Best Practices
The Seven Principals of Good Practice in Undergraduate Education (PDF)* – By Chickering and Gamson – Addresses how we teach, rather than the subject-matter of what we teach.
Implementing the Seven Principles: Technology as Lever – by Chickering and Ehrmann – Describes some of the most cost-effective and appropriate ways to use computers, video, and telecommunications technologies to advance the Seven Principles.
A Teacher’s Dozen (PDF)* – By Thomas Angelo – Promotes the idea that faculty need to know something about how our students learn.
Felder and Soloman – Learning Styles and Strategies – How to teach students with different learning preferences and help students use their own preferences and adopt other styles for more effective learning.
Introduction to Universal Design – According to Project PACE’s website, “can be used to guide course organization and development of course materials in a way that is accessible to a broader range of individuals. Many educators have embraced the concept of universal design because the application of it benefits all of the students in their class.”
Rubric for Online Instruction (PDF)* – Answers the question “What does a high quality online course look like?” which California State University (CSU), Chico created.
Instructional Design Tips for Online Learning (PDF)* – The companion document to CSU, Chico’s rubric, relates specific ways to accomplish each item in the categories of the Rubric.
*These documents are downloadable in PDF format which requires Acrobat Reader plugin on your computer.
Distance Education Sites
University of Maryland University College: Center for Intellectual Property This site discusses issues around intellectual property of particular concern to faculty.
University of Maryland University College: Center for the Virtual University An annotated set of links on a wide range of topics in e-learning.
American Distance Education Consortium – A good place to go if you want to find out what is going on in distance education across the country.
Southern Regional Education Board Electronic Campus – A listing of online courses and programs throughout the southeastern United States. Getting your course on this list is one indicator of meeting minimum quality standards.
EDUCAUSE – Nonprofit association whose mission is to advance higher education by promoting the intelligent use of information technology. One of the major organizations in the field of information technology and higher education.
Faculty Issues in E-Learning Environments – An annotated set of links on a wide range of topics of special interest to faculty teaching online or at a distance.
United States Distance Learning Association (USDLA) – A national association concerned with both higher education and K-12 education using distance technology.
International Center for Distance Learning – This looks like the United Kingdom version of the US Distance Learning Association.
International Conference on Technology Education – Educational Technology Resource Library – This is a listing of the proceedings from the last several meetings of the International Conference on Technology and Education.
American Center for the Study of Distance Education – Operating out of Penn State, this is the site for the American Journal of Distance Education and also has links to other conferences and special events.
Knowledge Media Laboratory (Carnegie Foundation) – Series of online workspaces and resources that support the efforts of teachers who are documenting their practice. Click on the “View Gallery” button for a fascinating tour.
Virtual Resource Site for Teaching and Learning – Resource for faculty seeking direction in appropriate ways to use Web-based technologies to accomplish key learning strategies. The guiding principle is a full examination of the teaching/learning issues in technology-enabled instruction.
Catalyst – This University of Washington site “brings you tools, resources, and support to help you teach with new technologies.” This site has really useful information for the novice, intermediate, and would-be online educator. . Their “How To” section provides step-by-step instructions for getting started with some popular software products (PowerPoint, Dreamweaver, Word).
ION – Illinois Online Network’s list of resources for various aspects of online education and the online environment in general. Categorized into areas like Assessment/Evaluation, Communication, Instructional Design, Intellectual Property, and Multimedia. Learning Styles & the Online Environment is a sample of the great resources available.
