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Educator's Voice

Volume 4, Issue 10
October 8, 2003

The Seven Principles Revisited

As a way of keeping up with developments in the field of online teaching and learning, I frequently--well, at least once every month or two--revisit the literature on "best practices." I find it rather interesting to see what others think "works" and it is beneficial to examine how instructors are applying best practices or best ideas in new ways. In particular, I have found it useful to revisit a classic article that I'm sure many of you have seen: Arthur Chickering and Zelda Gamson's (1987) the "Seven Principles of Good Practice in Undergraduate Education." This essay, which originally appeared in the March 1987 AAHE Bulletin, summarizes several fundamental strategies that, according to 50 years of educational research, are essential to good practice. These include:

1. Encourages contacts between students and faculty.
2. Develops reciprocity and cooperation among students.
3. Uses active learning techniques.
4. Gives prompt feedback.
5. Emphasizes time on task.
6. Communicates high expectations.
7. Respects diverse talents and ways of learning.

Now, this article clearly resonated with many educators, and it became a very widely read and reproduced piece on many campuses across the country, if not the world. It has been followed by quite a number of other works, and I would like to share some of these with you.

• Applying the Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education -- Associate Professor Joseph R. Codde of Michigan State University elaborates on some specific practices he uses in implementing the principles. This was based in part on Chickering and Gamson's (1991) book of the same name published by Jossey-Bass Inc.
• Implementing the Seven Principles: Technology as Lever -- In this article, which originally appeared in print in the AAHE Bulletin, October 1996, Chickering and Ehrmann (1996) describe some of the most practical and appropriate ways to use computer and Web-based tools to advance the Seven Principles.
• Seven Principles of Good Teaching Practice -- Here, Dr. James W. King of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln offers a large number of very good suggestions for implementation of the Seven Principles in face-to-face as well as distance education courses.
• Seven Principles of Effective Teaching: A Practical Lens for Evaluating Online Courses -- In this piece, originally published in The Technology Source, March/April 2001, the authors, Charles Graham, Kursat Cagiltay, Byung-Ro Lim, Joni Craner, and Thomas M. Duffy, used the principles to evaluate four online courses in a professional school at a large Midwestern university. They also generated an excellent list of corresponding "lessons learned" for online instruction.
• Seven Principles for Good Practice in Legal Education -- This is an interesting online document from the Institute for Law School Teaching, Gonzaga University. It contains several inventories created for both students and faculty to be used in assessing how law courses reflect the principles.
• The Seven Principles for Good Practice (at WSU) -- Here is an intriguing report on how Winona State University adopted in 1990 the Seven Principles as a common pedagogical model for its faculty and students. It provides some examples that illustrate how the Seven Principles guide the WSU faculty and staff. Furthermore, it reiterates the point made in the original Chickering and Gamson article that teachers alone cannot ensure good practices. Institutional and political leaders and administrators must also provide the power to help shape an environment for successful execution of the Seven Principles.

It is my hope that you will discover some stimulating and/or useful information in the above articles, and I invite you to let us know of others that you have found of value.

       --Edward H. Ladon, PhD

 

TIP

Using What's New

As an Instructional Designer at eCollege^SM and also as a faculty member (both outside of eCollege and for the online courses we offer), I have come to rely quite heavily on our system's What's New feature. One of my colleagues noted that maybe not everyone is aware of this tool, or uses it to its fullest potential.

What's New lives on the eCollege course homepage, and it displays just that: what's new in the course during a given number of days (you can choose how far back you want to see what's new--one day, three days, etc.). Once you view what items are new in the course, you can then click on the link and go right to specific areas from there. Even better, if you click the + (plus sign), you will see the names of the students who have added the new items to your class!

This is an effective and efficient way to see what students have completed and added to the course without having to go to each threaded discussion, for example, separately and checking for newly dated entries. This is probably the most helpful aspect--seeing whether or not students have responded to threads. It is also good for viewing new homework, say, to the Journal. It can save you quite a bit of time, not having to dig through your course--especially if you are facilitating a self-paced course.

As for your students, they too can use the What's New feature in mostly the same way. For them, they can also see whether or not you, their instructor, have added new class material.

Try it out--I'm sure you'll find it a convenient and helpful tool!

       --Errin Klein, MA