Small Teaching Online: Applying Learning Science in Online Classes

First of all, if you've read Lang's Small Teaching book, be prepared for something different, and not as good. I knew something was up when the first ten pages or so of this book went into detail about how Land did not write this book, but it's written by one of his admirers. Not a great way to start or build credibility. I've been teaching online college courses for many years now, and have been reading books about online teaching for just as long. If you've read a few books on online teaching, this book is just more of the same. Nothing new in this book that you won't find anywhere else. I was disappointed, because Lang's first book was great, and his ideas are easily adapted to the online environment. The information in this book could easily be edited to an appendix to Lang's first book. Save your money. Buy Small Teaching by Lang, and pass on this book.

As an ardent admirer of Lang's Small Teaching, I was so excited to see an iteration of Small Teaching focused specifically on online teaching. The collaboration between Darby and Lang is clear throughout the book, as Darby translates the essence of Small Teaching, then infuses the concepts with examples from her extensive experience as an online teacher and instructional designer. The technique of weaving narrative into a teachable moment is what makes Lang's Small Teaching so engaging. Darby leverages this technique to reinforce learning theory and make explicit connections between Small Teaching and online teaching without becoming overly pedantic--like Lang's Small Teaching, Small Teaching Online is easy and enjoyable to read. In Chapter 2, Darby uses an example of teaching dance by focusing on the feet first, then adding in the hands. I've led professional development for online teachers in higher education for almost a decade, and have repeatedly seen both novice and experienced online teachers struggle with translating in-person techniques to the online environment. Small Teaching Online is a much needed resource for helping online teachers develop effective online course design and teaching practices by allowing them to focus on one aspect at a time (feet then hands, so to say!). Too often online teaching is overlooked because it's assumed that it is easy to modify traditional pedagogy to online modalities. Not so! Small Teaching Online is an important addition to any professional development bookshelf for online teachers and those that support online teachers. The comprehensive bibliography, alone, is worth the price. Looking forward to brown bag lunches with my colleagues to discuss this book, and share our own small teaching online insights!

I tried a few of Darby's strategies in my online course, and I just got this unprompted email a student: "I am really enjoying the class, and I feel this is the most engaged I have been in a course so far. I actually enjoy participating in the discussions." First time I've heard that about discussion boards! Darby's ideas are easy to implement, and the book is fun and engaging. Worth your time.

When searching for ways to improve your online teaching it can feel overwhelming to invest time into a complete course redesign. Several online faculty don't have the support of an instructional designer in those large course redesign endeavors. This book gives excellent strategies to humanize YOUR online course without the need to redevelop from scratch. She shares teaching theory and workable strategies that you could fold into your teaching practice TODAY to connect with students while supporting their learning - small things that research shows can make a huge impact on our students' success. She even offers ways that we can incrementally improve our teaching practice without feeling like we have to implement everything at once. I can't wait to share this book with colleagues at my school and dig further into the extensive list of resources that she's woven throughout the book. Small Teaching Online is a BIG HIT!!

After completing the book I realized it a Mr. Miyagi approach to teaching online. Ms. Darby doesn't show you how to teach online. She provides the "Small Teaching" approach to online design. Just like Mr. Miyagi didn't teach Daniel Son Karate, Mr. Myagi taught him how "wax on / wax off." In the process, the wax on / wax off gave him the skills to do karate. This is the approach to "Small Teaching." She provides a very easy approach in taking the small steps that we create to design an effective online course. Each chapter does provide information that we struggle with in online design. Yet she gives nice, simple, helpful and practical strategies to address those areas of struggle. From the syllabus, to discussions, to assessments, to even the overall feeling of a course, it is clear she understands the issues, the principles and effective strategies. The best part is, the strategies are totally doable. So if you are intimidated to teach online, this book is for you. If you are an advanced online instructor, then the strategies will keep adding value to your learning environment. Highly recommended for professional development reading groups or individual reading.

I appreciated that this is a relatively easy and quick read, with discrete and actionable strategies and the evidence behind them -- after each chapter, I stop and make notes and changes in my syllabus. I also appreciate that the strategies are all things I can do to improve or tweak my existing course instead of requiring that I start over from scratch, unlike some books I've found on this. My only frustration is that the authors seem to assume that all online courses are entirely asynchronous online, which is of course not the case -- while some are, others are synchronous online (i.e., professor and students together in a live Zoom session or such) or a hybrid between the two. Not only does this mean that the tips aren't super helpful for the synchronous parts of the course, but some of the strategies they suggest for the asynchronous parts are driven by the assumption that there will be no synchronous parts -- that students won't ever have the opportunity to ask live questions during a talk, etc.

I read the first book, Small Teaching, first and loved it. This one was also excellent. It is written for anyone who teaches in higher ed (could probably be adapted to high school, I assume). I already know a fair amount about pedagogy but still found both extremely useful. But I think people who are new to teaching would also find it extremely useful. It is well written with a good balance of stories, research, and advice for practical application. It definitely should be widely read during COVID-19.

This is my favorite book on pedagogy parallel to the original. If you are like me you have tons of great seminal pieces of pedagogical literature. Many of them end up getting swept to the side since I am too busy to fully finish them. The small teaching books provide me with titular "small" concepts which are deceptively complex to implement but immensely rewarding if you implement them one at a time. It is easy to read and easy to apply to multiple disciplines. Do yourself a favor and get this little gem, especially in these times. Even just one chapter will inspire you.

Flower Darby does an excellent job of providing support for those of us teaching online. By providing theory, models, principles and a quick review of the techniques covered, she makes it easier to try a few things at a time without redesigning the whole course. I can always use a few more ideas -- how about you?

This is an excellent book. Very easy to read with lots of research-supported strategies to improve online instruction.

First of all, if you've read Lang's Small Teaching book, be prepared for something different, and not as good. I knew something was up when the first ten pages or so of this book went into detail about how Land did not write this book, but it's written by one of his admirers. Not a great way to start or build credibility. I've been teaching online college courses for many years now, and have been reading books about online teaching for just as long. If you've read a few books on online teaching, this book is just more of the same. Nothing new in this book that you won't find anywhere else. I was disappointed, because Lang's first book was great, and his ideas are easily adapted to the online environment. The information in this book could easily be edited to an appendix to Lang's first book. Save your money. Buy Small Teaching by Lang, and pass on this book.

As an ardent admirer of Lang's Small Teaching, I was so excited to see an iteration of Small Teaching focused specifically on online teaching. The collaboration between Darby and Lang is clear throughout the book, as Darby translates the essence of Small Teaching, then infuses the concepts with examples from her extensive experience as an online teacher and instructional designer. The technique of weaving narrative into a teachable moment is what makes Lang's Small Teaching so engaging. Darby leverages this technique to reinforce learning theory and make explicit connections between Small Teaching and online teaching without becoming overly pedantic--like Lang's Small Teaching, Small Teaching Online is easy and enjoyable to read. In Chapter 2, Darby uses an example of teaching dance by focusing on the feet first, then adding in the hands. I've led professional development for online teachers in higher education for almost a decade, and have repeatedly seen both novice and experienced online teachers struggle with translating in-person techniques to the online environment. Small Teaching Online is a much needed resource for helping online teachers develop effective online course design and teaching practices by allowing them to focus on one aspect at a time (feet then hands, so to say!). Too often online teaching is overlooked because it's assumed that it is easy to modify traditional pedagogy to online modalities. Not so! Small Teaching Online is an important addition to any professional development bookshelf for online teachers and those that support online teachers. The comprehensive bibliography, alone, is worth the price. Looking forward to brown bag lunches with my colleagues to discuss this book, and share our own small teaching online insights!

I tried a few of Darby's strategies in my online course, and I just got this unprompted email a student: "I am really enjoying the class, and I feel this is the most engaged I have been in a course so far. I actually enjoy participating in the discussions." First time I've heard that about discussion boards! Darby's ideas are easy to implement, and the book is fun and engaging. Worth your time.

When searching for ways to improve your online teaching it can feel overwhelming to invest time into a complete course redesign. Several online faculty don't have the support of an instructional designer in those large course redesign endeavors. This book gives excellent strategies to humanize YOUR online course without the need to redevelop from scratch. She shares teaching theory and workable strategies that you could fold into your teaching practice TODAY to connect with students while supporting their learning - small things that research shows can make a huge impact on our students' success. She even offers ways that we can incrementally improve our teaching practice without feeling like we have to implement everything at once. I can't wait to share this book with colleagues at my school and dig further into the extensive list of resources that she's woven throughout the book. Small Teaching Online is a BIG HIT!!

After completing the book I realized it a Mr. Miyagi approach to teaching online. Ms. Darby doesn't show you how to teach online. She provides the "Small Teaching" approach to online design. Just like Mr. Miyagi didn't teach Daniel Son Karate, Mr. Myagi taught him how "wax on / wax off." In the process, the wax on / wax off gave him the skills to do karate. This is the approach to "Small Teaching." She provides a very easy approach in taking the small steps that we create to design an effective online course. Each chapter does provide information that we struggle with in online design. Yet she gives nice, simple, helpful and practical strategies to address those areas of struggle. From the syllabus, to discussions, to assessments, to even the overall feeling of a course, it is clear she understands the issues, the principles and effective strategies. The best part is, the strategies are totally doable. So if you are intimidated to teach online, this book is for you. If you are an advanced online instructor, then the strategies will keep adding value to your learning environment. Highly recommended for professional development reading groups or individual reading.

I appreciated that this is a relatively easy and quick read, with discrete and actionable strategies and the evidence behind them -- after each chapter, I stop and make notes and changes in my syllabus. I also appreciate that the strategies are all things I can do to improve or tweak my existing course instead of requiring that I start over from scratch, unlike some books I've found on this. My only frustration is that the authors seem to assume that all online courses are entirely asynchronous online, which is of course not the case -- while some are, others are synchronous online (i.e., professor and students together in a live Zoom session or such) or a hybrid between the two. Not only does this mean that the tips aren't super helpful for the synchronous parts of the course, but some of the strategies they suggest for the asynchronous parts are driven by the assumption that there will be no synchronous parts -- that students won't ever have the opportunity to ask live questions during a talk, etc.

I read the first book, Small Teaching, first and loved it. This one was also excellent. It is written for anyone who teaches in higher ed (could probably be adapted to high school, I assume). I already know a fair amount about pedagogy but still found both extremely useful. But I think people who are new to teaching would also find it extremely useful. It is well written with a good balance of stories, research, and advice for practical application. It definitely should be widely read during COVID-19.

This is my favorite book on pedagogy parallel to the original. If you are like me you have tons of great seminal pieces of pedagogical literature. Many of them end up getting swept to the side since I am too busy to fully finish them. The small teaching books provide me with titular "small" concepts which are deceptively complex to implement but immensely rewarding if you implement them one at a time. It is easy to read and easy to apply to multiple disciplines. Do yourself a favor and get this little gem, especially in these times. Even just one chapter will inspire you.

Flower Darby does an excellent job of providing support for those of us teaching online. By providing theory, models, principles and a quick review of the techniques covered, she makes it easier to try a few things at a time without redesigning the whole course. I can always use a few more ideas -- how about you?

This is an excellent book. Very easy to read with lots of research-supported strategies to improve online instruction.

Great book. Read the entire thing in one day and have already started implementing ideas in my faculty workshops for online teachers!

I am a big fan of James Lang's original Small Teaching book, and Flower's edition aimed at improving online teaching was equally accessible and filled with helpful, easy-to-implement advice. I have a feeling this will be a godsend in the coming months.

I enjoyed reading this book to help me think through more ways to improve my online course. Good examples and makes connections to learning research.

The sequel to the terrific Small Teaching; both should be required for anyone who wants to teach better "on Monday."

I read this to help me transition classroom-based courses to the virtual context. The book is nicely organized and offers practical help that is supported by research. #HighlyRecommend

This is an easy read full of practical strategies that unfold using a storytelling format.

As a first-time online instructor, because of COVID-19, I will definite apply the strategies and tactics explained in this book. Logical, helpful, meaningful.

A great book for all teaching online. The author is genuine and humble and provides great techniques.

Great ideas and useful discussions about taking learning online.

Great explanations with evidence. Examples to put to practice abound. A logical order of presentation to course design and instruction.

This book is a “must have” if you teach online. The authors spell out easy and practical pedagogical strategies to be an effective teacher.

For faculty teaching online courses, this book will provide very useful strategies covering a wide range of tasks associated with online teaching.

I have been waiting for this book to come out all spring and the wait was worthwhile! As our enrollment increases shift away from traditional, residential freshman to more non-traditional, returning students, the need to offer more and more online classes brings with it a new set of challenges and opportunities. To satisfy the demand to reach more students, faculty are being asked to move their courses, indeed, entire degree programs, to the online environment. Many faculty have never had the experience of being a student in an online course and may struggle with the shift out of the face-to-face classroom. Small Teaching Online presents research-based best-practices for online teaching written in an engaging, conversational tone. Flower shares her personal experiences and those of others to reinforce what works well with online students and instructors. While it may be possible for some experienced online instructors to take the principals from the original Small Teaching book and translate them to the online environment, there was certainly a hunger from faculty to get answers to the question, “How would that work online?” Darby and Lang have done an excellent job of addressing this question and providing practical, easily implementable strategies to support the learners and learning in our online courses. Kudos!