Facilitate Student Participation in a Virtual Conference of a Professional Association

Description Regardless of academic discipline, educational programs in the realm of higher education are charged with preparing graduates with the skills, knowledge, and dispositions needed for the workplace (Trede, Macklin, & Bridges, 2012). Part of this preparation entails scaffolding the development of students’ professional identity so they can “develop a sense of who they are …

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Press Release Spring 2015

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: New Online Teaching Practices Added to Open Repository Orlando, Florida, US – April 30, 2015 – The editors of the Teaching Online Pedagogical Repository (TOPR) are pleased to announce the new entries accepted for publication from the Spring 2015 TOPR Call for Submissions. Entries were received from faculty and designers in multiple …

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Require Online Exit Tickets for Active Engagement

Description Changing the culture of the online university classroom from one of passivity to active engagement requires purposeful planning by the university professor (Kuh, 2005). Related to the so-called “minute paper,” exit slips offer easy, quick, and informative assessments that help encourage student connections to content, self-reflection, and a purpose for future learning (Marzano, 2012; …

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Use Academic Challenges and Experiential Missions to Provide Learner Choice and Engage Students in Online Course Activities

Description Aligning students’ instructional preferences with course activities and providing opportunities for learner choice are widely recognized as educational best practice, helping students to engage with content and learn more effectively (Kern & State, 2009; Patall, Dent, Oyer, & Wynn, 2013; Patall, Cooper, & Wynn, 2010), and researchers and practitioners have started extending this instructional …

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Use Online Debates to Enhance Classroom Engagement

Description A debate is a formal competition between two teams, usually with three members each, arguing a discussion statement known as “the moot”. Shaw (2012) believes that debates stimulate critical thinking and can be a highly effective way to actively engage students in research in the online classroom. Student-generated debate presentations can become a welcome …

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Use Learner Created Videos for Student Engagement in a Flipped Classroom

Description It has been a challenge to engage students in large-enrollment classes, especially in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. The larger the class size is, the less likely students will actively engage in class activities (Rocca, 2010). The lack of engagement creates information overload (Hewitt & Brett, 2007), which consequently resulted in …

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Using Student Created Blogs as a Progressive Formative Assessment in an Online STEM Course

Description The utility of writing assignments to enhance learning biology is well documented (e.g. Mynlieff et al., 2014; Couch et al., 2015). Such assignments can provide the basis for assessing higher-order and critical-thinking skills (Kelly et al, n.d.). Furthermore, when students are able to react to instructors’ feedback by re-drafting or adjusting their written work, …

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Use Self Tests to Guide and Motivate Students’ Learning

Description Self‐assessment can play a central role in learning, revisions and review (Andreade & Du, 2007; Weimer, 2010). The self‐assessment process involves a complex process of internalization and self‐regulation, and with implications for research and practice. “Researchers see criteria‐referenced self‐assessment as a key component of self‐regulation with the potential to scaffold other components, including goal‐setting, …

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Provide Formative Feedback for Student Success in Interactive Assessments

Description Research suggest that faculty interacting with and providing constructive feedback to students were significantly and positively related to students’ learning gains in professional skills (Bjorklund, Parente, & Sathianathan, 2004). If students work on an assignment which does not exemplify the best they can do to meet the assignment criteria, they are allowed to revise …

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Press Release Spring 2014

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: New Online Teaching Practices Added to Open Repository Orlando, Florida, US – April 4, 2014 – The editors of the Teaching Online Pedagogical Repository (TOPR) are pleased to announce the new entries accepted for publication from the Spring 2014 TOPR Call for Submissions. Entries were received from faculty and designers in multiple …

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