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. Apply knowledge of learner characteristics to course design; e.g., learning styles, levels and types of prior knowledge, adult learning principles, cultural backgrounds or influences, motivations for learning, gender, age (generational patterns), life experiences, socioeconomic class (impact of poverty on expectations about college, etc.).
   
   
2. Communicate willingness to accommodate various accessibility needs and how to request special services. Research available options at BHC through the TLC. 
   
   
3. Provide varied resources, assignment options (ways to demonstrate learning), and learning modality choices (paths to communicate, learn, practice, receive feedback) that appeal to multiple learner interests and preferences.
   
   
4. Offer assistance in navigating above course options and helping students make choices or negotiated adaptations of course work based on their self-assessments, career goals, and/or other pertinent characteristics.
   
   
5. Maximize opportunities for students to understand and learn from their differences, particularly when they directly impact course outcomes.
   
   
6. Provide multiple and varied sources of help, including online tutoring, FAQs, etc. and optional face‑to-face tutorial sessions, hands-on supervised labs, or peer mentoring.