Black Hawk College
Best Practices for Exemplary Online Instruction

The following best practices from the literature on online teaching and learning may provide you with specific ideas for what this principle might look like in an online course.

1. Syllabus emphasizes high expectations, but not  ones that are unreasonable or overwhelming relative to the prerequisite skills most students bring to the class.
   
   
2. Utilize course orientation to communicate high expectations and express confidence in the students’ abilities to reach them with your support. 
   
   
3. For each major assignment or course activity, provide "reach" resources, exemplary examples from prior offerings of the course, and at least some higher-order thinking skill elements to the assignment’s instructions.
   
   
4. Communicate connections between each course outcome, assignment or major activity, and an external standard in the field (if available) or meaningful external reference point. Ex: certification standards, famous leader in the field’s statements, award criteria.
   
   
5. Establish clear expectations for each module or unit of instruction, e.g., introductory explanation, rubric with outcomes grading criteria, specific instructions, adequate time, opportunities for early ungraded feedback.
   
   
6. Provide links to basic help on skills required for assignments (e.g., library use, technology skills, formatting (APA, MLA) checkups).
   
7. Design assessment methods such that the probability of cheating is reduced..
   
   
8. Establish a firm policy about deadlines and late assignments that provides some flexibility or negotiability for adult learners. Ex: due date to get feedback, due date with no feedback, due date when late points start accumulating, due date beyond which late assignments are not accepted at all.
   
   
9. Provide easy opportunities for students to seek help from the instructor, from each other, from outside people or web-based resources.