Inspire Blog

Two Ways to Apply the New Science of Learning . . . Online

The New Science of Learning is a slim but instructive volume designed to guide college students to better attune their learning efforts with how their brains function. Authors Terry Doyle and Todd Zakrajsek apply the findings of neuroscience to the daily learning that takes place in higher education. Though the book is written for students, it’s a valuable quick-read for everyone involved in blended and online teaching and student success efforts. As you look ahead to spring term, let’s consider two ways you can employ Doyle and Zakrajsek’s advice in online and hybrid teaching environments: Tip 1 – Learning is significantly strengthened by encountering the content in multiple formats or modalities. Problem: Much of the information we encounter online is … Two Ways to Apply the New Science of Learning . . . Online
by · March 6, 2018

The Guest Expert Video Interview: Planning & Production

This article is the first of a two-part series on producing video interviews featuring guest experts for online courses. Part I focuses on planning while Part II will address the faculty role in the video interview production process. Part I: Planning With A Purpose Interviews of guest experts are valuable forms of course media because they can serve a number of instructional purposes. Traditionally classroom instructors might consider including guest experts as part of instruction to… Connect learning with an authority in the field. Communicate what the practices are in a given field. Describe the nature of work of a professional in a given field. Show important work environments or processes. Introduce a second, collaborative voice to instruction (Laist, 2015). … The Guest Expert Video Interview: Planning & Production
by · February 23, 2018

Ready-to-Use Online Teaching Tips

Beauty is everywhere and in every moment, if we pay attention. I saw this beautiful sunrise driving by Eureka, Nevada on Highway 50, the loneliest road in America, during the tail of my one-week road trip vacation. Similarly, good teaching practices are flourishing in OSU online courses as we discover from our talks with Ecampus instructors. To inspire you to expand your teaching toolkit, here are some ready to use online teaching tips from the book “Small Teaching: Everyday Lessons from the Science of Learning” by James Lang.  Teaching Strategies Online Teaching Tips Retrieving Syllabus Quiz Weekly reading journals Frequent quizzing such as quizlet practices or weekly quizzes predicting Pretesting with immediate grading and immediate feedback including exposure of content teaching; Role play: how might … Ready-to-Use Online Teaching Tips
by · February 2, 2018

Active Learning Online – Part 1

Are you looking for ways to bring active learning into your online classroom? Some might suggest that active learning is more difficult online, but we offer examples of Ecampus courses that do a great job of increasing student engagement, boosting interactive participation, and improving outcomes through implementation of active learning strategies. This blog focuses on tools, techniques, and approaches originally designed for the face-to-face classroom that have been successfully adapted into Oregon State University Ecampus classes. Feel free to steal! Telling Time Marking events in time or identifying the chronology of significant milestones is important in many disciplines, but especially vital in history classes. An American History professor felt that merely listing events sequentially was not particularly interesting or creative, … Active Learning Online – Part 1
by · January 19, 2018

Humanizing Online Learning

Why should I care about humanizing online learning? First of all, the United States Department of Education requires regular and substantive interaction between students and faculty in distance learning courses (Policy from DOE & interpreting the Policy from DOE). Secondly, it is well documented that instructor-student interactions and quality and timely instructor feedback in online learning are prominent faculty behaviors that impact student retention and student satisfaction of online learning (Riedel, Dinauer, Jobe, Lenio, And Walsh, 2016; Bawa, 2016; Shaw, Burrus, Ferguson, 2016; Boling, Hough, Krinsly, Saleem and Stevens, 2012; Liaw, 2008). How do we humanize online learning? Think of the task for humanizing your students’ online learning experience as building a house. And there are three major pillars to … Humanizing Online Learning
by · January 9, 2018