Making the Transition to Teaching and Learning 
Virginia Commonwealth University's Center for Teaching Excellence provides information on moving a course to the online environment: "There is a common perspective that moving a course online is primarily about designing and sequencing course content. While content is important, we also believe that recent changes on the web - toward a more social and interconnected space - have necessitated the rethinking of what it means to make the transition to online teaching and learning." To learn more, access the VCU CTE website and read the white paper, Building from Content to Community: [Re]Thinking the Transition to Online Teaching and Learning.

What does a high quality online course look like?
Use the Rubric for Online Instruction to develop and/or evaluate the online course(s) you teach. The rubric was developed at California State University, Chico. For another resource, click on the following link: Assuring that the Online Course is Ready for Prime Time.

How do I ensure students will post quality comments to discussion boards? Consider sharing this handout, Make Quality Contributions, with your students.  (Accessed online 5/21/08 at http://faq.hpu.edu/tlc/faq-pro/index_hpu.php, part of Hawaii Pacific University's website; reprinted with permission.)

Consider sharing these Following Directions Tips  with your students in online courses. Anna Purnell and Craig McMahon, instructors in the English department from Madison Area Technical College, authored the tips.

Do you want to increase the amount of time students are engaged in your online course? Utilize ideas in The New Virtual Classroom to encourage students to be active in their learning. 

Ten Instructional Strategies: To learn about a variety of instructional strategies to use in online courses, click on the following link: Instructional Strategies for Online Courses.

Researchers have found that students in humor-enhanced online courses are more likely to post comments on discussion boards. Learn more by clicking on the following link: Humor in Online Courses  

How can Chickering and Gamson's Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education be applied to teaching online? Explore the Teaching, Learning and Technology Group, a non-profit group that helps to improve teaching and learning through the effective use of technology, website to get “ideas for using technology to implement the seven principles.”  

Are you looking for "good practical advice" for teaching online? Leslie Buck, Assistant Professor of Psychology, recommends the article, "Saving Your Sanity When Teaching in an Online Environment: Lessons Learned," by Keramidas, Ludlow, Collins, & Baird.

Do you want to develop an assessment plan for your online course? For a step by step approach, click on the following link: Assessment and Management of Online Courses.

Blackboard Training Manuals (require Adobe reader) 
Faculty Blackboard Course Creation Manual  
Student Blackboard Manual