1. 8. Think digital for all course content
1.1. If course content is not digital, it's as if it doesn't exist. Learners today want to be learning anywhere, anytime, and often while they're doing other things. They also want to access course content from their phones, tablets, and laptops, or the cloud. Search out and use content resources that are available in digital format.
1.1.1. • E-textbooks. • Audio & video resources. • Reference documents with instructions on remotely accessing library resources. • Links to current events (blogs, blogs, announcementes...). • Enlist student help in finding and identifying relevant and engaging resources.
2. 9. Combine core concept learning with customized and personalized learning
2.1. Supporting learners with their personal and professional goals that are closely linked to the performance goals of a course and even beyond the course parameters benefits the learners individually and as a group.
3. 10. Plan a good closing and wrap activity for the course
3.1. As a course starts coming to a close and winding down, it is easy to focus on assessing and grading students and forget the value of a good closing experience.
3.1.1. End-of-course experiences:
3.1.1.1. Student presentations
3.1.1.2. Summaries
3.1.1.3. Analyses
3.1.1.4. Live classrooms & synchronous collaborative tools
4. 11. Assess as you go by gathering evidences of learning
4.1. This practice keeps a focus on what the learner is doing and thinking throughout a course. Rather than pushing all assessments toward papers, exams, and/or a final project, this practice recommends distributing assessments and gather evidence of learning throughout a course.
5. 12. Connect content to core concepts and learning outcomes
5.1. We spend a great deal of time developing learning outcomes, but then these outcomes are stored in a section of the syllabus that is mostly invisible. This practice means *“always coming back to how knowledge is embodied in the core concepts, patterns, relationships.”* **Repetition** and use of knowledge is what helps learners construct a meaningful knowledge representational structure in their minds (Kandel, 2006; Brown, Roediger, & McDaniel, 2014 as cited by Boettcher & Conrad, 2016).
6. 13. Develop and use a content frame for your course
6.1. What is a content frame?
6.1.1. Content frames are also called cognitive maps, visual graphics, and overviews. They present a clear picture of what is to be learned in a course. A course frame helps learners get a holistic sense of it, a clear overview of the core concepts and key knowledge, and a focal point for the term of the course.
6.1.1.1. This practice involves 2 steps:
6.1.1.1.1. 1. Designing the content frame for the course.
6.1.1.1.2. 2. Developing a habit of using and referring to it, while teaching the course.
7. 14. Design experiences to help learners make progress on their novice‐to‐expert journey
7.1. It views students as learners, working their way along a path from novice to expert. It suggests strategies and approaches that help the learners move forward in developing knowledge, skill, and expertise in a field of inquiry.
7.1.1. An entire body of research literature examines and describes the various steps & stages on the novice-to-expert way:
7.1.1.1. The most of t-quoted “fact” is that developing expertise takes about 10,000 hours.
7.1.1.2. Major milestones in a journey to expertise: novice, advanced novice (initiate), apprentice, journeyman, expert, and master (Chi, 2006, as cited by Boettcher & Conrad, 2016)
7.1.1.3. Each of these milestones represents from 1,500 to 2,500 hours of knowledge, skill, and acquisition investment.
8. 1. Be present at the course site
8.1. 3 types of presence:
8.1.1. 1. Social presence
8.1.1.1. It creates connections with learners based on who we are as three‐dimensional persons (families, lives, favorite things).
8.1.2. 2. Teaching presence
8.1.2.1. It's the sum of all the behaviors faculty use to direct, guide, and design the learning experiences.
8.1.3. 3. Cognitive presence
8.1.3.1. It's conveyed by all the interactions with learners that an instructor has to support the development of skills, knowledge, and understanding in his or her students.
9. 2. Create a supportive online course community
9.1. In digital environments, more explicit nurturing and planning is required. Building an online community that supports individual and group learning means designing a course that promotes balanced dialogue patterns (faculty to student, student to student, student to resource).
10. 3. Develop a set of explicit workload and communication expectations for your learners and yourself
10.1. Developing and communicating explicit expectations reduces uncertainty and encourages good time and learning management. (1) Open course spaces for queries and responses. (2) Schedule virtual office hours.
11. 4. Use a variety of large group, small group, and individual work experiences
11.1. Individual work
11.1.1. Tools such as journals and personal blogs support individual creation, reflection, and review.
11.2. Small groups
11.2.1. Working in small groups is particularly recommended when working on problem‐solving scenarios and more complex case studies.
11.3. Large groups
11.3.1. Synchronous tools allow us to spontaneously plan large group activities (virtual conferences, expert visits, brainstorming, presentations...).
12. 5. Use synchronous and asynchronous activities
12.1. It's a way of providing variety in your course design. The variety of activities now possible makes it easy to create many types of effective learning experiences and environments.
13. 6. Ask for informal feedback early in the term
13.1. Early feedback is effective in getting students to share what is working well in a course and provide suggestions. It can alert you to students having difficulty with something. This early feedback is done in about week 2 of a fifteen‐week course.
14. 7. Prepare discussion posts
14.1. Discussions in an online course are the equivalent of class discussions in a face‐to‐face class. They're the heart and soul of the online course community. They should invite responses, questions, discussions, and reflections.
14.1.1. Purposes
14.1.1.1. • Provide a place for an open question and answer forum • Encourage critical or creative thinking • Reinforce domain or procedural processes • Achieve social interaction and community building • Validate thinking and experiences • Support students in their own reflections and inquiries
14.1.2. Hints
14.1.2.1. • Create open‐ended questions that learners can explore and apply the concepts that they are learning. • Model Socratic‐type probing and follow‐up questions: “Why do you think that?” “What is your reasoning?” “Is there an alternative strategy?”