10+ New Ideas for Increasing Student Engagement in Online Courses
How to engage students online
“Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.” – Malcolm X
As rightly said, Education is the most important part of our life. We can choose a good career only on the basis of education and our future depends on our career. We can make our future bright only by good education.
Today online education is trending and is becoming very popular. Online education is a new digital way of studying so that students can study from home.
Though the concept of online education is not new due to pandemic Covid-19, the importance and necessity of online teaching have increased immensely.
Today schools and coaching institutes are teaching their students through online medium and this is why it is important to know how to engage students online.
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Online education is a system of teaching or education through which students can study online using their electronic devices such as computers, laptops, smartphones and palm tops etc. just sitting at home through the active Internet connection.
Online education is a way through which teachers and students can connect with each other using the Internet from any corner of the world. It is an education system for how to engage students in online learning through which teachers can teach any student from anywhere in the world and students can also study in any part of the world.
Due to the pandemic Covid-19, we were instructed strictly not to get out of the house. Due to which all schools, colleges were closed and students were prohibited from getting education and promoted in the next class.
Keeping such circumstances in mind, an online education system was started which is proving very crucial today.
Online education has made its way around the world because of its convenience and easy process of operation. In lockdown where all the sources of education are closed, the online education system has made education a new world by giving it a new halt.
Today, new and digital methods of education are being adopted worldwide. Today, children are able to study through online education in all countries of the world.
But for proper online education, students’ active involvement is required. So, learn how to engage students online.
Make Online Classes More Interactive
The engagement of students in online learning is a paramount factor without which everything is in vain. Active engagement of students enhances the learning experience and adds more fun to the teaching process by which the online teaching method can be proved fruitful.
However, active student engagement in online class is not quite understandable by everyone. Some faculties or guides or even parents do not pay attention to this factor.
Student engagement can be understood as: “to improve the experience of education, what type, amount, and intensity of investment a student is infusing in online education”.
So, let’s learn how to engage students online with few innovative ideas:
Use Multiple Formats
An instructor or teacher should use multiple formats to make online classes interesting. There are multiple ways to establish communication with students. They can take help of standard communication tools such as discussion forums and course email.
Apart from there, regular formats such as embedded video and audio, chat rooms for messaging, broadcast text message system, and home page announcements are very popular.
Also, students receive explanatory screen cast videos very well. These are easy and inexpensive formats to create and share.
Offer Active Learning Opportunities
Active learning methods will never let students bored and help to engage students online in a more active avenue.
Parents or guardians believe a misconception about online education that their wards sit in front of the computers all the time during online classes.
At some point, it is true but to engage students online and also make sure that they should not just sit in front of the computers during the classes, try to involve them in active learning instead of sitting on a chair or bed.
Active learning in general sense means “hands-on learning,” or “hands-on your mouse,” but this should not be a part of your approach.
Instead, assign students some work that makes them involved physically in activities. Ask them to take interviews of people working and learn from them.
Collecting local data, group projects, case studies etc. can be good examples of active learning and good ways to engage students online.
Take Help Of Gamification
No doubt students love games and sometimes their passion for games are more than studies.
So, try to add a gaming element to online teaching to make teaching interesting and effective. There are so many ways to add game things to the studies to teach students.
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Try to teach them through playing games as per their intelligence quotients. There is no need to develop a separate or a fully-fledged game.
But, use some elements of games.
Also, rewarding badges or certificates on every achievement or performance of a student can be a great idea. It helps to encourage students as well.
Provide Regular Feedback
To know what students are learning, what their approach towards teaching methods are, and what their doubts are is extremely important and it can be possible by regular feedback.
Giving feedback to students about their engagement in the learning process of online classes from home is crucial.
Regular responses of students to discussions and questions keep students on track and prepare them for the next assignment.
Without feedback, students should never go for the next assessment as previous assessments help them to engage more in the next project.
So, always trying to provide detailed feedback which should be positive in nature.
Give Opportunities For Self-assessment
Self-assessment opportunities or responsibility for self learning can have a great impact on students which makes teaching interesting and effective as well.
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Provide them self assessment chances. If students are getting the chances to grade their own discussion or give input for their own work then it can be a motivating experience for them and it will get students for online classes actively.
Instructors Should Be Trained In Online Teaching
Instructors or teachers are experts in their subject but it is not essential that they know how to train in the online medium. Transferring the teaching method entirely from in-person to an online platform might not be an easy thing for the instructors. The online instructor should know how to deal with the online medium of education and how to teach students online to engage students online more.
Otherwise, teachers will not be able to engage students online and students will not actively participate.
Use Diverse Delivery Medium
Using only one avenue of delivering education online can be stressing. Try to mix more methods of content delivery. Video, text, audio, and presentations are different ways to infuse.
Also allow guest instructors, so the students do not get tired of hearing the same voice. There should be some surprise element.
Update The Content Regularly
Regular updating of content is must. You should not deliver the same content you have already delivered in earlier sessions.
The content should be updated based on the trendy or latest:
- Research and developments
- News
- Articles, videos, podcast episodes
- Policies and regulations
- Opinions
- Emerging trends and practices
The stale program is not digestible, so do not try to deliver it again and again.
Assign Success Gurus
Bringing success coaches can be an innovative idea. Students can be benefited in the universities with these success gurus who provide:
- Online learning and studying advice.
- Help students to balance responsibilities and time
- Help students to identify a learning pathway.
- Guide students to other resources.
With the help of success coaches, experience of online learning programs can go to the next level. This is an unexpected way to engage students online.
Encourage Accountability
The learning management system of the online class should have the email notification feature with which students will be enabled to get notification of schedule, status of assignment submission and other things relate to their classes.
These notification systems should be connected to instructors so that they can reach out to the students personally to track their progress.
These check-ins with the students are helpful in providing timely feedback too.
Nurture Intrinsic Motivation
Intrinsic motivation can drive the student forward in the right direction. It helps students to take up difficult tasks and assignments and also encourages them to learn more, not just syllabus.
Help to boost their confidence and motivate the students to take active participation in learning. They should have a sense of why they are here and what their purpose is to gain knowledge.
With this effort, students will be motivated and know that the instructors care about their learning, success, and growth.
With the above mentioned ways, one can make teaching interesting and effective and engage students online. This will make online classes interesting.
How to Do Online Teaching
There has been a notable growth in the field of online teaching for the past few years and pandemic Covid-19 has completely transformed the medium of education from classroom teaching to online teaching method.
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Though teaching online is not easy for those teachers who are not used to it, seeing the opportunity of career advancement, learning how to teach online has become important.
Teachers comfortable with classroom pedagogical methods need to adjust a lot to teach online. They need to do a little research and practice and they will be all ready to impress students online.
Plan Your Classes
In online teaching, students are absent physically and when all students will come online altogether to take the class is not confirmed.
As virtual students are not the same, their requirements can be different and they can come up with any doubt or question, so plan the class smartly.
Planning is crucial and before starting the class, get set with syllabus and study materials.
With planning, you will get to know if the schedule of your students matches with your classes.
Have Good Technical Support
Good technical support such as computer and internet connection is the foremost requirement of conducting online classes. Select the best hardware and software to run the classes with no disturbance and easy running.
Have Positive Environment
Having a positive environment of study for working remotely requires self-discipline and workspace in the first place.
Make the workspace friendly for you but it should have productive work behavior. The workplace should not be around any distractions.
Discussions Should Be Encouraging
Online classrooms are different from traditional classrooms. The discussion in the online medium of teaching can be cold mechanical.
So, encouraging discussions with students lets students feel good in the class. Behave, students, the same way you behave in the classroom.
Encourage students to take participation in various avenues from discussion to monitor progress, assign reading materials, and posting lectures.
Also, encourage students to learn more and come up without the body things to study and discuss rather than just to focus on to get good grades.
Active Communication
Communication with students is very essential for the best outcome. Make the environment comfortable by introducing yourself to students and ask them to introduce themselves to you.
Allow the students to contact you at preferable time and allow them to break the barrier of hesitation for effective communication. This is how to engage students online.
Motivate Students
Not all students are the same. They can have different learning ways and sometimes they need motivation to bring their confidence out and feel motivated.
So, do not force them to complete assignments instead allow them to learn the things their way. Try to find ways to help them get the most out of the class. Try more activities for online classes.
Allow Students To Give Feedback
Allow your students to provide their valuable feedback that will be helpful to you to the active running of the classes. Students are getting education more online and they might have more experience than you.
So, they can help you with their experience by providing feedback whether it is positive or negative.
Also, you should be prepared to take negative feedback in a positive manner and try to eradicate those flaws.
Overall, online education and online teaching methods are the need of the hour and a wonderful opportunity for the teachers. The online market of education has been growing very rapidly and it opens immense chances to make the career.
If you are a teacher or instructor, then you should know how to engage students online and how to do online teaching. This is a new concept and not everyone is used to it, so take the full advantage and start teaching online.
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