Excellent Online Teaching

Many professors today either teach online courses, think they will teach them sometime in the future, or are simply interested in what makes for a good online course. In interviews with successful online educators, Bailey and Card (2009) report that the following techniques for excellent online teaching emerged:

• Fostering relationships (showing empathy towards students, caring about teaching and students’ success);
• Engagement (encouraging discussion through email, discussion boards, sharing students’ biographies and group projects);
• Timeliness (providing timely feedback, replying to emails quickly to answer questions);
• Communication (timely responses about assessment, communicating course requirements and times they will be away);
• Organization (having all the materials and requirements set up before the first day of class so students know all that’s expected of them in the course);
• Technology (develop technical competency and utilizing a variety of technological tools to teach);
• Flexibility (having an open mind, being adaptable and patient to overcome potential glitches, software and hardware failures, etc.);
• High expectations (communicate goals and objectives clearly, be specific, communicate high expectations of the students, tell them what they can expect of you).

Bailey, C. J., & Card, K. A. (2009). Effective pedagogical practices for online teaching: Perception of experienced instructors. Internet and Higher Education 12(3-4), 152-155. doi:10.1016/j.iheduc.2009.08.002