Engagement

Kick off an online course with an asynchronous goal-setting icebreaker where students can form community and intentional goals for the course. This activity can be extended with goal progress check-ins throughout the semester for continued engagement.

The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in higher education, particularly through language learning models (LLMs), has become increasingly prevalent since early 2023.

Interactive presentations, as a methodological strategy, can play an important role in promoting engagement. 

Adult online learners are often non-traditional learners. They juggle multiple life demands, often multi-tasking. Many are returning to school after time away. They have varying levels of digital literacy, and a vast array of life experiences. While online learners may appear to be too diverse to have common goals and learning obstacles, this assumption is…

Faculty seeking a dynamic lecture-recording method for their online, hybrid, or flipped classrooms appreciate the Lightboard strategy. A Lightboard is an educational technology tool with a glass writing surface embedded with LED lights, allowing instructors to face the camera and create engaging instructional videos. LED lights and fluorescent markers make the writing highly visible on…

When teaching in an online course it is vital to engage students and create a connection and sense of community (Flock, 2020). Student engagement is an important component of student success and increased academic outcomes (Rioch & Tharp, 2022). The Community of Inquiry theoretical framework suggests addressing three components when designing online courses that include…

Shifting from a lecture password to a lecture question presents an opportunity to bridge the gap of lost humanization due to video scanning behaviors.

As an online instructor, do you feel frustrated when students do not read your course announcements, discussions, e-mails, or other written communication? What if we could capture attention by borrowing online marketing copywriting secrets designed to cut through life’s distractions? Online marketers are copywriting masters. Copy is text-based content that persuades readers to act (Dodds,…

Planning synchronous classes, such as Zoom sessions, can be challenging, especially for instructors who are accustomed to on-campus instructional interaction with their students. To facilitate planning synchronous sessions, we developed four example “lesson plans” that illustrate strategies to promote interaction and engagement. The examples draw on McAlpine’s (2004) four-part model for designing instruction: engagement, informing,…

Quizzes are a well-established method for testing student understanding, in both forms of summative and formative assessments. To ensure that the quizzes are impactful for students, intentionality is required (Ebner & Efron, 2012). Instructors must consider that the timing, modality, and approach all influence its effectiveness. When using quizzes in alignment with learning objectives, results…