Faculty Development
What Does 鈥淪tudent Engagement鈥� Mean In An Online Course?
Keeping your students engaged has always been vital for an exceptional online learning experience. 鈥淔or faculty teaching online, one of the most persistent challenges is finding ways to generate the same level of interpersonal interaction possible with students in person. Such engagement is essential for student success鈥� (Rudra, 2020).
There can be many ways to define 鈥渟tudent engagement鈥� as well as several methods on how to achieve what is to be considered as good student engagement in an online course. 鈥淲e may consider students to be engaged in our courses as long as they are completing the material on time. However, it comes as no surprise that students can participate in learning without truly being engaged. Typically, this occurs when students experience more passive participation as opposed to active participation鈥� (Abdulla, 2021). Let鈥檚 explore three methods on how to increase student engagement in an online class.
Methods To Increase Student Engagement
One of the most used methods to increase student engagement is to encourage active learning. 鈥淟earning is not a spectator sport. Students do not learn much just by sitting in classes listening to teachers, memorizing prepackaged assignments, and spitting out answers. They must talk about what they are learning, write about it, relate it to past experiences, and apply it to their daily lives. They must make what they learn part of themselves鈥� (Chickering & Gamson).
You can achieve this through using structured exercises, discussions, team projects, peer critiques, independent research, etc. You want to make sure that you are giving your students the opportunity to write about their learning and be able to relate it to some of their past experiences. Some of the tools within D2L that can be used to do this are Discussions, Groups, and Self-Assessments.
You should also communicate using multiple formats. The standard methods of communicating in an online course, such as emails, and discussions might not always be your go-to when wanting to reach out to your students. Also, written lectures may not come across as well as a video or audio recorded lectures would. 鈥淪tudent feedback has shown that when students perceive that an instructor is making an effort to engage with them online, students are more likely to put energy into the course鈥� (Rudra, 2020). Students like to feel connected to their professors, and by adding weekly audio/video content to your course, you provide more meaningful content for your students.