Evaluating Online Teaching

Evaluating Online Teaching

Discover the best methods for evaluating online teaching in the classroom and learn to develop a framework for evaluations.

Accountability is as important in an online classroom as it is in a traditional one. We want to know instructors are performing well and that students are being served.

But evaluation presents some challenges. Things like student engagement, classroom presence, learning outcomes…these and many other measures of faculty success require different assessment tools and criteria in the online modality than when evaluating face-to-face teaching.

Evaluating Online Teaching is a five-part Online Course that can help you develop a workable framework for conducting evaluations.

Led by Thomas J. Tobin, PhD, this 3-hour insight-filled course will guide you in:

• Choosing the observation methods and evaluation tools appropriate to online teaching
• Determining how much observation to do, and when and where to do it
• Making informed judgments about formative and summative learning performance
• Gathering different types of student feedback
• Identifying and measuring behaviors unique to online teaching
• Making promotion and employment decisions

You’ll get the help you need to maintain a vibrant, respected online teaching community dedicated to continuous improvement and upholding the integrity of your online curriculum.

The course is designed for convenient learning. Participants can start and stop at any point and access the content from virtually any device. A final check on learning leads to a certificate of completion. Supplemental materials support the course content, and include handouts, full transcripts, readings, and links to online resources.

Learning Goals

After completing Evaluating Online Teaching, participants will be able to:

• Identify the teaching practices unique to online teaching
• State the four categories of interactions online teaching practices fall into
• Name five places to look in learning management systems for evidence of good teaching interactions
• Recognize the difference between what constitutes good-and not-so-good-online teaching.
• Use a peer evaluation rubric for evaluating online teaching
• Describe informal online teaching actions and behaviors

Giving your online faculty meaningful evaluations serves your institutions need to protect standards; it serves your students need for the best possible instruction; and it serves your online faculty’s need for accurate assessment and full recognition of their good work. Evaluating Online Teaching can help you accomplish all those goals. Order it today!

“This was a great course… I will definitely be able to use this information to improve my own courses/teaching and will recommend this course to my supervisor.” - Kimberlee Brent, Assistant Professor of Education, Ilisagvik College

“I think pertinent information was provided quite succinctly - perfect for retaining and implementing immediately.” - Jeanne Norville, Curriculum and Instructional Technology Designer, Bermuda College

Thomas Tobin, PhD

Thomas J. Tobin is the program area director for distance teaching & learning on the Learning Design, Development, & Innovation (LDDI) team at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, as well as an internationally recognized speaker and author on quality in technology-enhanced education, especially copyright, evaluation of teaching practice, academic integrity, and accessibility/universal design for learning. He holds a PhD in English literature, a second masters degree in information science, and professional certifications in project management (PMP), online teaching (MOT), Quality Matters (QM), and accessibility core competencies (CPACC). Tom serves on the editorial boards of InSight: A Journal of Scholarly Teaching, the Journal of Interactive Online Learning, and the Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration. His books includeEvaluating Online Teaching: Implementing Best Practices (2015) with Jean Mandernach and Ann H. Taylor; The Copyright Ninja: Rise of the Ninja(2017); Reach Everyone, Teach Everyone: Universal Design for Learning in Higher Education (2018) with Kirsten Behling; andGoing Alt-Ac: A Guide to Alternative Academic Careers (in press, 2020) with Katie Linder and Kevin Kelly.