Thursday, December 2, 2021

Resources/Recommendations for Teaching Online Learners

This topic was from a faculty member who responded to our team's previous invitations to suggest topics for newsletter articles and the team's new "Crash Course" videos. We appreciate your input and hope to hear from other instructors in the future! In this particular case, the instructor had requested more information about "teaching adult learners online" and "best online teaching practices." There are MANY resources available online and off, so I'll attempt to keep our recommendations brief with the following bulleted items:
  • Teaching adult learners online - I highly recommend the book, The Online Teaching Survival Guide by Boettcher and Conrad (2016), which was used as the foundation for a recent Center for Faculty Development learning community. It's available online through the UHCL Library.
  • Best online teaching practices (synchronous and asynchronous) - again, there are a plethora of resources available; however, as a quick starter, I recommend the ACUE Online Teaching Toolkit website. In addition, our team is currently developing an online course for faculty on Beyond Blackboard - Effective Techniques for Online and Hybrid Teaching. We expect to launch that new course in SP or SU22.
You can always schedule a consult with one of our team's instructional designers. In addition to their technical expertise with Blackboard and related applications, our IDs hold, or are completing, graduate degrees in instructional design and can provide additional resources and recommendations that are customized to your instructional needs and preferences.