Self-paced online resources
IU Online Faculty Starter Kit
If you want to learn best practices and practical steps for designing and delivering online courses, the IU Online Faculty Starter Kit is for you. This free, self-paced tutorial, available through IU Expand (on Canvas), includes 17 modules designed to orient instructors to teaching online at IU. The kit is also a repository for resources on best practices for designing and delivering online courses that you can return to any time. (Note: You can probably skip over the first module, which focuses on larger administrative aspects about proposing/developing online courses at IU.)
Teaching for Student Success Course
Teaching for Student Success: An Evidence-Based Approach is an online course that provides a framework for teaching and learning grounded in empirical research. Whether you're a new instructor or have been teaching for years, teach face-to-face, hybrid, or online, these modules will help you articulate your own teaching philosophy and better serve your students, regardless of discipline. While not specifically about online education, TSS provides solid course development advice that is very applicable to online instruction. You can go through the course on your own or join a cohort facilitated by the CITL.
Quality Matters Resources
QM is a framework for guiding the development of high-quality online courses, and a review/certification process that ensures quality. Even if you don't go through the whole QM process, some of their resources provide good guidelines for creating quality online courses (and online components in blended situations):
Books
The following books provide excellent, concrete approaches to developing and teaching courses in both online and blended environments. They are available in electronic format from the IU Libraries' IUCAT.
The Online Teaching Survival Guide—Boettcher & Conrad (2016)
Boettcher & Conrad present a comprehensive and user-friendly guide for anyone teaching online. The book covers core principles of learning and teaching online, specific tips and strategies to teach effectively in this space, and a section on reflection and planning to increase your skill as an online instructor. In addition to these divisions, Part 2 on specific tips has four categories organized chronologically: beginning, early middle, late middle, and end. The chapter on discussion boards is particularly helpful. Read online at IUCAT
Small Teaching Online: Applying Learning Science in Online Classes—Darby (2019)
Inspired by James Lang's (2016) Small Teaching, Flower Darby provides readers with small, strategic changes that can make a significant impact on student learning in the online space. Readers will learn about applying the backward design process to online courses, how to build community within the course, and strategies for motivating students in this space. Read online at IUCAT
eService Learning: Creating Experiential Learning and Civic Engagement through Online and Hybrid Courses—Strait & Nordyke (2015)
Are you figuring out how you teach your community-engaged learning (service-learning) virtually? This book is a useful tool to help you consider what community engagement can look like when interaction may be remote. Read online at IUCAT
Flipped Learning: A Guide for Higher Education Faculty—Talbert (2017)
Talbert's seven-step process for "flipping" a classroom not only provides a simple breakdown for transitioning face-to-face content to an online format but also addresses the most significant concerns and questions that arise when teaching in partial or fully online environments. This research-based approach to organizing and implementing content guides you through making the most of an online space through considering a range of topics including cognitive load, multimedia learning, and self-regulated learning. Read online at IUCAT
The Blended Course Design Workbook: A Practical Guide—Linder (2017)
This text is a workbook designed to guide readers through creating a blended course from start to finish. Whether you have a new prep or are transitioning a face-to-face course to an online format, this workbook is your friend, particularly in this time of unknown modality for fall. Linder begins by providing definitions of course modality based on the percentage of content delivered online—blended 30-79% and online 80% or more. Read online at IUCAT
