Ten
Principles of Effective Teaching and Practical Examples
for the Classroom and Blackboard |
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"Encourage
Faculty-student & Student-student Interaction & Communication"
"Frequent student-faculty contact in and out of class
is a most important factor in student motivation and involvement.
Faculty concern helps students get through rough times and
keep working. Knowing a few faculty members well enhances
students' intellectual commitment and encourages them to think
about their own values and plans" (Chickering & Ehrmann,
1996, p. 2). This concept applies equally to student-student
interaction (p. 3).
Examples of Blackboard use
1. Use email, discussion boards, chats, virtual classrooms
to foster instructor-student interaction.
2. Consider setting a specific time during the week for online
office hours using the Chat tool.
3. When assigning team projects, establish and promote the
use of Blackboard Group pages to encourage students to communicate
and share information with each other online.
4. Post staff information and complete contact information
with faculty preferences (e.g. do not call me at home, or
you may call me at home until…).
5. Establish clear guidelines for how e-mail should be handled
in the course. Have students include the course and section
number in the subject line.
6. Consider developing a chat policy that may include expectations
on appropriateness, professionalism, rules for staying on
topic, referencing other students posts, spelling, participation,
etc.
General best practices of faculty-student
and student-student interaction from current educational models
1. Promote sharing of ideas and collaboration. "Learning
is enhanced when it is more like a team effort than a solo
race. Good learning, like good work, is collaborative and
social, not competitive and isolated. Working with others
often increases involvement in learning. Sharing one's ideas
and responding to others' improves thinking and deepens understanding"
(Chickering & Ehrmann, 1996, p. 3).
2. Have students study in groups, team up for group projects
or problem solving, and discuss assignments to deepen student-student
interaction and reciprocity (p. 3).
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