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Home » Resources » Scholarship on Teaching » The Online Learning Idea Book: 95 Proven Ways to Enhance Technology Based and Blended Learning
Scholarship July 3, 2025

The Online Learning Idea Book: 95 Proven Ways to Enhance Technology Based and Blended Learning

The Wabash Center

Author
Patti Shank, ed.
Publisher
Pfeiffer, San Francisco
ISBN
9780787981686
Table of Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction

Section 1 - Learners, Activities, and Assessments
ch. 1 Ideas for Supporting Learners and Learning
Learning Agreements
Prework Verification
Study Schedule
Performance Tips
Move It
Confirm Exercise Instructions
E-Portfolio
Anonymous Weekly Survey
Personal Wishes
Really Simple Syndication Feeds
Contingency Plans
Virtual Office Hours
Chatbots

ch. 2 Ideas for Making Collaboration Work
Group Formation
Prep for Collaborative Work
Team Agreement Template
Team Assessment
Rules of Engagement Agreement
Team Review Form

ch. 3 Ideas for Making Discussions Work
Discussion Message Protocols
Evaluate Your Contribution
Karma Points for Contributions
Acronym and Emoticon Help

ch. 4 Ideas for Self-Directed and Asynchronous Activities
Table Organizers
Red Dog
Enter, Compare, Print, and Discuss
Tell Me Why
Time Me
Digital Stories
Share Bookmarks
Tell Me About Yourself
An Expert View
Email the Author
MiniQuest
Blog It
My Chair
Easy Peer Editing
Introducing Critical Evaluation

ch. 5 Ideas for Synchronous Activities
Chat Moderator
Come (Back) Early
Low-Tech Listening Exercise
Trainer-Expert Collaboration
Pyramid
Before Ninety
Daring Feats
Spotlights
Vowels
Gordon Mackenzie-Style Lecture
Vanity License Plate
Lighten Up
Where Are You?
Word Search

ch. 6 Ideas for Self-Check Activities and Assessments
Adapted Classroom Assessment Techniques
Review Puzzles and Games
Flash Cards
Know Your Flooring
Board Game Self-Check
Drag-and-Drop Self-Check
Fact-or-Fiction Self-Check
Mixed Signals
Millionaire Game
Show Training Value

Section 2 - Instructional Design
ch. 7 Ideas for the Design and Development Process
Process Flowchart
Design Guidelines
Learner Stories
Personalized Learning Model
Content Templates
Fast E-Learning Templates

ch. 8 Ideas for Navigation and Usability
Concept Maps and Causal Loops for Navigation
Collapsible and Movable Text Layer
Automated Back and Next Buttons and Page Numbering
Double Use Glossary
Automated Reference
Here's What's New

ch. 9 Ideas for Creative Design
Funny Stats
Take the Metro
Metaphors to Aid Learning
Stories to Understand the Big Picture
Virtual Coach
Field Clinic
Outrageous Nonexamples
What I Really Think
Virtual Campus
Visual Ideas

ch. 10 Ideas for Creative Media
Show Me
Slow or Fast Images
Energy Balance
Interactive History
Interactive Physics
Inside a Cell
Sea Vents
Tsunami
Movement Sensors
Genome Timeline
DNA Sliding Clamp
DNA Sequence Explorer
Build Your Own Instructional Game

It's NOT Ninety-Five
Glossary
Your Ideas
About the Editor
"For those who think online learning can't be truly interactive, Patti Shank and her colleagues clearly demonstrate—in hundreds of examples—that it can. The real lesson in The Online Learning Idea Book is that technology doesn't build interactive learning; creative thinking and good, solid instructional design does. Using even a smidgen of the great ideas in this book will increase the learning effectiveness of any online program." —Marc J. Rosenberg, consultant, and author of Beyond E-Learning

"Patti Shank has collected great ideas about online learning and teaching from all over the globe. If you are an online instructor or instructional designer looking for new ways to involve and engage your learners, you'll be inspired by this book!"—Terry Morris, associate professor, William Rainey Harper Colleges

Filled with techniques, tools, tips, examples, resources, and dozens of "great ideas,? this invaluable resource helps people who are looking to build online instructional materials — or improve existing materials — discover and implement what the best and brightest in industry and education are doing to make online learning more engaging and compelling. Increase your know-how in the following areas:

• Look and Feel: how to increase ease-of-use
• Graphics and Multimedia: how to make instructional graphics engaging and compelling
• Activities: how to make instruction itself engaging and compelling
• Tools: how to use a variety of online tools
• Instructional Design: how to design better and faster.
(From the Publisher)