Seven Principles of Effective Teaching: A Practical Lens for Evaluating Online Courses

The "Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education," originally published in the AAHE Bulletin (Chickering & Gamson, 1987), are a popular framework for evaluating teaching in traditional, face-to-face courses. The principles are based on 50 years of higher education research (Chickering & Reisser, 1993). A faculty inventory (Johnson Foundation, "Faculty," 1989) and an institutional inventory (Johnson Foundation, "Institutional," 1989) based on these principles have helped faculty members and higher-education institutions examine and improve their teaching practices. We, a team of five evaluators from Indiana University's Center for Research on Learning and Technology (CRLT), recently used these principles to evaluate four online courses in a professional school at a large Midwestern university. (The authors are required to keep the identity of that university confidential.—Ed.) The courses were taught by faculty members who also taught face-to-face courses. Conducted at the joint request of faculty and administration, the evaluations were based on analysis of online course materials, student and instructor discussion-forum postings, and faculty interviews. Although we were not permitted to conduct student interviews (which would have enriched the findings), we gained an understanding of student experiences by reading postings to the discussion forum.