Best Practices Blog

Best practices for an online model of learning include designing curriculum to be relevant to students, applicable to their everyday lives and difficult enough to be challenging yet not so difficult as to be discouraging.  Additionally, best practices include frequent assessment of the curriculum, instructor and student as well as frequent and multiple ways of communicating between instructor and student.  Finally, best practices would include creating online coursework that provides collaborative projects in order to create the necessary communal/social component shown to improve the learning experience.  According to the research of Consolacion Fajardo, suggests providing best practices for online learning include building faculty/learner relationships, manage the learning process, communicate professional expertise assess learning an teaching as the most important best practices (Fajardo, 2014).  All of these best practices lead to coursework that lends itself to interactivity and various technologies to deliver the curriculum.

One study showed that students preferred coursework that is interactive and incorporates the use of multimedia because they did not feel so disconnected from instructors and other students (Boling, Hough, Krinsky, Saleem, & Stevens, 2011).  Because the online learning platform is one student alone with technology it is essential to create an atmosphere in which they do not feel isolated.  There is nothing worse than being given an assignment that is difficult and then feeling like there is no one to seek advice or direction from.  Therefore, providing students with links to other students, instructors and resources in order to clarify instruction, theories and other information helps the student to overcome obstacles that would normally be rectified in a traditional classroom through a question and answer session or simply talking to the instructor after class.  A sense of community, or belonging, breaks down barriers so the student can comfortably and confidently pursue the learning process.

In today’s online education environment schools and instructors are working hard to create a balanced mix of asynchronous and synchronous delivery of curriculum by including various types of technology and applications that work together.  According to Boling, et al (2011), “the use of “multi-modal objects” in an online format is important for both course-content development and student learning.”  For instance discussion boards provide a wonderful outlet for ideas being developed by students, but there is no immediate feedback or back and forth instantaneous discussions.  There is a lapse in time between original posts and replies.  However, some course work utilizes video conferencing which does provide the opportunity for real discussions between students and instructors.  Some applications that help balance the delivery system are Google Hangouts, Skype, Twitter and text messaging.

Boling, E. C., Hough, M., Krinsky, H., Saleem, H., & Stevens, M. (2011). Cutting the distance in distance education: Perspective on what promotes positive, online learning experiences. Rutgers University, Department of Learning and Teaching. New Brunswick: Departmnt of Learning and Teaching, Rutgers University. Retrieved October 13, 2015, from http://www.sciencedirect.com.ezproxy.liberty.edu:2048/science/article/pii/S109675161100090X

Fajardo, C. (2014). Best practices for teaching accounting courses online. Journal of Business and Educational Leadership, 5(1), 28-38. Retrieved October 16, 2015, from http://ezproxy.liberty.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/1644485521?accountid=12085