Seven principles of good educational practice: distance and classroom

The full article "Seven Principles of Good Teaching Practice" will detail different ways to apply these principles in the regular and distance education classroom. You will find several ideas to improve your performance...

1. Encouraging Student-Faculty Contact
   
   

   Frequent Student-Faculty contact in and out of the classroom is the single most important factor in student motivation and engagement. The attention of the faculty helps the student in hard times and encourages him to persevere. Knowing a few faculty members enhances students' intellectual engagement and encourages them to think about their own values and future plans. 
   
   

2. Encouraging cooperation among students
   

   Learning is enhanced when it feels more like teamwork than a solitary race. Good learning, like good work, is collaborative and social, not competitive and isolated. Working with others often increases engagement in learning. Sharing one's own ideas and responding to the feedback of others improves thinking and deepens understanding. 
   
   

3. Encouraging active learning
   
   

   Learning is not a spectator sport. Students don't learn much by just sitting around listening to professors, memorizing pre-packaged tasks and spitting out answers. They have to talk about what they are learning, write about it, relate it to past experiences and apply it to their lives. They need to integrate what they are learning into themselves. 
   
   

4. Give feedback promptly
   
   

   Knowing what you know and what you don't know focuses learning. Students need appropriate feedback on their performance to benefit from courses. At start-up, students need to assess their existing knowledge and skills. They need frequent opportunities to perform and receive suggestions for improvement. Students need opportunities to reflect on what they have learned, what they still need to learn, and how to assess themselves. 
   
   

5. Putting importance on time on task
   
   

   Time plus energy equals learning. Effective time management is vital for students as well as professionals. Allocating realistic time periods means effective learning for students and effective teaching for faculty. 
   

   
   

6. Communicating high expectations




Demand more and you will get it. High expectations are important for everyone; for those who are unprepared, for those who don't want to push themselves, and for the bright and motivated. Expecting students to perform becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy when teachers and institutions hold high expectations for themselves and put in extra effort. 



7. Respecting different talents and ways of learning
   
   

   There are many ways to learn. People have different talents and learning styles. Brilliant students in seminary may turn out to have thumbs full (awkward) in the lab or art studio. Experienced students in practice may be poor theoreticians. Students need opportunities to showcase their talents and learn ways that work for them. They can also be stimulated to learn in other ways that don't come as easily to them.
   
   

For the full article and its many classroom and distance examples: Seven Principles of Good Teaching Practice