Seven Principles Online

Previously, I have shared the Chickering and Gamson (1987) foundational resource, "Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education." Although a bit dated, today, I would like to summarize how the UT Chattanooga CTL website integrates these into an online environment.

Principle 1: Encourage contact between students and faculty.

Clearly communicate your email response policy.
Encourage e-mail correspondence and discussion use, especially beneficial for those that are shy because it allows them a different avenue of communication that might be more comfortable.
Chat online with faculty (at various times, scheduled weekly).
Use pictures of faculty/students.
Maintain eye contact with the camera.

Principle 3: Develop reciprocity and cooperation among students.

Use chat sites and discussion forums for student-to-student communication.
Set up teams to interact through email with enough people at each site.
Encourage students to respond to their peers' work by posting it on the internet.
Have a question and answer time online.
Encourage online discussion groups that require interaction.

Principle 3: Encourage active learning.

Allow flexibility in choosing material so that it is more meaningful to the learner (e.g. students choose their own topic, project format, etc.).
Have an interactive web page.
Debate on-line.
Present students work for other students to review.

Principle 4: Give prompt feedback.

E-mail gives instant feedback instead of waiting for the next lesson.
Use on-line testing, software simulations, and web-based programs that provide instantaneous feedback.
Monitor bulletin boards regularly and give specific information feedback to students.
Use pre-class and post-class assessments.
Send acknowledgement emails when you receive a student's work.
Use of hyperlinks within text to provide feedback to questions raised within the text.

Principle 5: Emphasize time on task.

Understand that there will be problems with the distance and technology along the way.
Identify key concepts and how those will be taught. Given the amount of time, decide what realistically can be covered.
Each distance class should involve some kind of achievement expectation that is laid out at the beginning of the course. Assign some content for out of class time.
Give up the illusion of doing it all as you might in a regular classroom.
Vary the types of interaction. In creating an interactive environment, it can be overwhelming to the students and teacher if the types of interaction required are too time consuming.
Consider both in and out of class time.
Make sure you know what your goals are and that the learners understand them as well.
Have regular discussions that require participation.

Principle 6: Communicate high expectations.

Give a detailed syllabus with assignments, due dates, and a rubric.
Show examples of your expectations with previous students' work.
Publish student work.
Be a role model. Model the behavior and expectations that you expect from students.
Expect students to participate.
Try to make assignments interesting and relevant to create interest.
Ask students to comment on what they are doing.
Suggest extra resources that support key points.

Principle 7: Respect diverse talents and ways of learning.

Encourage students to express diverse points of view in discussions.
Create learning activities filled with real-life examples and diverse perspectives.
Provide simulated labs.
Balance classroom activities for all styles (some books, some hands on, some visual).
Explain theory from a practical approach first then add the structural approach.

References

Benson, D., Mattson, L. & Adler, L. (1995). Prompt Feedback. In Susan Rickey Hatfield (Ed.), The Seven Principles In Action (55-66). Bolton, MA: Anker Publishing Company.

Brown, D. & Ellison, C. (1995). What is Active Learning?. In Susan Rickey Hatfield (Ed.), The Seven Principles In Action (39-53). Bolton, MA: Anker Publishing.

Bunda, Mary A. (1993). The Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education. Instructional Exchange 4 (1-6), 1-4.

Chickering, Arthur W. (1991). Institutionalizing the Seven Principle and the Faculty and Institutional Inventories. New Directions For Teaching And Learning. Jossey Bass. 47.

Chickering, A. & Ehrmann, S. (2000). Implementing the Seven Principles: Technology as Lever.

Chickering, A. & Gamson, Z.. (1987). Seven Principles for Good Teaching in Undergraduate Education. AAHE Bulletin 39, 3-7.

Cross, K. Patricia. (1997). The Freshman Year: Working Out the Puzzle of a College Education. Paper presented at the Sixteenth Annual Conference on The Freshman Year Experience, Columbia, SC, February 22.

Millis, B. J. (1991). Fulfilling the promise of the "seven principles" through cooperative learning: An action agenda for the University classroom. Journal on Excellence in College Teaching. 2, 139-144.