Student engagement is the key to student success, yet faculty teaching online courses have different challenges building student engagement than they do in face-to-face courses. One of the key ways that faculty can engage students is to build a presence in your online classroom, showing them that you are engaged in the course and care about their success. In turn, your engagement fosters student engagement, and students become more active in the course.
Here are a few simple ways to create an instructor presence in your online course.
Introductions: When students know your biography and know who you are, they can get a sense of your personality and teaching style. Create an assignment in which students introduce themselves and be the first to post. Ask students to discuss their personal and career goals and provide that information for yourself. Take the time to read your students’ postings and make the effort to respond with thoughtful comments so they know you’ve read their posts.
Time-sensitive Emails: One of the first things you should do as an online instructor is compose a welcome email that you will send out as your first correspondence with your students. Try to keep the text simple and authentic. You don’t have to go over the entire course objectives in this email; that can be done later. Instead, focus on welcoming the students and telling them a little bit about how you’d like the course to run. This is a great time to discuss your willingness to assist students with their questions and concerns.
During the course, there may be times when an encouraging class email is needed to keep the class going. When you feel that activity is waning, send out an encouraging email. Share a current event that ties in with the course material, or remind students of where you are in the course so they can keep focused on end goals.
Announcements: Your LMS has announcement capabilities. Write a weekly announcement reminding your students of the objectives for that week. Another good way to show that you are engaged is to recap the previous week’s objectives and tie them to the current week’s objectives. You can also provide a preview for the next week in order to keep the students moving forward.
Social Media Presence: Social media is a great way to foster student engagement in your course. Many instructors create professional social media accounts on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter to engage their students in course material outside of the classroom and to create a professional learning community. Some Learning Management Systems also feature tools such as video or audio feedback. Submitting a video or audio clip of your feedback will help your students to connect with you in a more meaningful way.
