designed for one of the following purposes (Painter, et al.,
2003; and Goodyear et al 2003, cited in Grogan, 2005):
Provide an open question and answer forum
Encourage critical or creative thinking
Reinforcing domain or procedural processes
Achieve social interaction and community building – have the students get
to know each other personally and intellectually
Validating experiences
Supporting students in their own reflections and inquiries
Here are a few hints for discussion postings culled from many conversations with
experienced online faculty.
Quick One-Liner Hints
Create open-ended questions that learners can explore and apply the
concepts that they are learning
Model good Socratic-type probing and follow-up questions. Why do you
think that? What is your reasoning? Is there an alternative strategy? Ask
clarifying questions that encourage students to think about what they
know and don’t know.
Stagger due dates of the responses and consider mid-point summary and
/or encouraging comments
Provide guidelines and instruction on responding to other students. For
example, suggest a two-part response: (1) what you liked or agreed with
or what resonated with you, and (2) a follow-up question such as what you
are wondering about or curious about, etc.
Provide choices and options for students. Providing choices for students in
questioning follows the principle of providing options for personalized and
customized learning for students and a way of validating and affirming
knowledge and skills. Working professionals are often grappling with many
issues – providing choices and options makes it possible to link the learning
more directly with their work experiences and needs.
Don’t post questions soliciting basic facts, or questions for which there is
an obvious yes/no response. The reason for this is obvious. Once one
student responds, there is not much more to say! Very specific fact-based
questions that you want to be sure that you students know are best used
in practice quizzes.
Reminder: Log in to your course at least 4 times a week – answer email,
monitor discussions, post reminders, and hold online office hours.
You may also want to peruse some of the hints about questioning from other
ecoaching hints available at http://www.designingforlearning.info/services/writing
/ecoach/index.htm. Discussion posts will be vital in the course I am writing. Ethics, policy, report writing, interviewing techniques, are good examples where I will incorporate critical and creative thinking.

Best Practice 8: Focus on content resources and
applications and links to current events and examples that
are easily accessed from learner’s computers

If content is not digital, it is as if it does not exist for students. This means that
the content that students will more likely use is that content and applications
that are available from their computers. Students want to be learning anywhere,
anytime and often while they are doing other things, such as driving, exercising,
etc. Carrying around large, heavy textbooks and even laptops sometimes feels
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like an anachronism. Content that is mobile and can be accessed via
smartphones, ipads, ipods, and mp3 players are welcome additions for many
students.
For many courses and disciplines, however, textbooks are not yet available in
digital form, so this best practice applies mostly to supplementary resources and
to library resources. A reference document with detailed instructions on
accessing library resources is included in most courses. Additionally, a key
member of the instructional team is the library reference person assigned to
supporting online learners.
Students enjoy seeing how what they are learning links to current news events.
Thus, building into a course discussions and links to current events is often
motivating to learners. So, this best practice includes the following: “Encourage
students to help make the best use of the world of Internet resources.” Here are
some ideas.
Enlist student assistance in identifying high quality content that is available
online. This can include tutorials, simulations and supplementary stat
material online.
Incorporate into assignments and discussions how the various statistical
tools are used in professional situations and in decision-making. Include
examples of when and why they helped and perhaps when they went awry. Considering what is occurring worldwide pertaining to the black lives matter movement, I will have an enormous amount of material to choose from for student engagement, debate, and discussion.

Best Practice 9: Combine core concept learning with
customized and personalized learning
This best practice combines a number of basic learning principles, explained in
length in other resources.

Very briefly, it means that faculty identify the core
concepts to be learned in a course – the performance goals – and then mentor
learners through a set of increasingly complex and even customized projects
applying these core concepts. Many online learners within professional certificate
programs are working professionals. Supporting learners with their professional
goals that are closely linked to the performance goals of a course and even
beyond the course parameters is a win-win for the learners individually and as a
class. How does one do this? Building in options and choices in assignments and
special projects is a way to do this.
Another key principle that aids in concept learning comes from Vygotsky (1962,
1978). Vygotsky notes that concepts are not words, but rather organized and
intricate knowledge clusters. This is a simple, but profound principle. This means
that while we must teach in a linear fashion, presenting concepts individually and
in small clusters, we need to apply concepts within case studies, problems and
analyses that combine concepts and principles within a context. Effectively
learning concepts – as we know from novice and expert studies – requires a focus
on patterns and relationships and not individual facts or vocabulary.
When faced with a new field or discipline, students often focus on learning the
vocabulary of a discipline, but this activity is often done in isolation from an
understanding of the concepts that give the words meaning. Without the
underlying concepts, words are akin to isolated “weeds” and “seeds” likely to be
blown away by the winds of time, usually mere hours after an exam.
A popular new teaching and learning mantra advocates making students’
thinking visible. Making our thinking visible requires students to create, talk,
write, explain, analyze, judge, report and inquire. These types of activities make
it clear to students themselves, to the faculty, and to fellow learners what
students know or don’t know, what they are puzzled about and about what they
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might be curious. Such activities stimulate student’s growth from concept
awareness to concept acquisition, building in that “series of intellectual
operations” that Vygotsky believes is required for concept acquisition.
Discussion forums, blogging, journals and small group work are all excellent
strategies for engaging learners in clarifying and enlarging their mental models
or concepts and building links and identifying relationships. Most of my learner’s goals will be to either seek employment or improve their opportunities in advancement in law enforcement or social justice. To talk, create, write, explain, analyze, judge, report, and inquire are perfect goals to be used in my course.

Best Practice 10: Plan a good closing and wrap activity for
the course

As courses come to a close, it is easy to forget the value of a good closing
experience. In the final weeks of a course, students are likely to be stressed and
not take the time to do the lists and the planning that can help reduce stress and
provide a calming atmosphere. A favorite image of mine is from David Allen of
Getting Things Done. Allen notes that making a list helps us to clear the “psychic
ram” of our brains and we feel more relaxed and more in control. Once we have
made our list and schedule, we don’t have to continually remind ourselves of
what needs to be done and when.
Here are a few hints for closing out a course experience with style and panache.
Take time to remind students of what’s next and when assignments and
readings are due. Announcements of this type provide a “To Do” list and
schedule for the learners. And by implication this list provides a helpful “To
Do” list and schedule for you. As always, it is good to post reminders and
make references to the planning list in your comments. And update as you
go.
Plan the ending of the course experience. A well-designed ending of a
course provides opportunities for reflection and integration of useful
knowledge. It is also a time to wrap up positive social and cognitive
experiences.
End-of-course experiences often include student presentations, summaries and
analyses. These reports and presentations provide insights into just what useful
knowledge students are taking away from a course and a final opportunity for
faculty to remind students of core concepts and fundamental principles.
Concluding Thought
Traditional courses have long focused on tools and techniques for the
presentation of content. Traditional concerns from faculty focused on covering
the material, getting through the book and meeting expectations so that faculty
in other courses won’t muse and wonder, “Didn’t you learn these concepts from
faculty X?” And “Didn’t you study the work and contributions of ____ (Fill in
your favorite who)”
A major drawback with designing for content as a priority is that it focuses
attention on what the faculty member is doing, thinking and talking about and
not on the interaction and engagement of students with the core concepts and
skills of a course. The new focus on learners encourages a focus on learners as a
priority. The new focus on the learner is to develop a habit of asking, what is
going on inside the learner’s head? How much of the content is being integrated
into their knowledge base? How much of the content and the tools can he/she
actually use? What are students thinking and how did they arrive at their
respective positions? My end of course work usually involves asking, “So, what have you learned over this past week?” I get the responses, receive the assessments, and we are all off to the pub for a beer. I will design a formal ending to my course whether it be a group project, individual learner presentation, or merely verbal summation of the learning experience.

References
Boettcher, J.V. & Conrad, R. M. (2010) E-Coaching Success Tips
http://www.designingforlearning.info/services/writing/ecoach/index.htm
Accessed May 30, 2011. A library of over 80 tips developed over 2006 – 2010.
Boettcher, J. V. (2007). Ten Core Principles for Designing Effective Learning
Environments: Insights from Brain Research and Pedagogical Theory.
http://www.innovateonline.info/index.php?view=article&id=54. (February 16, 2009).
Boettcher, J. V., & Conrad, R. M. (2010). The Online Teaching Survival Guide:
Simple and Practical Pedagogical Tips (1 ed.). San Francisco: Jossey Bass.

Additional best practices added to The Online Teaching Survival Guide as of 2011.

Best Practice 11: Assess as you go by gathering evidence s of learning.

Best Practice 12: Rigorously connect content to core concepts and learning outcomes.Best

Practice 13: Develop and use a content frame for your course.

Best practice 14: Design experiences to help learners make progress on their novice-to-expert journey.