Best Practices Guidelines for Pratt Institute Faculty Teaching Online
As part of a continuous effort to ensure quality in online course design, the best practices below have been identified to support faculty teaching college courses. For more Canvas resources, please see the CTL Canvas resource hub. For more information about online pedagogy, please contact the CTL at ctl@pratt.edu to sign up for upcoming learning opportunities.
1. COURSE INTRODUCTION
- Starting point: Is there a clear starting point for the students in your online course, such as “Start Here” which introduces the subject, details first steps, defines general course structure and timeline, and links to the syllabus?
- Examples: Make your course’s front page lists the instructions for getting started, or schedule an ‘announcement’ to go out on the first day of class with instructions for getting started.
- Syllabus: Does the online course have an updated course syllabus that follows the recommendations in the official Pratt Syllabus Template, including the Accessibility and Equity and Inclusion statement?
- Introductions: Is there an instructor introduction with full name and contact information? Are your students asked to introduce themselves to each other as one of the first activities in the course (discussion board, other linked tool, on Zoom, etc)?
- Expectations: Does the syllabus detail (or link to) the required course materials, communication expectations and response time, institutional policies, support resources, office hours and the grading policy?
2. DESIGN AND LAYOUT
- Resources: Are links to institutional resources on technology, the library and campus student support services and resources available in the online course and are they easy to find?
- Grading: Do grades recorded online accurately reflect calculated totals, as mentioned in the syllabus, so that students can continually track their progress?
- Clear Navigation: Is course navigation clear and easily understood? Would students know where to click next and where to find learning materials and assignments? Have the less utilized links and tools been hidden from view to minimize confusion?
- Is the content “chunked” into manageable pieces by leveraging modules (e.g. organized by units, chapters, topic, or weeks)?
- Do the modules and items within modules have a thoughtful naming convention (e.g. name the module “Week 1: Pandas in the News,” not just “Week 1”)
- Clear Formatting: Is the text on the pages clearly separated into sections (using headers, paragraphs, lists, etc.), rather than just being one long document?
- Multimedia: Are there a variety of instructional materials (for example graphics, videos, articles, links, collaborative tools, simulations) utilized throughout the course?
3. COURSE ALIGNMENT
- Learning Objectives: Are the course-level student learning outcomes listed and available on the syllabus? Are there module- or unit-level learning objectives listed in each Module in some way?
- Learning Materials: Are explanations for engaging with the learning materials and assignments detailed? Do they include clear instructions, submission requirements, due dates and grading criteria?
- Assessments: Do assessments and grading rubrics measure the stated learning objectives? Do students know what they need to do for high achievement? Are grading criteria clear and easy to understand?
- Are there frequent low–stakes (formative) assessments throughout the course to informally measure knowledge, skills and attitudes?
- Are high-stakes (summative) assessments clearly aligned with stated goals, learning objectives and/or standards for the module or course?
4. LEARNER ENGAGEMENT
- Faculty Presence: Is the instructor present in the online course through the use of announcements, feedback, discussions, comments, reactions or other tools on a weekly basis?
- Student Participation:
- Do learning activities include student-to-student interaction to foster a sense of community (e.g. discussions, constructive collaboration and peer reviews)?
- Do learning activities include student-to-teacher interaction (e.g. teacher is actively engaged in authentic conversations and provides quality feedback)?
- Do learning activities include student-content interaction (e.g. students interact with engaging content and resources) and provide opportunities for self-assessment?
- Feedback: Does the instructor provide actionable feedback on projects and assignments?
- Inclusivity: Does the course provide an inclusive environment by acknowledging and addressing equity and access issues throughout? Are there opportunities for all perspectives to be included and all voices represented – through the curriculum, assignments and engagements?
5. UNIVERSAL DESIGN AND ACCESSIBILITY
- Accessible documents: Are course documents provided in PDF format so that students can access them on any device?
- Text Formatting: Is the text formatting throughout the course consistent and readable (similar font, color, size)?
- Alternative Formats: Are alternative formats accessible for rich-media content (such as videos with closed captioning)?
- Has the instructor utilized the Accessibility Checker to identify and correct any issues for web tools and/or software utilized in the course? Resource is here.
- Do the Images used to support course content (e.g., banners, headings and icons) and accompanied by text descriptions (Alt text) or captions for more complex descriptions?
- Do audio materials have an accompanying transcript and do videos / screencasts have closed-captioned?
- Working links: All links, files, videos and external URLs are active and working
- UDL: Are Universal Design for Learning considerations addressed in the course by providing multiple means of Engagement, Representation and Action/Expression? Start exploring UDLGuidelines here.
6. OTHER CONSIDERATIONS
- Fair use and copyright: Are uploaded course documents follow the Fair Use and Copyright Guidelines? (for example this)
- FERPA: Is the instructor committed to protecting student privacy by never emailing out grades, keeping student records confidential, and using the LMS to post student grades?
- Course Data: Is the instructor committed to continuously improving the course to support students learning by monitoring student progress (in the gradebook) and using the course analytics for student engagement? Use the course analytics to support student learning; or use the gradebook to assess curriculum and teaching methods.
This Pratt Guide is adapted from the Best Practices for Teaching Online developed via an eLearning Work Group at Mountain View College, part of the Dallas County Community College District (DCCCD), in partnership with the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development (NISOD), the California Virtual Campus – Online Education Initiative, and the Canvas Course Evaluation Checklist v2.0.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
