Marzano Best Practices in Online Learning
Despite the explosive growth of online learning, there is a shortage of research that examines the effect of instructional strategies on student academic outcomes in an online learning environment.
To address this void the Marzano Research Laboratory (MRL), undertook a study to evaluate the relationship between student learning and effective teacher pedagogical practices with respect to the use of online instruction. The study looked specifically at Edmentum’s online solutions in three instructional settings (pure virtual, blended, and classroom/lab across four purposes (original credit, credit recovery, intervention, and Advanced Placement).
The study identified 13 best practices found to be significantly related to higher levels of student achievement in the online learning environment. These practical behaviors can help teachers effectively engage in an online or blended environment. Here is a sneak peek of the 13 best practices identified in the study.
Marzano Dimension: Strategies involving routine events
1. Communicating course/assignment rules and procedures
2. Providing students with all materials needed to complete an assignment
3. Clearly presenting the goal/objective for each assignment
4. Offering encouragement and positive feedback to students
5. Allowing students to keep track of their learning progress
6. Accessibility to students via electronic communication as well as face-to-face
Marzano Dimension: Strategies enacted on the spot
7. Monitoring student work
8. Knowing every student by name and being able to recognize them
outside of the online environment
9. Allowing students to progress through assignments at their own pace
10. Providing help to understand and practice new knowledge
11. Allowing students to ask questions during online course/assignment
12. Treating all students equally
Marzano Dimension: Strategies addressing content
13. Adding external resources to assignments aligned to local objectives
Stay tuned as we walk through each individual best practice over the next couple months. We will provide you with detailed strategies on how to best implement these best practices into your online or blended environment.
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See the full blog post on tip #1: Communicating course/assignment rules and procedures
See the full blog post on tip #3: Clearly presenting the goal/objective for each assignment
See the full blog post on tip #4: Offering encouragement and positive feedback to students
See the full blog post on tip #5: Allowing students to keep track of their learning progress
See the full blog post on tip #7: Monitoring student work
See the full blog post on tip #8: Knowing every student by name and being able to recognize them