Small Teaching Online - by Flower Darby & James M Lang (Hardcover)

About the Book

"BUILDS OFF OUR PREVIOUS SUCCESS: Small Teaching (9781118944493, February 2016) has sold 27,498 units life-to-date. We are building off of our success with that title to address the specific challenges that online instructors face in higher education. Author James Lang is partnering with eLearning expert Flower Darby to write and promote the book. RAPIDLY GROWING SEGMENT OF STUDENT POPULATION: According to the Online Learning Consortium, in 2016, 5.8 million students were enrolled in at least one online course. This represents a 263% increase over the last decade. Two-thirds of these 5.8 million students take online courses through public institutions. ONLINE LEARNING IS PREFERRED BY TODAY'S LEARNER: The Online Learning Consortium study also shows that 90% of today's student believes online learning is as good as or better than the traditional classroom experience. INCREASED ENGAGEMENT WITH EDTECH: A survey of university Chief Information Officers shows that 96% believe adaptive technology has potential to improve student outcomes, while 87% believe technology provides a richer experience for students. Students agree, except that 4 out of 5 would also say universities should be doing more with technology-based learning experiences. This book will help higher education instructors do that"--

Book Synopsis

Find out how to apply learning science in online classes

The concept of small teaching is simple: small and strategic changes have enormous power to improve student learning. Instructors face unique and specific challenges when teaching an online course. This book offers small teaching strategies that will positively impact the online classroom.

This book outlines practical and feasible applications of theoretical principles to help your online students learn. It includes current best practices around educational technologies, strategies to build community and collaboration, and minor changes you can make in your online teaching practice, small but impactful adjustments that result in significant learning gains.

• Explains how you can support your online students
• Helps your students find success in this non-traditional learning environment
• Covers online and blended learning
• Addresses specific challenges that online instructors face in higher education

Small Teaching Online presents research-based teaching techniques from an online instructional design expert and the bestselling author of Small Teaching.

From the Back Cover

Praise for SMALL TEACHING ONLINE

"For anyone teaching online--novice or seasoned--Small Teaching Online is a must-read! Darby expertly combines educational research and her expertise as an instructional designer to suggest practical solutions to challenges faced in the online environment in bite-sized chunks that don't overwhelm."
--MEL YOUNG, Teaching and Learning Innovation Hub, Cambrian College, Blogger, disruptivepedagogy.ca

"Darby and Lang extend the powerful Small Teaching paradigm successfully to the online teaching and learning environment. Faculty who are new to online teaching are especially well-served with this superb introduction to research-based incremental strategies."
--VICTORIA MONDELLI, Founding Director, Teaching for Learning Center, University of Missouri

"An unexpected delight! Flower brightens the literature she cites with her experiences and experiments in her own online classes--what she tried, what worked well and what didn't, and how she improved on less-than-perfect results. You feel like you're getting to know her and finding a new friend and mentor."
--LINDA B. NILSON, Director Emeritus, Office of Teaching Effectiveness and Innovation, Clemson University

"Any professor would find this book useful, whether you teach entirely online, in a flipped classroom, or just want your course website to be more than a folder of readings. Flower Darby mixes her rich experience as a teacher and learner with a careful review of the most current literature to bring us a work that's deep with context and immediately applicable."
--JOSEPH M. MURPHY, Director of the Center for Innovative Pedagogy, Kenyon College

"In his book Small Teaching: Everyday Lessons from the Science of Learning, Jim Lang provided instructors with practical, simple, and easy strategies for maximizing student learning and success. Flower Darby and Lang now offer Small Teaching Online: Applying Learning Science in Online Classes, an equally important book for those who strive to create engaged learning experiences for students in an online environment. This will be really helpful to many instructors, whether teaching online or face-to-face or in a hybrid format. Indeed anyone who cares about student learning and student success in the 21^st century would benefit from implementing the lessons presented in this book."
--DR. JERRY DADAY, Executive Associate Dean, Institute for Engaged Learning, Professor of Sociology, IUPUI

"The work of teaching is hard. Coupled with the often-uncharted paths involved in teaching online, it can feel downright discouraging. Enter Small Teaching Online. It is a practical guide to help us design our online classes to support learning, be more experimental in our pedagogy, give effective feedback, help students persist, and create more authentic connections. This book helps us see how we can continue to iterate one small step at a time toward excellence in online teaching."
--BONNI STACHOWIAK, Director, Institute for Faculty Development, Vanguard University; host, Teaching in Higher Ed podcast

"What faculty members teaching online need most of all are research-based, but very practical strategies they can use in their online learning environments tomorrow. Darby and Lang's book, chock full of great ideas that faculty can use right away, is just the resource we have all been looking for."
--LARRY GALLAGHER, Former Director of Faculty Professional Development at Northern Arizona University

About the Author

FLOWER DARBY is a Senior Instructional Designer and adjunct faculty member at Northern Arizona University, where she's taught for 23 years. She also teaches online classes for Estrella Mountain Community College. Learn more about the Small Teaching approach at www.smallteaching.com.

JAMES M. LANG is a Professor of English and the Director of the D'Amour Center for Teaching Excellence at Assumption College. He writes a monthly column on teaching and learning for The Chronicle of Higher Education. He is the author of Small Teaching: Everyday Lessons from the Science of Learning.