Oregon State University Ecampus

Online Learning | Feature 6 Ways to Be a Better Online Teacher --- check out #3 for a creative 'active-learning' activity that has students tweeting as various characters as they read texts from the Crusades.

Article that includes tips/arguments for OER and a list of 18 OER sites every educator should know about. Includes information about spreading OER use across campus. (This is an article in Campus Technology magazine -- free subscription online if you're unable to access it via the link here.)

This site gives examples for each of the "Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education" from Chickering and Gamson (1987) and also references Chickering and Ehrmann's (1996) "Implementing the Seven Principles: Technology as Lever."

Abstract: This is the largest and most comprehensive metaanalysis of undergraduate STEM education published to date. The results raise questions about the continued use of traditional lecturing as a control in research studies, and support active learning as the preferred, empirically validated teaching practice in regular classrooms.

Example of moving a Math course online and creating community by getting students to record themselves explaining solutions to problems

11 minute TED talk by the company making cool virtual labs in Unity. notes that students are bored by classic classroom teaching, and most of the current "innovations" in online teaching involve putting that same boring approach online. backs it up with some research. Points out that when you make an entertaining virtual lab with a story, students forget to check facebook for hours. Final takeaway is that the tech is here, and the next leap forward in education will come when teachers adopt it.

From OLC Tweet stream - interesting to see how this review process includes instructor online skills as well as 'pure' course design

What is it? This summary of research on Project Based Learning also appears in the BIE book PBL for 21st Century Success. It provides a quick look at key studies showing PBL's positive effects on student academic achievement, mastery of 21st century competences such as problem-solving and critical thinking, addressing the needs of diverse learners and closing achievement gaps, and increasing students' motivation to learn.