Post 492: Book Review: Effective Online Teaching: Foundations and Strategies For Student Success by Tina Stavredes

 Post 492; Book Review

Teaching Online Effectively with Tina Stavredes' Book

Tina Stavredes' book, Teaching Online Effectively, is an invaluable resource for educators looking to transition to teaching online. With detailed advice and guidance on how to ensure student engagement and success, this comprehensive guidebook is an essential read for any teacher thinking of taking the plunge into virtual learning.

The book provides an overview of the key elements of successful online teaching, including best practices for implementing and managing the teaching process, how to foster a sense of community and connection in a virtual environment, and strategies for keeping students engaged. Stavredes also covers topics such as assessment and evaluation, grading, and the use of technology for teaching purposes.

In addition, she focuses on the various challenges that online teaching presents, such as difficulties in motivating students, ensuring that the content is accessible to all, and creating an equitable learning experience. She offers practical advice on how to address these issues, such as ways to make content more engaging and how to balance course workloads for students.

Stavredes also includes a section on the role of the instructor in online teaching, which emphasizes the importance of developing a strong relationship with students and creating a supportive environment. This section highlights the importance of feedback and communication in virtual learning, and Stavredes provides strategies for effectively communicating with students and assessing their progress.

Overall, Teaching Online Effectively by Tina Stavredes is an excellent resource for educators looking to transition to teaching online. With practical advice and guidance on how to create an effective and engaging learning experience, this book is essential reading for any virtual educator

Effective Online Teaching Foundations and Strategies for Student Success by Tina Starvedes is a great book for both experienced and beginner online teachers. In Part I, she goes over the key traits of the adult learner and she goes over the challenges that affect learner persistence.

In Part II, she goes over the foundations of Cognitive and Learning Theory. I liked the chapter telling me how students are motivated more by internal motivation rather than external motivation. In other words, students have to really want to succeed in order to learn, and not just be motivated only by getting good grades.

The best part of the book for me was in Part III where she goes over different kinds of scaffolding to support learner thinking. Procedural Scaffolding deals with how well the student can navigate the online classroom. During Week 1, I usually make sure students know how to find where their lessons, modules, quizzes and forums are located. Metacognition Scaffolding involves teaching students study habits and my grading habits to get them used to my classroom routine. Conceptual Scaffolding deals with having students become familiar with the learning objectives of each assignment. Once students have Procedural, Metacognitive and Conceptual Scaffolding down, then I get a successful bunch of students.