How to Effectively Foster Online Engagement
Online classes, especially at the K-12 level, can be very overwhelming for students and can cause the student to shut down. This is something that no teacher wants his/her student to experience. A good online teacher is going to want to make sure that his/her student comes to class feeling confident about achieving his/her goals and knows that the teacher is there to support them throughout the entire process. In order to foster online engagement well, a teacher should start the class with clear expectations and easily achieved assignments to help build confidence, be an active and willing facilitator and participant in student learning, and establish a friendly climate where students feel welcome …show more content…
As an online classroom facilitator, you need to make sure that what you are sending out to students keeps them engaged and that you are providing the students with the resources they need to be successful without you there to help them in person. Facilitation in a class can come from the teacher or from a student, but in order to foster online engagement with the entire class, it needs to first come from the teacher and be effectively done so that students know what is expected of them if they have a turn as the facilitator. Online discussion prompts are an integral part of online classes and how they are run and the responses that are given by the instructor can make or break the student 's continued participation. This is where being an effective facilitator comes into play. Barbara Monroe from Washington State University states in her study paper titled, “Fostering Critical Engagement in Online Discussions: The Washington State University Study”, “Often, instructors’ postings sound suspiciously like end comments they might write at the end of students’ papers, with praise, criticism, and a parting pat on the back: “Good post!” Such postings shut down discussion, as students read these comments as final evaluations. Rhetorical touches— such as differentiated subject lines, playful sarcasm, repositioning the assignment prompt—invite student engagement, if not always critical engagement. Asking questions,
Online classes, especially at the K-12 level, can be very overwhelming for students and can cause the student to shut down. This is something that no teacher wants his/her student to experience. A good online teacher is going to want to make sure that his/her student comes to class feeling confident about achieving his/her goals and knows that the teacher is there to support them throughout the entire process. In order to foster online engagement well, a teacher should start the class with clear expectations and easily achieved assignments to help build confidence, be an active and willing facilitator and participant in student learning, and establish a friendly climate where students feel welcome …show more content…
As an online classroom facilitator, you need to make sure that what you are sending out to students keeps them engaged and that you are providing the students with the resources they need to be successful without you there to help them in person. Facilitation in a class can come from the teacher or from a student, but in order to foster online engagement with the entire class, it needs to first come from the teacher and be effectively done so that students know what is expected of them if they have a turn as the facilitator. Online discussion prompts are an integral part of online classes and how they are run and the responses that are given by the instructor can make or break the student 's continued participation. This is where being an effective facilitator comes into play. Barbara Monroe from Washington State University states in her study paper titled, “Fostering Critical Engagement in Online Discussions: The Washington State University Study”, “Often, instructors’ postings sound suspiciously like end comments they might write at the end of students’ papers, with praise, criticism, and a parting pat on the back: “Good post!” Such postings shut down discussion, as students read these comments as final evaluations. Rhetorical touches— such as differentiated subject lines, playful sarcasm, repositioning the assignment prompt—invite student engagement, if not always critical engagement. Asking questions,