Teaching Online: Best Practices

Cronin, Catherine. “Openness and Praxis: Exploring the Use of Open Educational Practices in Higher Education.” International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, vol 18, no 5, 2017.
A study looking at whether, why, and how educators use open educational practices (including OER) for teaching.
 

Gallardo-Alba, Cristóbal et al."A Constructivist-Based Proposal for Teaching Practices During Lock-Down."  (preprint)
Preprints 2020, 2020080532 (doi: 10.20944/preprints202008.0532.v1).
Reviews the pedagogical foundations for developing effective distance education practices, starting from the assumption that promoting autonomous thinking is an essential element to guarantee full citizenship in a democracy.
 

Huang, Ronghuai et al. "Disrupted classes, undisrupted learning during COVID-19 outbreak in China: application of open educational practices and resources." Smart Learning Environments. 2020;7(1):1-15.
This paper discusses the possibility of using open educational resources (OER) and open educational practices (OEP) as an effective educational solution to overcome challenges related to quickly switching to online teaching during the COVID-19 outbreak in China.
 

Kumar, Swapna, et al. “Award-Winning Faculty Online Teaching Practices: Elements of Award-Winning Courses.” Online Learning, v23 n4 p160-180 Dec 2019.
Results of a study that explored award-winning instructors’ insights on elements of their course design that were award-winning and the differences between expert and novice online instructors.

Martin, Florence, et al. Award-Winning Faculty Online Teaching Practices: Roles and Competencies. Online Learning, v23 n1. March 2019.
An exploratory study aiming to identify the roles of the online instructor for online teaching based on the perspectives of award-winning online faculty members.

Mayer, R.E., Fiorella, L. & Stull, A. “Five ways to increase the effectiveness of instructional video.” Education Tech Research Dev (2020).
A paper that reviews five ways to increase the effectiveness of instructional video and one way not to use instructional video.

Mayer, R.E., Wells, A., Parong, J, Howarth, J. “Learner control of the pacing of an online slideshow lesson.” Applied Cognitive Psychology 33, issue 5, Sept. 2019.
Discusses the virtues of allowing students to control their own remote learning experience.
 

Nascimbeni, Fabio, et al. “Unveiling the Relationship between the Use of Open Educational Resources and the Adoption of Open Teaching Practices in Higher Education.” Sustainability. 2019;11(20):5637
Analyzes the relation between the use of open educational resources (OER) and the implementation of open teaching practices.  Finds that the more an educator uses OER, the more he will probably adopt open teaching practices, and vice versa.

Sung, Eunmo and Richard E. Mayer. “Five facets of social presence in online distance education.” Computers in Human Behavior 28, issue 5, Sept.2012.
Discusses ways instructors can create a personal connection with students, even in remote teaching environments.
 

Tanis, Cynthia Janet.  “The seven principles of online learning: Feedback from faculty and alumni on its importance for teaching and learning.” Research in Learning Technology, Vol 28, Iss 0, Pp 1-25 (2020).
This research included an investigation of the importance of faculty–student communication and collaboration; student–student communication and collaboration; active learning techniques; prompt feedback; appropriate time for tasks; high performance expectations; and respect for diverse learning styles.