Peer review badge Lightboard Lecture Pedagogy and Best Practices

Description Faculty seeking a dynamic lecture-recording method for their online, hybrid, or flipped classrooms appreciate the Lightboard strategy. A Lightboard is an educational technology tool with a glass writing surface embedded with LED lights, allowing instructors to face the camera and create engaging instructional videos. LED lights and fluorescent markers make the writing highly visible …

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Peer review badge Use Green Screens to Increase Engagement

Description Online teaching requires the utilization of various multimedia productions on a daily basis. Teachers are constantly looking for new ways to increase the interest of their students. Outside of school, students are watching Youtube, TikTok, and Twitch at an all-time high rate (Pew Research Center, 2022). According to an online survey of 1,306 8- …

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Peer review badge Set the Stage with a Start Here Section: Orient Students to Course Purpose, Structure, and Expectations

Description Meeting the needs of students in online courses is essential in today’s educational landscape. When asked about aspects of online courses that are important to them, students repeatedly indicate that features that help them feel comfortable with the structure, format, and expectations of the course are of utmost importance (Hixson, Buckenmeyer, & Barczyk, 2015; …

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Design a Synchronous Learning Environment that Promotes Community, Interactivity, and Equity

Description As institutions continue to pilot and implement models where students in remote or satellite locations join an existing on-campus classroom through a videoconferencing system, the literature shows that these environments fall short as an extension of that classroom. It is not enough to add video conferencing technology where the remote students end being spectators …

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Create Screencasts to Present Content and Focus Attention

Description Screencasting refers to as a digitally recorded playback of computer screen output which often contains audio narration (Udell, 2005). Faculty choose to use them to record portions of lectures to provide overview, describe procedures, present concepts, focus attention and elaborate content (Sugar, Brown & Luterbach, 2010). Here are a few examples of instructional uses …

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Use Digital Posters for Online Community Introductions

Description A sense of community within a course can increase student engagement, persistence, and performance (Rovai, 2002; Vesely, Bloom, & Sherlock, 2007). In asynchronous teaching, creating community can be challenging. Instructors can facilitate a sense of community by providing ways for students to introduce themselves to each other. Glogs (graphic blogs) are interactive electronic posters …

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Use Digital Communication Tools to Enhance Online Communities of Inquiry

Description Learning online may be an isolating experience which may lead to student attrition. Digital communication tools may help to enhance online communities of inquiry and address students’ feelings of social connectedness, perceived instructor presence, cognitive engagement, and persistence. Research shows that faculty use of various new media and communication tools (including social media) may …

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Use Mobile Communication Technologies to Increase Students’ Feelings of Connectedness and Instructor Support

Description Use of mobile communication technology in the higher education setting is still a relatively new area of study. On brick and mortar campuses, students who have face-to-face interaction with their professors and peers can often be seen texting or “tweeting” between classes or in class. Such mobile messaging usage in class can be very …

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Peer review badge Send a Welcome Message

Description A welcome message to students before the course begins is an important step in establishing your online persona (Bellafiore, 2007; Gibson & Blackwell, 2005; Mensch & Ali, 2007; Phillips, 2011). The message should include vital information for the course and not be your entire syllabus. The purpose of this communication is to welcome the …

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Send Students an Introductory Email Message Before the Course Begins

Description Many faculty members begin their online courses by contacting students in advance of the course start date or during the first week of classes with an introductory email message (Bellafiore, 2007; Gibson & Blackwell, 2005; Mensch  & Ali, 2007). The purpose of this communication is to welcome the students, establish a comfortable class environment, …

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