At Oregon State Ecampus, we’ve devoted 20+ years to infusing every online course with the level of quality you deserve. But what do we mean by “quality”? It’s an important question to ask (and answer), so here are five specific things to look for as you evaluate the quality of an institution’s online learning experience.
Oregon State Ecampus developed Online Teaching Principles, a resource that helps paint a picture of what good online teaching looks like. These evidence-based principles point faculty to key resources for further reading and exploration, and, very importantly, they have been “road-tested” by experienced faculty who teach online to help promote buy-in.
The Oregon State Ecampus Research Unit recently conducted a study on a rarely researched topic in online education: class size. What the researchers found is that students’ grades were higher in certain online classes that had lower enrollment, and that it may be beneficial to limit particular kinds of courses to 30 students or fewer.
Quality online education happens when courses are well-designed and well-facilitated. With that in mind, OSU Ecampus is excited to share a new resource, Online Teaching Principles. The principles draw from research in online teaching pedagogy and practice, and they provide the groundwork for talking about what strong online teaching looks like across disciplines.
“There are so many more jobs in politics now than there has been in recent history. When (our students) graduate, they don’t just have the critical thinking skills, they also have the applied skills to go out and get some of these jobs and bring a new perspective to understanding politics.” — Oregon State political science associate professor Christopher Stout
Dr. Christy Brekken is known by applied economics peers and students as engaging, enthusiastic and caring in the classroom. She’s not alone, either.
Since Oregon State has been offering online education for more than 20 years, our the OSU Ecampus Research Unit decided to conduct a qualitative study where we interviewed faculty from diverse disciplines who had been teaching online for 10 years or more. The interviews asked a series of questions about instructors’ perspectives and experiences teaching online, as well as lessons learned over time.
Clare Braun teaches an online honors course that’s innovative to say the least. It connects mystery writing with vignettes that bring the subject to life. See why her story is just the start.
Making high-quality education affordable and accessible for students is a critical priority at Oregon State. That’s the mission that has driven OSU’s Open Educational Resources Unit for many years, and it’s one we’re committed to more than ever. In order to help faculty and the OSU community better understand why OER are so critical for student success, the OER Unit’s leadership team answered a series of questions.
The Oregon State Ecampus Research Unit conducted interviews with 33 faculty members who have taught online at OSU for 10 years or more. This post discusses the results from one of the interview questions in this study: “What skills do you think are most valuable for online instructors to have?” A qualitative analysis of this question revealed some useful and timely information for instructors who may be teaching or planning to teach online.
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