Best Practices for Design, Delivery, and Student Success When Teaching Online Courses (Isothermal Community College)

Now more than ever, students are choosing to take their courses online, often enticed by access, flexibility, and the desire to continue their studies while working and raising families. As institutions and individual faculty members, we can collectively respond to this trend with well-designed courses that are delivered in engaging ways and that leverage evidence-based pedagogies for the virtual learning environment. During this workshop, specific approaches to structuring online courses that align with best practices for quality online teaching are shared. These approaches traverse Learning Management Systems such as Canvas, Blackboard, and D2L. Through hands-on activities, participants are exposed to examples and models that highlight several relevant and engaging delivery methods. The workshop ends with a summary of next steps via an action plan that details what faculty can specifically do to develop their online courses.

By the end of this workshop, participants know or be able to:

• Develop a strong foundational understanding of best practices for the design and delivery of online courses.
• Explore various best practices and exemplars related to course activities, assignments, and assessments for the online environment to adopt in their classrooms.
• Construct course elements in their institution's Learning Management System and complete an action plan outlining next steps for course development.

Plans for Audience Participation and Interaction:

Participants are engaged in a variety of ways, including large- and small-group conversations; reviewing exemplar or model course activities, assignments, and assessments; and hands-on opportunities to jumpstart developing technology and pedagogical skills for building engaging online courses. More specifically, this workshop provides a facilitated discussion setting for participants to share collegial information sharing around best practices for course design and delivery and intentionally designed activities to begin the process of course creation within their institution's Learning Management System.

All workshop participants can obtain, at no additional cost:

• A digital badge and certificate that provide a web-enabled, verifiable documentation of your professional learning experience.
• CEUs, which are awarded by passing the post-workshop learning assessment with a score of 80% or better.