Hmp 863 - Best Practices Paper

Best Practices Paper

Juan Torres

HMP 863 Instructional Technology in Course Development

16 August 2012

Best Practices Paper

Online best practices for the development and components of delivery contribute to an effective, efficient, and satisfying teaching and learning experience for both faculty and students. These practices can assist the student as well as the faculty in developing confidence, interaction, and student learning through various new technological media and course designs. Below are three technological best practices with various peer reviews, which have improved the presentation and acquisition of student learning online.

Best practice number one is how the collaborative use of Google applications in the online school environment has greatly increased student/teacher interaction and learning. Google has made strong moves into the education sector; their applications include a school-branded Gmail, Calendar, Contacts, and the Docs suite of collaborative web office products. These applications are free and used by the schools for students, faculty, or alumni. The move from campus-run servers to online servers using Google applications has saved numerous institutions in work force, time and money (Wagner, 2012).

According to (Marshac, 2010), through the use of Google applications Vanderbilt University has saved over $750,000 annually. Further studies conducted by the university revealed that both faculty and students felt that teaching with collaborative technology improved the student's communication and cognitive thinking skills. In addition, in the online learning environment, it improved student to student and student to instructor interactions, group work while at the same time preparing the students for their future careers (Marshac, 2010).

By using these interactive programs students and faculty can gather numerous pieces of information in one place, including videos, PowerPoint presentations, attachments and text and share it with groups, a whole organization or the internet share it for viewing or editing with a small group, an entire organization, or the Internet. As an instructor, I would definitely use these applications in order to improve my capabilities to communicate with my students regardless of where they are or what time it is. It is an effective way of conducting asynchronous training with positive results. However, every technology must be monitored and the use of this application and its end results can be reviewed through qualitative and quantitative studies which could give us recommendations for constant improvements on how to deliver the best possible learning environment (Cahill, 2011).

Best practice number two would be the use of the online writing center/clinic/lab. Many colleges and universities have excellent writing labs with instructional materials for students and faculty of all ages and academic levels. Online writing centers consist of online tutorials, for writing and grammar, and self-test and quizzes with instant feedback. Some of the writing centers also include many other services all free and available to anyone that uses the site (Nordquist, 2012).

One of best sites for online writing labs (OWL) is Purdue University. Purdue is not only the oldest online writing lab but also one of the most comprehensive. The Purdue OWL is like having a classroom in your own home it supplements face-to-face tutorials, and has a stand-alone reference for thousands of writers worldwide. It also is constantly making improvements, and modifications to its writing center and post information on the constant changes. One of the services offered which is used by many educators and students is the APA manual which is updated as needed in accordance with the current edition (Purdue University, n.d.).

Another site that shares its information is Colorado State University's, writing center which has an open access learning environment to improve your writing abilities, by taking self paced tutorials, writing guides and activities. In addition, it also provides writing studio's tools, blogs, wikis, E-Portfolios, bibliography, and assist you in writing projects (Colorado State University, n.d.). These two schools are an example of what online learning writing centers should be like and how it can support an excellent student environment through modern technology. In my opinion, these sites address the students and faculties concerns in regards to enhanced writing abilities, styles, and grammar through various modern online technologies without being in the classroom. According to porter (2004), through the use of sharing resources online and modern educational technologies, students will develop effective writing abilities and cognitive comprehension, for a better online learning environment (Porter, 2004).

The last best practices is one of the most important online technologies available to students and that is the online library. University online libraries are essential and offer a variety of research information made available through various resources online depending on the subject (University of Illinois, n.d.).

However, one of the educational items I would add to an online library is instructional videos covering the basic search and retrieval