Online Teaching Strategies:Faculty Challenges, Lessons Learned

and Best Practices

Maureen E. Wassef, PhD, RNAssistant Professor & Coordinator, Nurse Educator Program

Graduate School of NursingUniversity of Massachusetts Medical School

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• GSN: offering online/blended education for over 10 years

• Grant from the Sloan Consortium on Course re-design

• Nurse Educator Courses

Background

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Taking the Plunge

Challenge #1

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Course Redesign

• Avoiding the “2 courses for the price of one” effect

• Effectively replace seat time with meaningful work

 

Challenge #2

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• Expressing clear expectation in writing–Role of the Faculty• Teaching Philosophy–Student centered approach» independent and interdependent

learning

Challenge #3

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• Expressing clear expectation in writing–Role of the Faculty• availability

Challenge #3

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• Expressing clear expectation in writing–Role of the Learner• Time commitment/organizational skills/writing skills• Professional behavior–Course Discussions are for course content–Netiquette

Challenge #3

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• "Netiquette" is network etiquette, the do's and don'ts of online communication. Netiquette covers both common courtesy online and the informal "rules of the road"

Netiquette(Net etiquette)

Http://www.albion.com/netiquette/

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Typing in capitals is an electronic communication means:

 a) Nothing special; this is normalb) You are shoutingc) It’s ok to forward this message to othersd) This message is very important

Netiquette Quizhttp://www.albion.com/netiquette/netiquiz.html

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Is there really a generation gap when it comes to online education?

X versus Yhttp://www.un.org/staffdevelopment/pdf/

Generation X• Born 1965-1980• Impatient• Goal oriented• Give them a lot to do and

the freedom to do it their way

• Question Authority

Generation Y/Z• Born 1981 (2000 for gen Z)• Lack skills for dealing with

difficult people• Street smart• Confident• Technologically savvy

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Maintaining your computer literacy

Challenge #4

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• Be present at the course site• Create a supportive online

course community• Share a set of very clear

expectations for your learners and for yourself

• Do ongoing course evaluations

Best Practiceshttp://www.designingforlearning.info/services/writing/ecoach/tenbest.html

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• MERLOT–multi-media educational resource for

online teaching

• EDUCAUSE– a nonprofit association whose

mission is to advance higher education through the use of information technology

• Sloan-C

Resources

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Thank you