Book Review :Small Teaching Online: Applying Learning Science in Online Classes, by F. Darby and J. M. Lang Free

The authors have divided this text into three sections: designing for learning, teaching humans, and motivating online students (and instructors). Within each section, learning sciences research is used as a lens through which to view small teaching moves that can enhance online learning. The book begins with an explanation of Universal Design for Learning (UDL). Although many have come to understand UDL as a framework of accessibility for individuals with disabilities, the authors explain that these principles seek to benefit a diverse range of students enrolled in coursework. In our efforts to reach students of different socioeconomic, ethnic, gender, and ability backgrounds, the way we design courses and learning experiences can help students demonstrate knowledge in ways that are best for them. A UDL understanding of helping students show what they have learned and interact with course content undergirds the content of the book as a whole and is key to understanding the authors’ presentation of small teaching online.

One overarching theme of the text is that of learning as a social experience, an understanding well-supported by learning sciences research. The authors use the writings of Vygotsky to propose a series of small teaching suggestions that support learning in online environments. One example surrounds the way instructors set up online discussion boards within the course learning management system (LMS). The authors suggest implementing small changes to discussion boards to make the online conversation more authentic, thus encouraging deeper learning through social engagement. By placing students into smaller discussion groups of five or six instead of allowing a large class to fumble through an overwhelming discussion, the activity takes on a personal feel and students take a deeper interest in the learning that occurs. Even within smaller groups, however, online discussion boards will not produce authentic conversation if the questions posed do not provoke deep discussion. In an online environment, the authors emphasize the importance of well-designed questions that guide discussion and encourage social engagement. This section dedicated to the restructuring of discussion boards to foster deeper social interactions for learning online is a key part of the authors’ argument regarding small moves that improve online learning environments. Over the past 18 months, teachers and students alike have struggled with the realities of many aspects of social life being taken away, particularly pertaining to the physical classroom. As instructors have searched for ways to bring elements of social learning back into online coursework, many turned to discussion boards as a means of promoting interaction. If not implemented well, however, discussion boards can become another technology tool that students must check off a to-do list instead of accomplishing the desired social learning goals. The small teaching suggestions that Darby and Lang provide, however, are tangible and easy to accomplish, bringing the possibility of social interaction in online learning back into view.

In addition to student-to-student interaction, students must also interact with instructors. The authors note that many professors set up online courses to run on their own and hardly check in on student progress, leaving students without feedback and wondering about the importance of the course in the eyes of the instructor. To the contrary, instructors can help build community within the course by “showing up to class” (p. 86) as often as possible. This might be through frequent feedback on assignments, course announcements, group or personal emails, or video announcements posted on the LMS. It is also important for instructors to participate in online discussion boards, much as they would participate in face- to-face discussions in class.

Within such interactions, the authors suggest allowing students to see the instructor as a real person. This might occur through a “Meet the Professor” section within the LMS, including a written and/or video biography. It can also occur through the tone used in regular updates throughout the duration of the course. I appreciated the attention the authors gave to the presence of the instructor in online courses, as many do not understand the hard work involved in teaching online. Establishing a presence as an online instructor and maintaining interaction that leads to learning can be more time-consuming than in face-to-face courses. This distinction, emphasizing the time needed on behalf of instructors to establish interaction with students in online courses, could have been emphasized further in the text, although the authors’ point of the need for a continual presence of the instructor was understood.

While the text offers various other suggestions surrounding ways to establish community in online learning environments, I will focus here on the use of video, which was woven through almost every chapter of the book. Video can be incorporated into weekly announcements or as a replacement for face- to-face lectures or text-heavy documents that would otherwise be distributed. Many LMSs also include built-in options for giving feedback through video, and the authors emphasize the ways in which utilizing such tools increases interaction between instructors and students, as feedback can feel more personal when given in video format. The authors point out the important idea that “Just as you wouldn’t give instruction in the classroom via a handout that student read silently to themselves, move away from written guidance and instruction in the online class. Let your students see and hear you as often as possible” (p. 186). Darby and Lang’s small teaching suggestions regarding how to use video to maximize learning make an important connection between the ways students learn and minor adjustments that can be made in course design to foster deeper learning. The explanations of how and why to incorporate video that are made throughout the book are perhaps one of the most useful aspects of the text.

Overall, the way that the authors have woven a Vygotskian view of learning throughout the text and used the idea of learning as a social endeavor to help online instructors improve their craft is to be commended. They have connected well-known theory about the way people learn with actionable practices that will improve online learning environments for students. While I would agree that their suggestions are indeed “small teaching” steps that can be fairly easily implemented, I would argue that instructors of online courses who truly do “show up for class” invest a fair amount of time in order to do so with fidelity. This point is understated in the text, and it is important that instructors understand the amount of time required to truly create community within online courses. Beyond this critique, however, the ideas surrounding social learning are helpful and applicable to our current context in teaching and learning.

A second area of emphasis from learning sciences research that is evident throughout the book is that of scaffolding. Darby and Lang apply research on scaffolding to online course design, beginning with small teaching suggestions for scaffolding assignments. The authors base their ideas on Bandura’s (1977) selfefficacy theory, explaining that students will build self-efficacy in any learning environment through a series of repeated successful attempts at a task. This effect can be amplified in online environments, which many students enter with an already-reduced sense of self-efficacy. An example is given of online assignments that include video creation, which can be difficult for students without experience in this area. Darby therefore assigns short, low-stakes versions of this assignment starting in the first week of the course in order to work students up to larger projects several weeks later. Such easy-to-implement and tangible examples of scaffolding assignments in an online course are helpful to the reader in understanding the connection between how students learn in online environments and the steps instructors can take to foster this learning. Since Darby herself has spent years mastering technology skills and teaches courses for educators related to integrating technology into lessons, additional examples of scaffolded assignments unrelated to technology would be helpful to readers who do not teach technology-related courses. Overall, however, the connections between learning sciences research and instructional practice are clear, and the reader is left with actionable items that will lead to deeper learning.

Another area in which the authors stress the need for scaffolding in online courses is in collaborative learning activities. While research shows that collaboration can provide opportunities for advanced learning in numerous environments (Andriessen & Baker, 2014), online students can run into difficulties collaborating with teams that they have never met in person. These difficulties became exacerbated over the past 18 months during the COVID-19 pandemic, and I appreciated the authors’ attentiveness to the necessity for scaffolding of collaborative work in the specific environment of online courses. The authors make several suggestions as to how to scaffold collaborative activities for online students, beginning with allowing students to self-enroll in collaborative interest groups. In this case, students gain some autonomy over what topic their group will be studying, creating an authentic reason for them to feel impelled to participate in such collaborative projects from the beginning. Additionally, groups should participate in a team-building activity that also serves to help them identify roles for each member, ending with the signing of a team contract. In this way, each student is aware of individual responsibilities and can uphold their commitments to the group. Perhaps missing from the authors’ well-detailed explanation of improving collaborative projects online is help for instructors who have run into the common problem of online students who do not participate in collaborative activities, no matter how hard their teammates work to involve them in the task. The authors could not have foreseen the added difficulties in collaborating that were brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, although many instructors found that students have struggled even more than usual to work together during this difficult period. Still, while further detail outlining how to encourage hard-to-reach students to become involved in collaboration would have helped the authors’ argument, their attention to explaining how scaffolding the experience of collaboration from beginning to end helps the reader see the transformation in learning that can occur when these procedures are implemented well.

In addition to course assignments and collaborative activities, the authors discuss the concept of scaffolding as a means of helping students make connections with content they are learning. Due to the somewhat far- removed nature of online learning, it can be difficult for students to understand how content relates to real world situations or how one module of a course connects to the next. The authors suggest such strategies as activating prior knowledge through an orientation module or pretest that is set in the LMS to open up the rest of the course upon completion. Additionally, instructors can foster the process of connection-making by providing guided notetakers for use during video lectures as well as concept maps that lay out the conceptual framework of the course. Providing a strong conceptual structure, or better yet, cocreating a conceptual structure together with students, is a strategy for deeper learning supported by learning sciences research (Ambrose et al., 2010). The authors provide a helpful connection between recent research in this area and small teaching moves that can help learners experience success in online environments. This type of scaffolding is a key piece among the suggestions offered in the text to enhance the teaching and learning process in online courses.

The authors have offered tangible advice regarding how to provide scaffolding for students in online courses. The small teaching steps related to scaffolding that are outlined throughout the book each tie into learning sciences research and bring it directly into the online classroom. It is evident that Darby is an expert at her work and has extensive experience teaching educational technology courses to teachers. Due to her position and the nature of her examples, further examples of scaffolding assignments that are not related to teaching technology would be helpful to beginning instructors in other areas hoping to get started with online instruction by taking truly small steps at a time. Beyond this small adjustment, the application of research in the area of scaffolding to the practical work of enhancing online courses is helpful for instructors currently navigating the realities of online teaching.

Darby and Lang’s work provides a refreshing look at how learning sciences research can be applied in online learning environments. In particular, their book comes during a time in which students and instructors are participating in education together in the midst of unprecedented difficulty with a need to transform the ways in which learning takes place. Despite the fact that the text was published prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and its upheaval of our educational systems, it is highly applicable to our current situation and is a recommendable read for any instructor seeking to improve the learning experience of students within this context. I did encounter a few minor difficulties with the text, such as the need to emphasize the greater amount of time invested by instructors who excel at implementing social learning in online environments and the need for examples of scaffolding assignments in content areas other than technology education. However, these items were vastly overshadowed by the applicable and accessible nature of the book to the needs of educators in today’s online classrooms. I would recommend this book to educators seeking to apply learning sciences research to their teaching practices to improve the learning experiences of students in online environments.