Strategies to Facilitate Student Engagement in an Online Setting

 There are many strategies for teachers to use for facilitating student engagement in an online setting, in this blog post I'll tell you about five of them.  One strategy teachers can use is to set expectations and model engagement.  Another strategy teachers can use is to build engagement and motivation with course content and activities.  Teachers are encouraged to initiate interaction and create a faculty presence.  Also a good way for teachers to facilitate student engagement is by fostering interaction between students and creating a learning community.  A final strategy for teachers is to create an inclusive environment.

   Implementing these strategies in your online classroom is easy.  For setting expectations and modeling engagement, reach out to students prior to the start of the course, clearly identify assignment due dates, make the course available online early, and post expectations and course policies.  For building engagement and motivation with course content and activities, provide students with a variety of content, create a short intro for each unit, provide clear guidance for completing course activities and gaining deeper understanding of course content, send out homework due date reminders for each assignment, and encourage students to ask questions.  For initiating interaction and creating a faculty presence, post info about yourself, develop a communication plan, and provide frequent and interactive feedback on student work.  For fostering interaction between students, encourage critical and reflective discussion, use team projects, and set up help teams.  For creating an inclusive environment, get to know your students, highlight students' individual experiences, check your assumptions, and be conscious of accessibility concerns.