LibGuides: Community Conversations: Library Resources: Engaging Students in an Online Environment

Engaging Students in an Online Enviroment

Library Articles and Resources

Maintain consistent expectations and course goals in online classes and communicate them clearly to students.
Design online courses in a way that facilitates “active learning” and encourages student interaction.
Consider the benefits and challenges of online learning from the student perspective when structuring online class modules. Adapt your teaching methods accordingly – online learning has no one size fits all solution.
Use the online discussion space to engage with students, offering feedback, support, and encouragement to share their ideas about the class material.
Seeing the teacher’s face in a video is not enough. Online students expect the professor to project an interest in the material they are teaching, whether via live video or pre-recorded lecture.
Encourage the application of real-world ideas in coursework, rather than asking students to simply recall factual information.
If you are assigning students a lot of reading, it is especially important in the online environment to follow the readings with related tasks or discussions.

Linkages between course status, perceived course value, and students’ preference for traditional versus non-traditional learning environments
Clayton, K.E., Blumberg, F.C., & Anthony, J.A.. (2018). Linkages between course status, perceived course value, and students’ preference for traditional versus non-traditional learning environments: Computers & Education, 125, 175-181.

This 2018 article discusses survey responses from 464 graduate and undergraduate students enrolled in an urban university, regarding the students’ perceptions of traditional, online, and hybrid classes. Students were asked how likely they were to take a prerequisite, core, or elective class if it was offered in one of the three aforementioned formats. Ultimately, findings indicated that students preferred traditional classroom learning for the enhanced opportunity for engagement, online classes for a flexibility that meshed with their lifestyle, and the hybrid format for flexibility and the opportunity to interact with peers and the instructor.

Best Practice: Consider the benefits and challenges of online learning from the student perspective when structuring class modules. Adapt your teaching methods accordingly – online learning has no one size fits all solution.

Best Practice: Use the online discussion space to engage with students, offering feedback, support, and encouragement to share their ideas about the class material.

Student Perceptions of the Most Effective and Engaging Online Learning Activities in a Blended Graduate Seminar
Cundell, A., & Sheepy, E. (2018). Student Perceptions of the Most Effective and Engaging Online Learning Activities in a Blended Graduate Seminar. Online Learning, 22(3), 87–102.

This 2018 article discusses the similarities in design of the most effective learning activities in an online environment, as rated by a survey of undergraduate and graduate students. All of the highly-rated activities had four main design characteristics: promoting higher order thinking skills, encouraging interaction between learners and content, offering feedback on ideas or work, and personalizing the content or task. The lowest rated activities were those that did not require any kind of output from students, such as readings that were not followed up with a task.

Best Practice: Encourage the application of real-world ideas in coursework, rather than asking students to simply recall factual information.

Best Practice: If you are assigning students a lot of reading, it is especially important in the online environment to follow the readings with related tasks or discussion.

Supporting and Engaging the Isolated Learner
Gillett-Swan, J. (2017). Supporting and Engaging the Isolated Learner. Journal of Learning Design, 10(1), 20–30.

The author states that this article was written in the interest of providing a starting point for educators who may be struggling to facilitate an online learning environment. She discusses the barriers to participation, challenges with student assessments, and the need for “real world” contexts in course work. Ultimately the article concludes that online teaching requires more of a shift in educator understanding of student challenges than it does a re-imagining of the course material itself.

Best Practice: Consider the benefits and challenges of online learning from the student perspective when structuring class modules. Adapt your teaching methods accordingly – online learning has no one size fits all solution.

Best Practice: Encourage the application of real-world ideas in coursework, rather than asking students to simply recall factual information.

Understanding student engagement in large-scale open online courses: A machine learning facilitated analysis of Student’s reflections in 18 highly rated MOOCs
Hew, K. F., Chen, Q., & Tang, Y. (2018). Understanding student engagement in large-scale open online courses: A machine learning facilitated analysis of Student’s reflections in 18 highly rated MOOCs. International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 19(3).

The authors of this 2018 paper used a machine learning classifier to explore reviews left by students of 18 highly rated massive open online courses. Their goal was to learn what drew, engaged, and retained students in these courses. The researchers found that students approach the classes with diminished expectations for engaging with peers, however, students expected to see more than just a face in a video from the instructor-- teachers were rated more highly when they projected an interest in the material as they taught it. Lastly, students reported that course material was most interesting and easy to learn when it focused on real-world examples or problems.

Best Practice: Seeing the teacher’s face in a video is not enough. Online students expect the professor to project an interest in the material they are teaching, whether via live video or pre-recorded lecture.

Best Practice: Encourage the application of real-world ideas in coursework, rather than asking students to simply recall factual information.

Active learning: Engaging students to maximize learning in an online course
Khan, A., Egbue, O., Palkie, B., & Madden, J. (2017). Active learning: Engaging students to maximize learning in an online course: EJEL. Electronic Journal of E-Learning, 15(2), 107-115.

In this 2017 paper from the Electronic Journal of E-Learning, several different methods of fostering student engagement in online courses are discussed. It argues that it is crucial to consider “active learning” throughout the course design process, while acknowledging the challenges of doing so. The authors put significant emphasis on the ideas of encouraging students’ active participation in learning activities and the need for educators to facilitate lively discussions.

Best practice: Consider the benefits and challenges of online learning from the student perspective when structuring online class modules. Adapt your teaching methods accordingly – online learning has no one size fits all solution.

Best practice: Design online courses in a way that facilitates “active learning” and encourages student interaction.

Sustainability, blended learning and the undergraduate communication skills classroom: negotiating engineering undergraduates' expectations and perceptions
Sivapalan, S. (2017). Sustainability, blended learning and the undergraduate communication skills classroom: Negotiating engineering undergraduates' expectations and perceptions. On the Horizon, 25(1), 7-23.

This article discusses the findings of a study of Malaysian engineering undergraduate students and their expectations in a blended learning classroom (online & in-person class). The online portion of the classes focused on the use of social media-style and in-class discussions, with video lectures. Findings indicated that students found the online discussion board useful to their learning as a way to extend class time discussions and to better direct independent learning.

Best Practice: If you are assigning students a lot of reading, it is especially important in the online environment to follow the readings with related tasks or discussion.

Best Practice: Use the online discussion space to engage with students, offering feedback, support, and encouragement to share their ideas about the class material.

Interactivity, connectedness and 'teacher-presence': Engaging and retaining students online
Stone, C., & Springer, M. (2019). Interactivity, connectedness and 'teacher-presence': Engaging and retaining students online. Australian Journal of Adult Learning, 59(2), 146-169.

This 2019 article summarizes the results of interviews with the faculty and staff of 16 Australian and UK higher education institutions about the strategies participants were using to engage and support online students, as well as how they felt their institution could better support the virtual classroom environment. The findings indicate that institutions overwhelmingly need to develop whole-of-institution strategies for supporting the quality and consistency of online class delivery. Results also show the importance of communicating meaningfully with students, intervening early to help students adapt to the online environment, and the vital role of “teacher-presence” in the online teaching and learning space.

Best Practice: Maintain consistent expectations and course goals in online classes and communicate them clearly to students.

Best Practice: Design online courses in a way that facilitates “active learning” and encourages student interaction.

Engagement Theory: A Framework for Technology-Based Teaching and Learning
Kearsley, G., & Shneiderman, B. (1998). Engagement Theory: A Framework for Technology-Based Teaching and Learning. Educational Technology, 38(5), 20-23.
This is a very early article written about engaging students in an online environment. It establishes the three primary ways to foster online engagement: Collaboration (between peers and instructor), Creation (project-based focus of assignments), and Authenticity (real-world focus of course material).
An online engagement framework for higher education.
Redmond, P., Heffernan, A., Abawi, L., Brown, A., & Henderson, R. (2018). An online engagement framework for higher education. Online Learning, 22(1), 183-204.
This recent paper outlines six crucial online engagement elements: social, cognitive, behavioral, collaborative, and emotional engagement.

Selected eBooks

The Online Teaching Survival Guide by Judith V. Boettcher; Rita-Marie Conrad
ISBN: 9781119147695
Publication Date: 2016-08-26
Lessons from the Virtual Classroom by Rena M. Palloff; Keith Pratt
ISBN: 9781118224755
Publication Date: 2013-05-24
Jump-Start Your Online Classroom by David S. Stein; Constance E. Wanstreet
ISBN: 9781620365823
Publication Date: 2017-07-25

Community Conversations: Library Resources

Engaging Students in an Online Enviroment

More Information on this Topic

Selected eBooks