Seven Principles of Good Practice in Undergraduate Education

Research has shown that successful courses contain certain elements. If you are already teaching online or if you are thinking about teaching online courses check out the following principles:

1. Good Practice Encourages Contact Between Students and Faculty - Better student motivation and involvement can result from frequent faculty-student interaction.

2. Good Practice Develops Reciprocity and Cooperation Among Students - A team effort enhances and increases learning.

3. Good Practice Uses Active Learning Techniques - Students learn more when they have to talk about, write about, and practice what they are studying.

4. Good Practice Gives Prompt Feedback - Students can better assess what they know and don't know by prompt feedback.

5. Good Practice Emphasizes Time on Task - Efficient use of time can create effective learning and teaching.

6. Good Practice Communicates High Expectations - If students are expected to perform well, they will.

7. Good Practice Respects Diverse Talents and Ways of Learning - Providing students with avenues of learning that work for them allow them to reach a higher level of performance.

Resource: "Seven Principles of Good Practice in Undergraduate Education" by Arthur W. Chickering & Zelda F. Gamson

In March 1987, the American Association for Higher Education Bulletin first published "Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education." With support from Lilly Endowment, that document was followed by a Seven Principles Faculty Inventory and an Institutional Inventory (Johnson Foundation, 1989) and by a Student Inventory (1990). The Principles, created by Art Chickering and Zelda Gamson with help from higher education colleagues, the AAHE, and the Education Commission of the States, with support from the Johnson Foundation, distilled findings from decades of research on the undergraduate experience.

meets the minimum