[Summary from: Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, December 2011.]

As a core project, a university eLearning Pedagogy Faculty Learning Community (FLC) chose to apply recommendations for the “art” of good teaching to the online realm. There is relatively little discussion of this issue in the literature. In this paper, we use Ken Bain’s (2004) book “What the Best College Teachers Do” to discuss some of the major ways that the practices of effective teaching in general can be applied to online teaching in particular. Specifically, we explore methods of fostering student engagement, stimulating intellectual development, and building rapport with students when teaching online. This analysis provides a much-needed “art of teaching” set of recommendations that complements the “science of teaching” best practices approach to online pedagogy.

Among the authors’ conclusions: The point is not that online teaching is easier or more difficult, or that the trick to effective online teaching is the proper use of specific tools and techniques. The point is that online teaching is different than traditional face-to-face teaching. The best online teachers go beyond the technology. In the short life of online teaching and learning, specific tools and techniques have waxed and waned in popularity. This will, no doubt, continue in the future.

T.M. Brinthaupt; L. S. Fisher; J. G. Gardner; D. M. Raffo; and J.B. Woodard (December 2011). What the best online teachers should do. Journal of Online Learning and Teaching.