Create Active Engagement

 

Effective online educators prioritize creating meaningful engagement to enhance the learning experience. This involves strategies around four types of engagement: skills, emotional, participation, and performance. Key approaches include:

1. Connecting Students to Content

Drawing on principles of andragogy (teaching adult learners), it is vital to relate course materials to real-world applications and students' professional experiences. Effective instructors use case studies, examples from their own expertise, and make clear links between content and practical utility. This builds relevance and motivation.

• Point out specific examples of how learning content is used in real-world settings.

• Integrate guest speakers, case studies, and other diverse professional experiences.

• Build on the conversations that happened asynchronously in forums, discussion posts, or knowledge checks.

2. Creating Student-Student Interactions

Peer-to-peer learning activities like discussions, group work, problem-solving cases, and role-plays promote active engagement. Discussion forums, in particular, facilitate deep learning across disciplines. Student-student interaction, versus passive lectures, leads to better outcomes.

• Utilize the tools within the live classroom such as breakout rooms to provide an environment for student collaboration.

• Create spaces and activities outside of the classroom for students to connect.

• Build group assignments that model real collaborations that occur in your industry.

3. Building Relationships with Students

Strong instructor-student relationships directly correlate with increased engagement and learning. In the live classroom, rapport-building replaces content delivery. In asynchronous courses, instructors inquire about students' lives and create self-reflective assignments. Building trust through clear expectations, meaningful feedback, transparency and creating "safe spaces" connects students to the content.

• Create space to talk about personal and professional goals and experiences.

• Provide timely and actionable feedback on student work.

• Set expectations for two-way communication.

By implementing strategies that connect students to professional relevance, facilitate peer interactions, and prioritize relationship-building, effective online educators can foster the meaningful engagement that elevates the online learning experience. Engaged students participate more fully and achieve deeper learning.