Secrets for Engaging Students in Online Learning

Purpose & objective

The purpose of this presentation is to share a variety of strategies and tools for providing successful online learning. These strategies are not restricted to the technological tools, but are based upon proven pedagogical processes. It begins by the Communities of Inquiry framework for organizing various genres of instructional media and pedagogical aproaches. Once the framework has been established, a variety of techniques, recommendations, and online tools are intoduced.

Objectives:
At the end of this session, the attendees will be able to:
1. Describe the Communities of Inquiry framework.
2. Explain the importance of the Social Presence, Teaching Presence, Cognitive Presence in facilitating learning.
3. Discuss the importance of the educator connecting with their students to create an educational environment.
4. List a variety of onine tools that can facilitate student/teacher connections.
5. Share some of the online facilitator strategies for successfully hosting an online course.
6. Describe some of the online tools shared, including Flip.com, Pear Deck, Kahoot, Quizizz and MentiMeter.

Outline

Introduction (5 min)
Engaging Students (10 min)
Communities of Inquiry Framework
Cognitive Presence, Teaching Presence, & Social Presence
Strategies for Building the Teacher-Student and Student-Student Connection.
Opening Question Activity
Work Groups
Social Media
Building Teaching Presence through Effective Online Synch Class Management (10 min)
Enlist an Assistant
Use 2 Monitors
Use the Chat Room
Use Multiple Cameras
Secrets to Managing Your Class (5 min)
Give Audio Feedback
Filter Your Email
Effectively Using Breakout Rooms (10 min)
Organizing Breakout Rooms with Shared Documents
Demo Using a Breakout Room
Support Your Students with Weekly Checklists
Facilitate Cognitive Presence through Interactive Online Tools Demos (15 min)
Flip.com
Pear Deck
Kahoot
Quizizz
MentiMeter
Conclusion and Questions (5 min)

Supporting research

Garrison, D. R. (2009). Communities of inquiry in online learning. In Encyclopedia of distance learning, Second edition (pp. 352-355). IGI Global. DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60566-198-8.ch052

Hart, C. (2012). Factors associated with student persistence in an online program of study: A review of the literature. Journal of Interactive Online Learning, 11(1).

Murdock, J. L., & Williams, A. M. (2011). Creating an online learning community: Is it possible?. Innovative Higher Education, 36(5), 305-315. DOI 10.1007/s10755-011-9188-6

Wang, A. I., & Tahir, R. (2020). The effect of using Kahoot! for learning–A literature review. Computers & Education, 149, 103818. Doi: doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2020.103818

Zeitz, L. (2021) Engaging students with opening question activities in online learning. Unpublished manuscript, University of Northern Iowa.

Zeitz, L., Bryans-Bongey, S., & Galloway, M. (2021) Confronting the new normal in teacher education. Manuscript submitted for publication.

Zeitz, L. (2021) Secrets to effective use of instructional media to engage students in online learning. international Conference on Linguistics and Language Teaching.