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engaging online students
Online Student Engagement Tools and Strategies
A Guide to Engaging Online Students Online Student Engagement Tools and Strategies Most online students, even those who are successful, will tell you it takes an extra dose of motivation to stay on top of their assignments compared to the traditional classroom. No wonder online courses have an attrition rate that’s 10 – 20 percent
Helping Online Students Connect with Business Leaders
Providing students with mentors can be an effective way for students to learn directly from experts in real-world situations. It’s a technique used widely in face-to-face courses, and it can work in online courses as well. Al Widman, professor of management and business administration at Berkeley College, has matched students with practitioner mentors in his online undergraduate non-profit management course.
Using Synchronous Tools to Build Community in the Asynchronous Online Classroom
Sometimes students in the online environment just need that extra nudge to feel connected in order to truly excel. As instructors, we can facilitate community-building in an asynchronous environment by utilizing synchronous tools, such as Wimba, Skype, Elluminate, and others available to us via our learning management system or outside of the LMS.
Recent Seminars
Selecting and Using Technologies in Online & Blended Courses
If you’re aware that social media and other new tools could help your students, but you’re more interested in education than jumping on the latest digital bandwagon, this seminar will give you a framework for deciding which high-tech tools are the best match for your teaching objectives and your students’ learning needs.
audio Online Seminar • Recorded on Tuesday, October 11th, 2011
How to Make Your Online Students Feel Connected
The college student experience, even for graduate students, is much more than course assignments, so why is it that the online learner’s experience is often limited to logging in, reading assignments and posting on the discussion board?
Measuring Educational Experience Using the Community of Inquiry Framework
End-of-course evaluations, conducted properly, can serve as valuable tools for improving online programs, but they’re not without their drawbacks.
“One of the problems is current students benefit little from the end-of-course surveys,” said Phil Ice, EdD, associate vice president of research and development at American Public University System. “Whenever you’re measuring what the student thinks of the course or their perceived learning, instructor performance, the way assets are utilized, you’re capturing that information retrospectively. So you’re not really helping the students who are engaged right now.”
Assignment and Assessment Strategies that Keep Students on Track
Technology enables students to connect with each other, the instructor, and the content. However, distractions—in the form of real-time electronic conversations and a barrage of dozens of commercial and personal interjections—can be omnipresent. Perhaps the online instructor needs to provide his/her own steady stream of engagement that can serve to interrupt (at least temporarily) the flow of extraneous information that competes for both time and focus.
Pump up Your Online Discussions with VoiceThread
At its best, the discussion board can be the heart and soul of the online classroom. But it’s not always easy getting students to make the type of contributions you expect. The comments can be rather flat, not very insightful, and more often than not, it feels like some students just fill the minimum number of posts stipulated in your syllabus.
Five Ways to Improve Interaction in Your Online Courses
No matter where you are on the online teaching spectrum—new to it, you’ve taught a few classes, or you’ve been at it for several years—this seminar will supply you with the tools you need to take the next steps toward mastery and effectiveness.
video Online Seminar • Recorded on Wednesday, April 6th, 2011
Tips for Increasing Interactivity in an Online Course
In a follow-up to the online seminar “Creatively Engaging Online Students: Models and Activities,” Curt Bonk, professor of instructional systems technology at Indiana University, offered the following response from a participant who asked, “What is your favorite method to increase interactivity in an online class?”
