A 2014 Guide to Engaging Students: It's Not Your Grandfather's Online Classroom!

The first announcement in the distance learning class is the most important of your course, as students get an immediate feel for you: enthusiasm, approach (inviting or intimidating?), attitude (upbeat or really not interested?), and willingness to help out. Students can read this throughout the course, so its wording and tone are crucial. Not only does this post introduce your professionalism but also guidelines from which you do not want to vary: students can always compare what you do in the class against this first posting.

One tried and true strategy to keeping students engaged is when the faculty member is a regular presence in the online classroom—and, when possible, is the first person the students encounter, such as in Discussion postings. First, with the instructor visible on a constant basis the students know they are not on their own, that the instructor is really “into” the course, and the faculty member is on constant watch for problems and confusion. Second, there is a strong motivational factor at play when students encounter a discussion thread with the instructor's posting waiting for them: these set the tone, give direction, and get the students going. (Tip: One can overdo being an active presence, i.e., don't be so visible and so overwhelming that students become intimidated to the point of staying away! There must be a balance.)

As much as a great class platform (such as Blackboard, eCollege, etc.) and solid content are important, it is the distance learning instructor who is critical to students staying active in the course. Thus, any e-mails or postings of students to the faculty member must be answered in what is considered an immediate time in the online classroom: within 24 hours. Go beyond this and students can lose interest,

may submit wrong info in assignments, or could miss deadlines. Knowing they can depend on you is crucial. And there is a huge bonus as well: you can post at any time because of the asynchronous nature of the class, thus making it easier to follow up to student posts received.

It makes no difference the course: the more feedback students receive on assignments the more they feel the course is a learning experience and the faculty member truly cares about their learning. Also, give positive messages in the feedback that encourage the student, including an overall motivating and upbeat summary at the end of each assignment grading (this includes grading discussions and group projects). Two additional suggestions that can really make your feedback something the students embrace: (1) Use reality-based education, i.e., link some assignment comments to the student's use of an item in the assignment—or all of the assignment—to the professional world. This extends the course beyond the computer and puts more meaning into an assignment. (2) Don't hesitate to use some humor—it can make feedback more palpable!

The Discussion feature in the course becomes the heartbeat, for it is constantly alive, with students posting daily and at all hours. Each post not only extends and clarifies the content of the course but also takes the course deeper and wider—for an enhanced learning experience. The faculty member's ongoing presence here is crucial for a few reasons: new discussions questions/threads can be inserted that keep discussion going at a brisk pace; guidance can be given when discussions go off topic, to clarify a student's posting, or to give additional information; and the instructor's postings will help keep the discussion moving and motivate students to post substantively. (Tip: Always send out reminders about the importance of discussion— students need understand this is not merely an exercise for a grade.)

Students can become frustrated, confused, or upset when a course link does not work, when course dates are incorrect, when assignments are out of order—the list goes on. It is so much better the faculty member first discovers any such problems, rather than have a student point these out; this can give an impression the faculty member is not really devoted to the course. Additionally, students have enough content and assignments on which to focus— they don't need any course platform problems added to this. So ... get into the course early enough so any problems can be reported, then corrected before the course begins.

In addition to the content that comes with the course, adding other resources for the students can keep them more involved—post articles, videos, and audio that relate to daily events, the workplace, new research, professionals in the fields, etc. This helps keep the course alive, more current, and always interesting. Additionally, post content-related cartoons and puzzles—and it's always fun to include a crossword puzzle or two (http://www.puzzle-maker.com/CW/ is a good one).

There are many; these tend to be the most popular in distance learning courses and quite easy to use.

Many online instructors develop their own YouTube videos to deliver additional course content, to clarify course information, to explain assignments, and to offer thoughts on various happenings in the course. This visual tool speaks to today's online education, and it can give the course a more personal experience for the students. For a solid tutorial see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Szqx2oLO9g

Jing is used by instructors primarily to clarify information in a course, as its video and audio capability tops out at 5 minutes. However, it is extremely effective in giving student an in-course look, as Jing allows you to video whatever you'd like in your course, then present it to students. (Jing can also be used for still shots, with audio explanation.) See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTF7ryUyeuY for help.

PowerPoint and Prezi allow the user to create slide-by-slide presentations of a topic or topics; the user can insert text, graphics, visuals, et cetera. PowerPoint is the more static of the two, as Prezi allows for more animation, and comes with a vast assortment of graphics and animated pos-sibilities. Both of these are extensively employed by online educators for explaining course content in more detail and offering additional applications of course content; these are also used by faculty in giving presentations to other faculty. For good overviews of each: PowerPoint— http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZUwFwooMrY ... Prezi—http://www.you-tube.com/watch?v=dInC4zPbV6I

This program allows one to upload, share, and discuss documents, presentations, images, audio files, and videos. It's a good resource when there are group projects in a course or the faculty member presents information for student feedback. While there are premium versions of VoiceThread that require a fee there is also a basic version that is free. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jVW_aAyGPE for details on getting started with VoiceThread.

A do-it-yourself animate video website, it's an engaging approach to creating a video as it comes close being a cartoon. Use it for explaining content, showing students the way around a course, explaining an assignment, or discussing course content. A good tutorial is available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCf5cihiL_g&feature=c4-overview&list=UU_3TILVT161zgkHJ0MAdjWg

This is an audio upload—instructors will often give student feedback or course information into a recorder, then upload it to the course; the students simply click on the link to hear the instructor's comments. See http://www.wikihow.com/Make-an-MP3-File for instructions.

These are used in courses by the distance learning instructor to offer weekly info on upcoming assignments, clarify content, explain various course topics in more detail, and allow students the opportunity for live interaction with the faculty member. They are also used extensively by schools to present seminars to online faculty. There is a variety of live chat and webinar software programs, and nearly all are made available by the school, where tutorials are offered.

Remember: The more tools available the better we can construct something that is high-end quality, extremely functional, pleasing to the eye, and a joy to use.