what is a best practice of student engagement in an online course?

by Amalia Crist 6 min read

In the online classroom, exams are not usually the most effective way to test students’ understanding of the material. A far more effective student engagement technique is to require students to develop a presentation that utilizes online media. You can design the project requirements in whatever way makes sense for the course.

Set Clear Goals, Expectations, and Guidelines
Clear goals and expected outcomes help students understand why they are learning and stay focused and engaged as they work towards reaching the goals or seeing tangible results.
May 11, 2021

Full Answer

How to increase student engagement in online classes?

The following are some active learning strategies that you can incorporate into your online classes to increase online student engagement. Active learning includes methods that actively involve students in the learning process, placing a greater degree of responsibility on the learner rather than letting them passively absorb information.

How to encourage students to engage with course content?

Examining course content can be reading e-books, clicking through PowerPoint presentations, watching video lectures, and so on. Class activities include discussion forums, assessments, projects, and so on. Here are some strategies for encouraging students’ interaction with content.

How can we engage students in learning?

Websites like Classcraft engage students through personalized learning quests that help them meet learning objectives in a fun way. Students can choose their own adventure to learn new material, practice learning objectives, and submit assignments.

What is engagement and why does it matter?

Engagement happens when students care about the material, feel welcome in the classroom, understand expectations, and have fun. They are also more likely to achieve their learning goals. But how do we make this happen?

How do you keep students engaged in online courses?

8 New Ideas for Engaging Online Students#1: Train instructors in online learning. ... #2: Give students a sense of ownership and control. ... #3: Plan for delivery diversity. ... #4: Be a storyteller. ... #5: Regularly update course content. ... #6: Assign success coaches. ... #7: Encourage accountability.More items...

What are the best practices during online class?

Best Practices for Online TeachingOnline teaching doesn't need to be completely different from in-classroom teaching. ... Keep it simple. ... Feedback and assessment are as important as ever. ... Set expectations. ... Stay in regular contact. ... Don't be afraid to move away from live lessons. ... Ask your pupils for feedback. ... Be flexible.More items...•

What are the best practices to improve student engagement?

10 Strategies for Increasing Student EngagementProcedures and Routines. Clear expectations and consistency in your daily routines set the stage to engage. ... Frequent Discussion. Frequent Discussion Opportunities. ... Hands-On Activities. ... Small Group Instruction. ... Movement. ... Games. ... Student Choices. ... All Participation Responses.More items...

What are the good practice we have to follow while you are in online?

Online Learning Best Practices for StudentsFind a quiet place for online classes. ... Share your virtual class schedule. ... Test your system. ... Complete assignments and download materials before class. ... Mute your cell phone during class. ... Mute the mic on your device. ... Remember it's a real class. ... The AVI-SPL team is ready to help you.

What the best online teachers should do?

How To Be An Effective Online TeacherBe Present. ... Set The Expectations. ... Let The Students Do The Work. ... Nurture A Supportive Online Community. ... Think Before You Write. ... Ask For Feedback. ... Foster Personal Relationships With Each Student. ... Make Use Of Group And Individual Projects.More items...•

What are the 7 student engagement strategies?

Here are 7 student engagement strategies to enhance learning and boost meaningful involvement in the classroom:1 – Setting Ground Rules. ... 2 – Journaling. ... 3 – Let Students Lead. ... 4 – Icebreakers. ... 5 – Social and Emotional Learning Curriculum. ... 6 – Get Outside. ... 7 – Perform a Class Service Project.

What strategies do you use to maintain student engagement during lectures?

8 Ways to Keep Students Engaged During LecturesMake presentation interactive.Encourage smartphone use.Focus on “Why”Add in some humor.Take student interest into account.Work on your public speaking skills.Evaluate.Gather feedback.

What are six ways to engage students?

Motivation Matters: Six Simple Ways to Engage StudentsClarify your expectations (often). Students are unlikely to succeed if they do not know what is expected of them. ... Allow for mistakes. ... Give specific, positive feedback (and fewer empty compliments). ... Keep it real. ... Break the cycle. ... Mix your media.

1. Have Students Post a Picture and an Introduction

This is a straightforward online engagement strategy.

2. Utilize a Discussion Forum

This is perhaps the most important of all student engagement strategies. In a traditional classroom, students learn well by engaging with other students and the professor.

3. Provide Video Lectures

Many students learn best by hearing or watching someone talk to them. Your video lectures do not have to be elaborate documentaries, but you should utilize videos in order to accommodate a wider variety of learning styles. Videos can be as simple as you giving a traditional-style lecture.

4. Maintain Your Deadlines and Expectations

If an online class devolves into chaos, or if students do not engage in the discussion forum, it is likely because they do not take deadlines seriously.

5. Include a Major, Media-Based Project

In the traditional classroom, students often have either a series of major exams, papers, or presentations to complete throughout the semester.

6. Provide Routine Feedback

Make sure that you as the teacher interact with the students as much as you would in a traditional classroom. Respond to their discussion posts. Provide feedback for their media presentations. If a student emails you with a question, try to respond within twenty-four hours.

Conclusion

While online education can be an excellent choice for many students, it can require a bit of a learning curve on the part of the teachers. Obviously many of the same teaching strategies for the traditional classroom are not applicable.

How to make online courses engaging?

Produce Engaging Online Course Material 1 Often incorporate more visuals to explain new concepts. Visuals make communication quicker and simple while helping retain information better. Diagrams, illustrations, graphic organizers, and infographics are effective replacements for walls of text or hours of lectures students get easily bored of. 2 Replace online lectures with pre-recorded tutorial videos or video demonstrations that students can watch at their own pace online. You can create videos of your own or choose from existing ones on the internet or made by your colleagues. 3 Create presentations summarizing lessons that students can refer to instead of textbooks or their notes. 4 Share and give them access to relevant websites, blog posts, ebooks and videos they can read and watch online. 5 Hold real-time Q&A sessions via instant chat features available in your online communication platform. 6 Ensure that you have stored all learning material in a central location easily accessible to all students. 7 Design assessments that are online-friendly and that can creatively engage the students (i.e. group-based projects, case studies, video projects, real-time online quizzes, concept maps, etc.). Students can submit their answers as digital files through the schools’s LMS, document management platforms, communication platforms, etc.

What are the platforms used by educators to create and share engaging learning material in the form of videos?

Online video platforms such as YouTube and Loom allows educators to create and share engaging learning material in the form of videos. Students themselves can use them in self-learning exercises to come up with creative ways to explain the concepts they have learned for their assignments.

What is the sudden transition to online teaching?

The sudden transition to online teaching undoubtedly has educators across the world rethinking their methods of teaching and altering or recreating their curriculum to meet the conditions of available technology and remote learning.

Why is remote teaching important?

As the pandemic continues , remote teaching and learning have become the norm, driving educators to find innovative ways to communicate and engage with their learners. While there are many strategies to engage with students online, it’s important to consider their learning patterns and their needs before you implement them.

What is experiential learning?

Experiential learning is the process of learning from experience or by doing something.

How to help students with online learning?

As online learning consists largely of time spent on self-learning, encouraging students to set their own goals can help them stay motivated and focused as they move forward at their own pace. In order to increase their commitment to the goals, make sure the students follow the SMART criteria, and actually plan them out and track their progress constantly.

What are some tools that teachers use to interact with students?

Some popular tools used for interacting and collaborating with students online are: Online communication tools such as Zoom, Slack, MS Teams help teachers connect with a large number of students via video conferencing at once and maintain constant communication through chats, hence replicating the in-class experience.

What is engagement in the classroom?

Engagement happens when students care about the material, feel welcome in the classroom, understand expectations, and have fun. They are also more likely to achieve their learning goals.

How to make a lesson more engaging?

Whenever you can connect the material to students’ lives, the lessons will become much more engaging. Let students interact with the lesson in ways that matter to them and to their world.

How does technology help students?

Plus, technology helps facilitate personalized learning — students like the fact that they can move at their own pace and focus on areas in which they need improvement. Websites like Classcraft engage students through personalized learning quests that help them meet learning objectives in a fun way.

Why is technology important for students?

Plus, technology helps facilitate personalized learning — students like the fact that they can move at their own pace and focus on areas in which they need improvement.

What are the different learning styles?

Teachers should be mindful of different learning styles when planning lessons to include all learners — visual, auditory, and kinesthetic. Get the students moving! Encourage them to interact with different mediums, such as music, videos, and writing.

How can students use technology?

Students can also use technology to collaborate with each other and to get real-time feedback from teachers thanks to apps like Google Docs and Slides. Group projects and interactions are much easier when everyone can work on a document or presentation simultaneously, from anywhere and anytime.

Why do teachers set timers?

Some teachers set a timer at the beginning of the class to have a few minutes to chat with their students about their lives. Other teachers give the students a few minutes to catch up with peers at the start of class.

What is engagement in online courses?

The three forms of engagement that can occur in online courses can overlap depending on the activity. When it comes to engagement, however, instructional materials are only part of the puzzle. Fostering “engagement” in a course is really about enhancing students’ interaction in three different areas: Students’ interaction with course content.

How to engage students in a course?

When it comes to engagement, however, instructional materials are only part of the puzzle. Fostering “engagement” in a course is really about enhancing students’ interaction in three different areas: 1 Students’ interaction with course content 2 Students’ interaction with other students 3 Students’ interaction with the instructor

How does interaction affect online learning?

Although online education often conjures an image of a student sitting on his or her computer alone, interaction is a central component of the online learning experience, and interaction is the core of engagement. As an instructor, you can provide meaningful methods for students interact with the content, each other, and you to help them meet their learning goals. To set your students up for success, provide them with a variety of learning methods and materials, opportunities to work with each other, and personal feedback and contact with you. Such interactions will make your subject matter much more engaging than words and images on a screen.

What is content interaction?

Content interaction includes any time students spend examining course content and participating in activities. Examining course content can be reading e-books, clicking through PowerPoint presentations, watching video lectures, and so on. Class activities include discussion forums, assessments, projects, and so on.

How to encourage students to interact with content?

Here are some strategies for encouraging students’ interaction with content. Strategy. Details. Present content in more than one format. If you present content primarily in one format (such as video, audio, or text), it requires all your students to learn in a format that may not meet their primary learning style.

How to be effective in an online format?

To be effective in an online format, you must maintain a supportive presence and offer timely feedback and personalized contact with students. Below are some strategies for successful interaction with students.

How to facilitate students' interaction with one another?

Here are some tips for how to facilitate students’ interaction with one another. Strategy. Details. Encourage socializing in discussion forums.

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