Educating Literacy Teachers Online

This book is a comprehensive guide for literacy teacher educators and professional development trainers who teach and work in online settings. The authors provide tools, techniques, and resources for developing courses, workshops, and other online learning experiences, including blended/hybrid delivery formats that combine face-to-face meetings with online practices. Moving away from traditional discussions in which technology and delivery systems dominate the conversation, this book focuses on the literacy instructor with techniques for building effective learning communities. The authors outline the unique pedagogical challenges posed by online courses and offer guidance for making decisions about what tools to use for specific instructional purposes. More than simply a “how-to” book, this resource will encourage novice and experienced instructors to extend their thinking and enable online literacy teacher education to grow in productive ways.

Book Features:

• Support for those teaching in many different roles, including program coordinators, professors, and adjuncts.
• A focus on pedagogical innovation as the key to success, with concrete examples of instructional and assessment practices.
• Connections to the IRA Standards for Reading Professionals and other national standards for teacher education.
• A companion website where online literacy teacher educators can communicate and share resources.

Lane W. Clarke is assistant professor and literacy concentration leader in the Education Department of the University of New England. Susan Watts-Taffe is associate professor and coordinator of the Reading Endorsement program at the University of Cincinnati.

"This book by Lane Clarke and Susan Watts-Taffe is a very strong testimony from

field actors engaged in promoting new information and communication technologies for the betterment of educational practice. Using bits of their life histories, the authors provide a deep insiders’ look at the business of readying the self for online teaching through a meticulous account of their own introduction of e-teaching the new pedagogical sphere."

—International Review of Education

“Be prepared to experience a compelling journey…This might very well be the book that inspires you, like me, to find a trusted colleague, take a few risks, and begin your own journey toward moving a literacy course or whole program online.”
—From the Foreword by Julie Coiro, University of Rhode Island

“In Educating Literacy Teachers Online, Clarke and Watts-Taffe connect theoretical perspectives of teaching and learning with practical suggestions for creating online learning communities and designing effective learning experiences. Recently, I incorporated several of their suggestions to improve the online discussion component in a face-to-face master’s literacy education course. I noted significant changes in the quality of the students’ discussion posts and their interactions with each other in the first week. A few easy changes made a big difference!”
—Josephine Peyton Marsh, associate professor/professor in residence, Arizona State University/ASU Preparatory Academy