1. Sharee Green and Sharon Trahan

2. Question 1: Please rank the seven principles of best teaching practices in order of importance to you. Begin with number 1 as most important and number 7 as least important.  1. Active Learning  2. Student-Faculty Contact  3. Cooperation Among Students  4. Prompt Feedback  5. Time on Task  6. High Expectations  7. Respect for Diversity

3. Question 2: Briefly explain the reasoning for your number 1 choice.  Without active learning, all other aspects are pointless. Active learning should be the primary purpose of ALL education  Learning by doing is very important for me. I like learning to be engaging so that I will enjoy what I am learning.  If you subscribe to the constructivist model of learning recommended by Bangert for effective design and delivery of online learning, active learning is the key feature listed in the article.  I think that prompt feedback is probably the best way to really influence student learning in an online environment.  I went to a small undergrad and small high school. If I can't reach out and get immediate contact for my instructor, it really does not feel like I'm learning.  Active learning can offer valuable learning experiences to students.  Active learning fosters community in an online program as well as promotes greater understanding of the content

4. Question 3: Do you believe student evaluations of instructors to be useful feedback? Why or why not, please explain.  If they are truly anonymous and do in fact get evaluated by the instructor for future iterations of the course, I feel they can be very useful.  Yes. It provides a way for instructors to present more meaningful instruction and a way to learn from mistakes or create best practices.  I suppose they may be useful if the questions are technically adequate and valid. The article suggests they aren't adequate at "tapping the constructivist-based instructional practices that have been identified as vital for effective online instruction". Not sure if I buy that though.

5.  Yes and no. Yes, because it lets the instructor know how they are doing and what they may need to change. No, because sometimes individuals at the end of a course as so frustrated by a component that they give feedback that is petty and not useful at all. I know I did this once and I felt bad about it later because how can the instructor know what to change if all I'm doing is taking out my frustration on them?  It all depends how the department looks at them. I have seen departments say, "Well, these are a bunch of whiny kids, of course they don't like learning calculus, we know that Mr. Smith is a good guy" to "This person year after year gets terrible reviews from their students. What the heck? Let's grant her tenure anyway." When I hear stories like that, I believe instructor evaluations are theatrics. But when I see from my own eyes that Dr. Paulus and Lisa modify certain aspects of their design in light of evaluations, I see them as very useful. I guess it all depends on whose hands these evaluations are in...

6.  Yes. With the student evaluation, the instructors can reflect their course. The reflection is important to both students and instructors. And from evaluation results, the instructors can understand students' needs and improvement points about their teaching strategy and class.  Yes, providing instructors feedback further increases learner engagement in the process, allowing them a sense of control (perceived or real).over their own learning.

7. Learning Activity

8. Given information on seven principles of effective teaching and their use in evaluating instruction, the learner will collaborate with group members to:  Identify (state) the most effective teaching principles according to their perspectives.  Cite (state) evidence to justify/support their choice.  Construct (type) assessment items to evaluate principles that were not addressed within a provided evaluation questionnaire.

9. Evaluating Online Instruction

10.  Feedback ◦Students ◦Instructors ◦Educational Institutions  Seven Principles of Effective Teaching ◦Research-based ◦Constructivist-based  Evaluation Instruments not adequate

11. 1. Active learning 2. Encourages student-faculty contact 3. Time on task 4. Respect for diversity 5. Encourages prompt feedback 6. Encourages cooperation among students 7. High expectations

13. You will be divided into the following assigned groups to participate in a collaborative activity. Once the activity is completed, you will share your results with the class. Each participant should be prepared to share a portion of what each group discussed. Group 1: Jennifer and Kevin Group 2: Glenn and Anne Group 3: Jaewoo and Lauren Group 4: Carla and James

14. 1. Choose two to three of the seven principles of effective teaching that you feel are most effective in an online learning environment. Be able to justify your choice by citing evidence in the form of your own experiences, examples, details, and/or quotes from the readings. 2. Go to https://oira.utk.edu/sais/forms and access Form I. This is an evaluation questionnaire that UT uses to evaluate distance education courses. Determine which of the principles of effective teaching are being assessed. Then, choose two to three principles that were not adequately addressed and construct two to three questionnaire items that can be used to evaluate those principles.https://oira.utk.edu/sais/forms

15.  Resources  Questions  Wrap-Up