Faculty Resources

ActivityCooperationDiversity
ExpectationsInteractionResponsibility

Health Sciences' Best Practices

These Best Practices were defined collaboratively by the
Health Sciences' Distance Education and Technology Committee
with a goal of establishing a common quality framework for health
sciences courses. They are grounded in broadly accepted principles
and research related to quality in education.
(See Downloads & References below).

Activity

Activity refers to practices that promote learners’ active engagement with
the learning process. Learning is not possible without learners’ active participation. Active learning requires a) a learning context that stimulates
and enables the construction of new knowledge, skills, or attitudes and
b) learners’ motivation to engage with that context.

• Provide a combination of self-directed, facilitated, and collaborative learning experiences that actively engage students with the learning content and with each other.
• Promote motivation & engagement by situating learning in relevant, authentic contexts.
• Require critical thinking and the development of higher level skills through inquiry, analysis, synthesis, and reflection.

Cooperation

Cooperation refers to practices that promote the sharing of effort, expertise, and resources among learners to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes or common goals. Cooperation promotes interdependence and the socialization
of students into a community of learning and practice.

• Create opportunities for students to contribute to the learning of their classmates.
• Foster cooperative skills and spirit through collaborative activities.
• Encourage students to support each other by sharing information, insights, etc.
• Provide forum(s) for peer networking and off-topic communications.
• Provide opportunities for peer feedback.

Diversity

Diversity refers to practices that celebrate and support the unique characteristics of learners, including differences in culture, experience, perspectives, skills, and talents. In addition to supporting the individual
needs of diverse learners, diversity promotes an appreciation for multiple perspectives and a rich, shared learning experience.

• Use diverse teaching strategies and media to appeal to different
  learning styles & preferences.
• Demonstrate respect for student backgrounds, current situations,
  and past experiences, integrating them into the learning process as appropriate.
• Ensure that all course materials are accessible and usable by all students, including those with disabilities.
• Provide options, flexibility, and choice to enable students to
  personalize learning activities.

Expectations

Expectations refers to practices that establish, communicate, and assess
the achievement of course requirements. Expectations provide a clear, unambiguous, and mutually understood framework for learning.

• Communicate clear goals and expectations in writing at the beginning
  of the semester, including learning objectives, assignment instructions & evaluation criteria, participation requirements, time commitments,
  and potential consequences.
• Define and communicate enabling objectives that link lesson/session materials to overall course goals.
• Establish high standards for academic achievement (e.g., writing standards).
• Assess student understanding and mastery using tests, written assignments, projects or other strategies that reflect achievement of stated objectives.
• Provide a clear, intuitive path to learning materials.
• Provide opportunities for students to succeed, but recognize that not
  all of them might take advantage of these opportunities.

Interaction

Interaction refers to the exchange of information, ideas, and opinions
between and among learners and teachers. Constructive dialogue is an essential element of the learning process. A generally accepted concept of interaction in an online course discriminates between learner-teacher interaction, learner-learner interaction and learner-content interaction.

• Communicate regularly with students.
• Communicate a process for contacting course instructor(s).
• Establish guidelines for peer to peer communication & collaboration.
• Explicitly encourage open, honest communications and multiple perspectives.
• Provide timely, thorough, constructive, ongoing feedback.
• Elicit student feedback about course content and learning activities.
• Provide opportunities for self & group assessment of the interactive process.

Responsibility

Responsibility refers to practices that foster and govern student and
instructor accountability for learning. Instructors are responsible for providing
a learning environment that enables student success; students are responsible for organizing and monitoring their own learning process and making the
effort needed to succeed.

Student

• Emphasize the importance of self-direction (i.e., pacing/ scheduling, participation, and self-assessment).
• Encourage students to monitor their own progress and request extra help when needed.

Instructor

• Establish a positive, safe environment for learning.
• Structure content to facilitate the learning process and enable student achievement of stated objectives.
• Provide an appropriate balance of meaningful learning activities & assignments.
• Evaluate, update and revise course materials regularly.
• Consider the context of the course with respect to the overall curriculum.
• Provide oversight and guidance throughout the semester.

Downloads

• Health Sciences Best Practices (.pdf)
• Best Practices Self/Peer Review Inventory (.pdf)

References

• American Psychological Association (1997). Learner-Centered Psychological Principles: A Framework for School Redesign and Reform.
• Chickering, A.W. & Gamson, A.F. (1991). Applying the Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education. Jossey-Bass, Inc., San Francisco, CA.
• Egerton, E., Korjus, J., and Posey, L. (2003). Standards and Strategies for Learner Centered Online Instruction.
• Swan, K. (2003). Learning effectiveness: what the research tells us. In Bourne, J. and Moore, H.C., Eds. Elements of Quality in Online Education. The Sloan Consortium, Needham, MA.

Note: The Flashlight Online student inventory provides a test bank of questions linked to the Chickering and Gamson principles.