10 Principles of Effective Online Teaching: Best Practices in Distance Education

This comprehensive article from Faculty Focus will help you establish online instructor best practices and expectations, including explaining core behaviors related to:

• instructional design
• time managementcommunication strategies
• course management
• online security
• quality assurance

Click here to download the pdf.

More Free Professional Development Webinars

Looking for more professional development opportunities? Here are some great opportunities from Blackboard and SoftChalk!

Blackboard Innovative Teaching Series

Blackboard is offering a faculty training webinar series entitled The Blackboard Innovative Teaching Series (BITS). This program will bring best practices and evolved online pedagogy training to you in a concise and effective series consisting of monthly training webinars that have been designed for faculty members and will be led by faculty members from higher education institutions around the country.

Click here to register for the great webinars listed below.

Wikis, Blogs, Forums, Journals—Which One Do I Use & Why?     

Feb 27, 2012 12:00 pm

Real Examples for Using Adaptive Release  

Mar 27, 2012 12:00 pm            

Tips and Tricks for Utilizing Video and Media in Your Course   

Apr 23, 2012 12:00 pm     

Online Testing: How to Use Standard CMS Tools to Reduce Cheating  

May 29, 2012 12:00 pm         

What is My Role in the Online Classroom? Ways to Engage and Interact with Your Online Students          

Jun 25, 2012 12:00 pm            

Why and How to Best Use Rubrics in Blackboard Learn 9.1  

Jul 24, 2012 12:00 pm

SoftChalk's Innovators in Online Learning Series
Building Interactive Articles for Peer-Reviewed Journals with SoftChalk

Wednesday, February 22

12pm PT | 1pm MT | 2pm CT | 3pm ET

Teaching Well Online (T.W.O): Faculty Development Conforming to National and State Standards and Models

Wednesday, March 21

11am PT | 12pm MT | 1pm CT | 2pm ET

Click here to register.

One Reason You will Like Bb's SP8: Automated Regrading!

Check out how much time you'll save in Blackboard Learn's latest release with the Automated Regrading feature. Rest easy knowing that you can regrade a test answer in just one spot and automatic updates will happen across the entire system. Think of how much time you'll save once on SP8! Watch how easy it is to regrade a test question on the video.

A New Upgrade is Coming: Blackboard's SP8

There is a great new look and terrific faculty tools with the upcoming service pack upgrade to Blackboard during May 2012. Watch this video from Bb for a sneak peak of what is to come!

President to Seek $8-Billion for Job-Training Partnerships Involving Community Colleges

I do not know how many of you receive the Chronicle of Education's enewsletter, but there are some exciting developments for community college funding and programming if forthcoming legislation is passed. President Obama is seeking $8 billion dollars for job-training partnerships involving community colleges. Click here to read the full article.

What Helps Students Graduate?

Alright, I am going to veer off distance learning for this post because I think all of us should be aware of the new Center for Community College Student Engagement (CCCSE) Report. A Matter of Degrees: Promising Practices for Community College Student Success was just released and it is the first of three reports providing insights as to what works and what doesn't in helping students graduate. It draws attention to 13 strategies for increasing retention and graduation rates, including fast-tracking remedial education, providing students with experiential learning, and requiring students to attend orientation. We are all interested in student retention and the report highlights promising practices across the nation. From the Acknowledgments on page 1:

"Community colleges currently are experiencing perhaps the highest expectations and the greatest challenges in their history. Facing fiscal constraint, enrollment pressures, and summons to support economic recovery, these institutions also are rising to a new clarion call: the “community college completion challenge.” Never has it been so clear that the futures of individuals, communities, and the nation rest significantly on the ability of community and technical colleges to ensure that far greater numbers of their students succeed in college, attain high quality certificates and degrees, and transfer to baccalaureate institutions."

Digital Learning 2020: A Policy Report for Kentucky's Digital Future

Since I posted the New Horizon Report 2012, I thought that I should also share with you the state report on improving the digital learning environment in Kentucky's P-20 schools published in December 2011. Click on Digital Learning 2020 to view the report.
"Creating a top-notch system of education is not only a moral obligation, but essential to the development of the human capital that will drive this state." ~ Governor Steven L. Beshear

New Horizon Report 2012

Click on the link, New Horizon Report 2012, to view this annual publication on higher education and the use of technology.This year's report recognizes the following key trends in education:

• People expect to be able to work, learn, and study whenever and wherever they want to.
• The technologies we use are increasingly cloud-based, and our notions of IT support are decentralized.
• The world of work is increasingly collaborative, driving changes in the way student projects are structured.
• The abundance of resources and relationships made easily accessible via the Internet is increasingly challenging us to revisit our roles as educators.
• Education paradigms are shifting to include online learning, hybrid learning and collaborative models.
• There is a new emphasis in the classroom on more challenge-based and active learning.