Good Practices for Teaching with Technology

AT&T Fellows share examples

The Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education are research-based activities that improve learning outcomes. This collection of samples includes ways technology promotes the seven principles.

ENCOURAGE CONTACT BETWEEN STUDENTS AND FACULTY

Scavenger hunt to orient online students
This “scavenger hunt” is used as a first assignment to familiarize students with digital library resources, forums, online quizzes, and “getting around” the online classroom.
Joan Esterline Lafuze

Keywords: orienting students, student readiness, communicating expectations, motivating student participation, interesting assignments

Team teaching and guest experts in distributed education
This good practice suggests team teaching for courses with interactive video formats. In addition, guest experts can be invited into online or Web-assisted courses for asynchronous discussion on posted articles.
Randall E. Osborne

Keywords: motivating student participation, real-world problems, forums

Using technology to make professional development accessible to special education teachers
This project brought webcams into classrooms with student teachers, and accommodated discussion and coaching by e-mail to develop participants' classroom supervision, critical thinking, and coaching skills.
Catherine A. Shea

Keywords: collaboration/teamwork, problem-based learning, encouraging creativity, real-world problems

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DEVELOP RECIPROCITY AND COOPERATION AMONG STUDENTS

Active participation in mathematical discovery
This is a series of problem-based exercises using "Geometer's Sketchpad" software. By allowing students (individually and in groups) to draw and drag figures, seeing and comparing them from multiple perspectives, it encourages active participation in mathematical discovery.
Vesna Kilibarda

Keywords: collaboration/teamwork, problem-based learning, encouraging creativity

Students learn to startup and operate an e-business
The project guides teams of students through exercises to simulate a small business startup. Performance is measured partly by the success of the simulated enterprise.
Howard Rosenbaum

Keywords: collaboration/teamwork, problem-based learning, encouraging creativity, research skills, real-world problems, motivating student participation

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USE ACTIVE LEARNING TECHNIQUES

Creation of a multimedia Beatles companion
This project involves storing and delivering multimedia content for use in large lecture classes.
Glenn Gass

Keywords: presenting content, visualizing concepts, course management

Online orientation for perioperative nursing
This orientation to the surgical environment for nursing students incorporates equipment demonstrations and clips of procedures with online quizzes.
Marchusa A. Huff

Keywords: collaboration/teamwork, orienting students, real-world problems, career preparation, visualizing concepts

Active participation in mathematical discovery
This is a series of problem-based exercises using "Geometer's Sketchpad" software. By allowing students (individually and in groups) to draw and drag figures, seeing and comparing them from multiple perspectives, it encourages active participation in mathematical discovery.
Vesna Kilibarda

Keywords: collaboration/teamwork, problem-based learning, encouraging creativity

Supplementing lecture with musical examples and illustrative materials online
The good practice involves the Web sites "Hip-Hop Music and Culture," “Popular Music of Black America,” and "A Survey of African-American music" incorporating audio and video recordings with contextual background materials, including lecture notes, musical transcriptions, photographs, and graphics.
Portia K. Maultsby

Keywords: motivating student participation, multicultural content, visualizing concepts, problem-based learning

Template for creating new installments of American history Web site
A flexible template was created for the Teaching the Journal of American History Web site enabling new installments to be created without redoing the basic design.
Joanne Meyerowitz

Keywords: encouraging creativity, visualizing concepts, Web site design

Using materials already existing on the Web for art appreciation courses
This project is a Web site to help organize and present comprehensive art history materials,
including presentations in different still and moving media and three-dimensional views of sculptures and buildings found at sites produced by world-class experts.
Benjamin C. Withers

Keywords: collaboration/teamwork, problem-based learning, encouraging creativity

Creating time-lapse movies
This good practice uses time-lapse movies to engage students in the study of plants. It contains an explanation of how to make time-lapse movies and information about the hardware and software needed.
Roger P. Hangarter

Keywords: presenting content, encouraging creativity, visualizing concepts, motivating student participation, interactivity

Using animation to understand difficult concepts in cardiovascular embryology
This good practice uses animation as a learning tool in the study of cardiovascular embryology. Pretest and posttest scores are compared to assess if participants learn more effectively than with 2-dimentional static images.
Valerie O’Loughlin

Keywords
 Online testing, simulations, interactivity, visualizing concepts

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GIVE PROMPT FEEDBACK

Students offered choice of type of computer exercise for assignments
This course allows students to complete their choice from an offering of five very different online exercises as homework. The exercises include flow charts, matching exercises, application of course concepts, and essays; all but the essays offer immediate feedback.
John F. Kremer

Keywords: motivating student participation, simulations, interactivity

Multimedia interactive exercises for second-year Chinese class
This good practice is a Web site containing interactive exercises in text, vocabulary, grammar, listening comprehension and reading to stimulate interest in the target language.
Jennifer Liu

Keywords: feedback, accessibility, allowing student choice, customizing assignments

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EMPHASIZE TIME ON TASK

Multimedia training module on behavior disorders for pre-service teachers
This project uses multimedia CD-ROM to present problem-based comprehensive case studies of students with emotional and behavior disorders. It includes extensive interview clips, animations, background from family and social services professionals; it also offers exercises involving assessments and recommendations.
Theresa Ochoa

Keywords: problem-based learning, simulations, interactivity

Students learn to startup and operate an e-business
The main objective is to provide students with a challenging, novel, technology-focused, and learner-centered educational experience where they learn by “doing” ecommerce instead of listening to someone talk about “how to do” ecommerce.
Howard Rosenbaum

Keywords: collaboration or teamwork, problem-based learning, encouraging creativity, research skills, real-world problems, motivating student participation

Using animation to understand difficult concepts in cardiovascular embryology
This good practice uses animation as a learning tool in the study of cardiovascular embryology. Pretest and posttest scores are compared to assess if participants learn more effectively than with 2-dimentional static images.
Valerie O’Loughlin

Keywords
 Online testing, simulations, interactivity, visualizing concepts

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COMMUNICATE HIGH EXPECTATIONS

Scavenger hunt to orient online students
This “scavenger hunt” is used as a first assignment to familiarize students with digital library resources, forums, online quizzes, and “getting around” the online classroom.
Joan Esterline Lafuze

Keywords: orienting students, student readiness, communicating expectations, motivating student participation, interesting assignments

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RESPECT DIVERSE TALENTS AND WAYS OF LEARNING

Online coursework for rapidly changing fields
This project incorporates videos and slide shows within Oncourse to provide a modular overview of the assembly process for circuit boards.
Elaine M. Cooney

Keywords: real-world problems, accessibility, motivating student participation, problem-based learning, accessibility

Comparing face-to-face and online instruction
This is a systematic study comparing traditional instruction with online delivery of the same course content.
Thomas Keefe

Keywords: orienting students, assessing student needs, interactivity, presenting content, course management

Students offered choice of type of computer exercise for assignments
This course allows students to complete their choice from an offering of five very different online exercises as homework. The exercises include flow charts, matching exercises, application of course concepts, and essays; all but the essays offer immediate feedback.
John F. Kremer

Keywords: motivating student participation, simulations, interactivity

Supplementing lecture with musical examples and illustrative materials online
The good practice involves the Web sites "Hip-Hop Music and Culture," “Popular Music of Black America,” and "A Survey of African-American music" incorporating audio and video recordings with contextual background materials, including lecture notes, musical transcriptions, photographs, and graphics.
Portia K. Maultsby

Keywords: motivating student participation, multicultural content, visualizing concepts, problem-based learning

Providing multiple navigation pathways for online resources
This project created a Web-based learning resource that allows students to access the information in different ways.
Jonathan A. Plucker

Keywords: presenting content, interactivity, allowing student choice

Web-based geriatrics modules for resident education
This project provides a Web site offering a modular introduction to geriatric issues. It includes streaming video clips of interviews, also demonstrating techniques for scoring standard questionnaires for common conditions. Each module incorporates a pretest to accommodate students with varying degrees of preparation.
Glenda R. Westmoreland

Keywords: presenting content, mastery of course objectives, online testing

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