- Facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity. If a course does not inspire students to learn, it is a failure right out of the gate. I like to use the “guide on the side” model rather than the “sage on the stage“ model of teaching and learning.
- Promote and model digital citizenship and responsibility. To me, one of the most important skills that is developed in college is perspective taking and empathy. Students in my courses should learn to appreciate and value the contributions of each team member and to challenge their own assumptions about thinking and learning.
- Ongoing, varied, and frequent assessments are conducted throughout the course to inform instruction. I believe that one of the most important components of learning is timely, accurate, and complete feedback. This feedback must be provided both to the teacher and to the students in order to inform learning. Formative and Summative assessment are integral parts of teaching and learning.
- The course provides opportunities for students to engage in higher order thinking, critical reasoning activities, and thinking in increasingly complex ways. I believe in modeling and teaching the four C’s of 21st-century learning: communication, collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking.
- Course design reflects a clear understanding of all students’ needs and incorporates varied ways to learn and master the curriculum. I believe that varied learning and teaching styles promotes retention, transfer, and application to real life. Many of my favorite courses were varied and challenging.
- The course learning objectives describe outcomes that are measurable and all learning objectives are clearly stated and written from the students perspective. Without clear learning objectives, teachers have no idea what they’re assessing and students have no idea what they were supposed to have learned. Developing and describing clear learning objectives should be one of the first steps in instructional design.
- The instructional materials contribute to the achievement of the stated course and module/unit learning objectives. The purpose of instructional materials and how the materials are to be used for learning activities are clearly explained. I appreciate a well organized course and I always really like to know how to get an A. I owe that to my students as well.
- Learning activities provide support for interaction that support active learning. I am a huge believer in active versus passive learning. I know for myself, when something is real to me and seems to make a real difference in my life I tend to pour myself into it. When I think about the best courses that I’ve ever taken in my life, I was in charge of my learning. I got out what I put into those classes. It may be easier to sit on the sidelines and watch someone else perform but I learn best when I am partly in control of the pace, depth, and sequence of my learning.
- Teachers continuously improve their professional practice, model lifelong learning, and exhibit leadership in their school and professional community by promoting and demonstrating the effective use of digital tools and resources. It may be because I am young, but I really appreciate teachers who understand digital literacy and model best practices in the area of technological integration. Everything in my life is constantly being taken over by technology and learning is no different.
- Collaborate with students, peers, parents, and community members using digital tools and resources to support students access and innovation by modeling digital age work and learning. Too often we believe that good teaching consists of teachers creating their own original work. Good teaching, instead, is about using existing tools and collaborating with others in the community to support student innovation. We model what students will do for the rest of their lives: work with others in humility.
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