Coastline Community College's Best Practices for online course
Our peers at Coastline Community College have a philosophy and ideals for implementation of Pedagogy as best practice:
"The goal of higher education should be transfer of knowledge, long-term retention, and the application of skills and attitudes learned to some other context, at some time in the future.
College faculty, therefore, would do well to apply current research about human cognition and learning, write Halpern and Hakel in their article Applying the Science of Learning to the University and Beyond (2003).
They argue that understanding and learning are interpretive processes in which students must be active participants. Multiple-choice exam questions tap only lower-level cognitive processes or simply require students to repeat back course material. High scores on tests like these do not necessarily indicate enduring or transferable learning."
They have three levels of implementation.
Pedagogy, Interaction, and Collaboration
Baseline
6.1 The course includes opportunities for student introductions.
6.2 Learning activities foster instructor student or student-student interaction.
6.3 The assignments promote the achievement of the stated learning outcomes.
6.4 The course encourages students to manage their time and avoid procrastination by setting clear timelines and goals.
6.5 The course makes use of most of [Etudes] teaching pedagogy features, such as “Preview” and “[test drive/review]” features.
Effective
6.6 The course provides multiple activities that help students develop critical thinking and problem solving skills.
6.7 Assignments and activities allow students to apply concepts and skills in realistic and relevant ways.
6.8 Content is enhanced through the use of resources that allow students to learn through inquiry (e.g., Internet links) rather than just reading a textbook.
6.9 Materials are presented in a variety of formats (multiple visual, textual, kinesthetic and/or auditory) to enhance and to meet the needs of a variety of learners.
6.10 Regular effective contact is made between instructor and students**
Exemplary
6.11 There is a deliberate attempt to create a learning community using such strategies as discussion boards, group projects, group problem-solving. discussion of assignments, activities, or other collaborative activities, as applicable to the course.
6.12 The course makes creative use of a variety of technologies that assist students in understanding course content (discussion board, email, scheduled emails, web hunt, digital slide shows, Power Points, Camtasia shows, streaming video, etc.).
6.13 Assignments require students to make effective use of external resources including Virtual Library, Web-based and other electronic resources.