A01=Flower Darby
artificial intelligence
asynchronous
asynchronous teaching
Author_Flower Darby
Blackboard
Canvas
Category=JNK
Category=JNM
Category=JNQ
Category=JNT
college faculty
community college
curriculum
eq_bestseller
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_new_release
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
faculty development
higher education
instructor well-being
integrity
joy
learning management
learning management systems
mental health
online classes
online education
online teaching
pedagogy
PERMA
purpose
self-care
student engagement
teaching
teaching solutions
Product details
- ISBN 9780806196534
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 24 Apr 2026
- Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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The happier the teacher, the better the learning experience—for instructor and student alike. With this equation at its core, The Joyful Online Teacher provides practical guidance for making distance learning infinitely more enjoyable and effective, and for improving the online teaching experience in asynchronous classes that often take place in Learning Management Systems (LMSs) like Canvas or Blackboard Learn, and where instructors and students rarely interact in real time, contributing to low completion rates.
One of the most pervasive challenges in distance learning is the absent online instructor; and one clear reason for this problem is the often unsatisfying nature of teaching online. A leading voice on online education, Flower Darby draws on the sciences of learning, emotion, and motivation, three decades of her own teaching, extensive research on online student experience, and the stories of joyful online teachers to present concrete tips for making online teaching more rewarding.
The key, Darby suggests, is learning to love teaching online. To that end, her book offers instructors accessible, inspiring, common-sense hacks for connecting with students, finding passion, navigating the structural inequities of higher ed, and more—all with a focus on building rapport and relationships, the central ingredients of happiness and satisfaction. These time-tested strategies and hard-won insights promise to help online teachers find meaning, purpose, and, yes, joy in their work—and, consequently, to fulfill the enormous, largely untapped potential of online education.
One of the most pervasive challenges in distance learning is the absent online instructor; and one clear reason for this problem is the often unsatisfying nature of teaching online. A leading voice on online education, Flower Darby draws on the sciences of learning, emotion, and motivation, three decades of her own teaching, extensive research on online student experience, and the stories of joyful online teachers to present concrete tips for making online teaching more rewarding.
The key, Darby suggests, is learning to love teaching online. To that end, her book offers instructors accessible, inspiring, common-sense hacks for connecting with students, finding passion, navigating the structural inequities of higher ed, and more—all with a focus on building rapport and relationships, the central ingredients of happiness and satisfaction. These time-tested strategies and hard-won insights promise to help online teachers find meaning, purpose, and, yes, joy in their work—and, consequently, to fulfill the enormous, largely untapped potential of online education.
Flower Darby is Associate Director of the Teaching for Learning Center at the University of Missouri. She is coauthor of Small Teaching Online: Applying Learning Science in Online Classes and The Norton Guide to Equity-Minded Teaching.
