ANYONE CAN TEACH. BUT CAN THEY DO IT WELL?
This question applies just as much to online as to classroom teaching. Indeed, many of the elements that underline quality classroom teaching also apply to online teaching: mastery of the subject, clear learning outcomes or goals, a well designed curriculum that covers the critical topics/themes, good communication with students, timely feedback, and relevant, reliable and discriminating assessment of student learning.
In fact, these elements matter even more for students studying at a distance, who do not have the non-verbal cues and serendipitous meetings with faculty and other students that they would have while on campus.
However, in addition to these “generic” requirements of quality teaching, there are a relatively small number of requirements that are specific to online teaching. We have researched both effective teaching on campus and effective teaching online and assembled nine clear steps to enable quality online teaching. References are given in full at the end of the paper.
See What Faculty Need to Know About Teaching Online to read about the Nine Steps!
