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Strategies for Remote Teaching & Learning

The professional development for online teaching and learning that you've been asking for

An unprecedented pandemic may change the definition of classroom, but it doesn't have to change your definition of good teaching. Jennifer Serravallo's Connecting with Students Online gives you concise, doable suggestions based on her own experiences and those of the teachers, administrators, and coaches she has communicated with during the pandemic.

Watch Jen's webinar about the book!

Special Offer: Save 30% off our list price automatically when you buy 15 or more.

The professional development for online teaching and learning that you've been asking for

An unprecedented pandemic may change the definition of classroom, but it doesn't have to change your definition of good teaching. Now that you're making the shift to online teaching, it's time to answer your biggest questions about remote, digitally based instruction:

How do I build and nurture relationships with students and their at-home adults from afar?

How do I adapt my best teaching to an online setting?

How do I keep a focus on students and their needs when they aren't in front of me?

Jennifer Serravallo's Connecting with Students Online gives you concise, doable answers based on her own experiences and those of the teachers, administrators, and coaches she has communicated with during the pandemic. Focusing on the vital importance of the teacher-student connection, Jen guides you to:

effectively prioritize what matters most during remote, online instruction

schedule your day and your students' to maximize teaching and learning (and avoid burnout)

streamline curricular units and roll them out digitally

record highly engaging short lessons that students will enjoy and learn from

confer, working with small groups, and drive learning through independent practice

partner with the adults in a student's home to support your work with their child.

Featuring simplified, commonsense suggestions, 55 step-by-step teaching strategies, and video examples of Jen conferring and working with small groups, Connecting with Students Online helps new teachers, teachers new to technology, or anyone who wants to better understand the essence of effective online instruction. Along the way Jen addresses crucial topics including assessment and progress monitoring, student engagement and accountability, using anchor charts and visuals, getting books into students' hands, teaching subject-area content, and avoiding teacher burnout.
During this pandemic crisis turn to one of education's most trusted teaching voices to help you restart or maintain students' progress. Jennifer Serravallo's Connecting with Students Online is of-the-moment, grounded in important research, informed by experience, and designed to get you teaching well-and confidently-as quickly as possible.

Jen will be donating a portion of the proceeds fromConnecting with Students Online to organizations that help children directly impacted by COVID-19.

(click any section below to continue reading)

Sneak Preview

Contents

Chapter 1: Holding True to Priorities as We Move Online

Connection and Relationships

Emotional Wellbeing

Engagement

Clear, Strategic, and Focused Direct Instruction

Guided Practice

Differentiated Instruction

Assessment

Balance

Chapter 2: Partnering with Adults at Home

Make a Video-or Host a Short Live Workshop-to Welcome Caregivers to Your Online Classroom

Survey Students and Families to Understand Needs

Share the Weekly Schedule

Share Notes on Students' Work and Progress

Record How-To Videos for Using Technology

Offer Advice About Setting up a Learning Space at Home

Encourage Caregivers to Develop a Schedule and Routines

Help Families Know What to Do When Things Get Frustrating

Chapter 3: Planning and Revising Curriculum Units for Online Instruction

Step 1: Identify Goals and Skill Progressions

Step 2: Find Anchor Texts

Step 3: Try Out What You'll Ask Students to Do

Step 4: Design Assessments

Step 5: Map Out Daily Reading Lessons with Goals and Strategies

Step 5: Map Out Daily Writing Lessons with Process and Strategies

Streamline and Simplify: Connect Goals Across Subject Areas

Choose Monthly and Unit Focuses: Genre, Content, Independent Projects, or a Mix

Organize Your Curriculum and Resources in a Learning Management System

Approach Your Teaching with Flexibility and Feedback

Chapter 4: Managing Your Time Across a Day, Across the Week
Chapter 5: Setting Up Students' Independent Practice at Home Chapter 6: Methods and Structures for Teaching Online

Understand the Pros and Cons of Synchronous and Asynchronous Teaching

Invite Your Students Online with You for Some Time Each Day

Plan and Record Short Whole Class Lessons

Host "Office Hours" For Student-Initiated Response Time and to Support Adults at Home Who Are Helping Children

Make a Schedule for Conferences and Small Groups

Preserve Space for Professional Learning and Collaboration

Map Out a Weekly Schedule and Set Boundaries

Virtual-Classroom Videos, Featuring Jen and Her Colleagues

Ask Students to Read Every Day

Give Students Access to Paper Books

Adapt Your Teaching to Support Students Who Are Reading E-Books

Adapt Your Teaching to Support Students Who Are Listening to Audiobooks

Create Short Text Packets for Shared Reading Experiences

Rethink What It Means to Match Readers with "Just Right" Texts

Ask Students to Write Every Day

Decide How Your Students Will Compose Their Writing

Give Students Access to Writing Materials and Tools

Set Up a System for Students to Share Some of Their Writing with You

Hold On (Tightly) to Writer's Notebooks

Ask Students to Do Math Every Day

Ask Students to Engage with Content Study Every Day

Develop Community Agreements and Norms for Participating Online

Set Yourself (And Your Students) Up for Videoconferencing

Convert Your Live Mini Lessons to Recorded Micro Lessons

Make Your Micro Lessons More Engaging

Monitor and Guide Independent Practice Time

Read Aloud (Live!) to Build Community

Record Read Aloud to Engage, Support Comprehension, and Collect Data

Study a Mentor Text Together for Writing Craft

Confer with Students Live

Confer with Students When Your Schedules Don't Align

Set Up and Support Reading and Writing Partnerships and Clubs

Engage Reading Partnerships and Clubs with Written "Conversation"

Engage Writing Partnerships and Clubs with Written Feedback

Engage Partnerships and Clubs with Asynchronous Video "Conversation"

Meet with a Small Group of Students with the Same Goal (Strategy Lessons)

Move Your Guided Reading Online

Apply the Tech Tools and Strategies You've Learned to Lead Any Type of Group Online

How to Join Google Meets: Raffaella orients students and their at-home adults to an online environment

How to Check Comments: Raffaella helps students and their at-home adults navigate comments in the online environment

Example Video Lesson: A three-minute writing minilesson video created by Barb on Loom

Example Video Lesson: A three-minute minilesson video about "Unpacking the Facts" created by Jen on Clips

Example Video Lesson: A two-minute minilesson video about setting created by Jen on Clips

Conferring Online with a Kindergartener: One-on-One Video Conference Utilizing Digital Texts and Screensharing

Conferring Online with a Sixth Grader: One-on-One Video Conference without Screensharing

Small Groups Online with Sixth Graders: Coming Up with Ideas

Small Groups Online with Eighth Graders: Mentor Text Study

Related PD Services

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The professional development for online teaching and learning that you've been asking for An unprecedented pandemic may change the definition of classroom, but it doesn't have to change your definition of good teaching. Jennifer Serravallo's Connecting with Students Online gives you concise, doable suggestions based on her own experiences and those of the teachers, administrators, and coaches she has communicated with during the pandemic.

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All students benefit when their learning experience includes opportunities to connect with their peers. But student-to-student engagement is especially helpful for adult learners in virtual classes. These learners bring a wealth of work and life experience to courses, which can enrich their learning by making it personally relevant. In this article, Luke Cable, Senior Learning Designer at Wiley Education Services, shares ways to help students connect in virtual classes and beyond.
When students get opportunities to be vulnerable and express themselves through course activities, they become more visible and relatable to their classmates and you as the instructor. These opportunities are especially beneficial in virtual environments. Let's look at ways you can create the right conditions for student-to-student engagement-and encourage participation-in virtual learning.

Connecting Within the Class

Instructors cannot shoehorn social and emotional student connection into a virtual class. Instead, you must interweave it carefully throughout the semester. Treat it as a course characteristic, not a standalone item. To incorporate fruitful student interaction, you can:

Use Discussion Forums

There's a good reason most virtual courses use discussion forums-when done well, they foster engaging learning experiences. Plus, these forums give online students a platform to share ideas through thoughtful conversation.

So, how can you foster constructive discussions? By posing open-ended questions that tie directly to course topics, spur an investigation of concepts, and stimulate reflection. Avoid posting questions that seem like assignments and have clear "correct" answers. For the best results, be sure to take part in the conversation.

Develop Relatable Activities

Enabling students to connect activities to their life experiences is a small change that can make a big difference. Think through your course activities-do you provide opportunities for students to compare topics to their past accomplishments and future goals? By making learning personal, you can enhance social interaction in your virtual class and gain insight into what motivates your students.

Require Video

As you move on-ground classes to a virtual environment, you will likely hear how important it is for students to engage each other using video, and with good reason. Video has a positive impact on peer-to-peer interaction and shouldn't be taken for granted. Set the expectation for required video use-and follow through on it-so students adapt quickly to video chat as their new normal for learning.

Note that video use offers benefits beyond videoconferencing. Ask students to turn on their cameras during discussion forums and activities, as well. For added engagement, encourage them to post video replies to assignments.

Connecting Beside the Class

When a class meets in a physical room, natural interactions take place during transition moments. These transitions occur before and after class, as well as when you pivot to new topics within lectures. We refer to these transitions as beside-the-class times. These times aren't directly related to class content, but they create valuable interactions that take place solely because students have come together in your class.

Beside-the-class times can also take place naturally in virtual classes. But you may need to lay the foundation for these moments to occur. To create opportunities for students to connect beside the class, you can:

Create a Student Lounge

A student lounge is a dedicated area of the virtual classroom-such as a discussion forum in your learning management system (LMS)-that you set aside for open student conversations. It isn't tied to course content or a course's weekly flow. Instead, students can chat freely by posting questions and sharing thoughts on personal interests. When you create a student lounge, it's important to set ground rules to foster participation that is civil and kind. But don't make the rules too constraining or require students to post in the lounge. Feel free to join conversations in the student lounge, but focus more on making personal connections than offering academic feedback.

Assign Group Work

Group work benefits students most when it relates to their learning experience. It's also an excellent way for students to connect personally. Group assignments are especially worthwhile to students who rarely participate in class-wide activities. Follow these guidelines to organize group work that promotes student connection:

Set expectations for professional interaction, goals, and deliverables.

Vary your approach for assembling groups. You can assign groups or allow students to form groups on their own, a process that adds to peer-to-peer engagement.

Let students determine when and how they meet. Feel free to suggest collaboration tools and meeting times, but don't make your ideas binding. By coordinating group work logistics, students get to interact even more.

Encourage students to begin group work by creating a "Ways of Working" document. It will outline how students are accountable to one another as they work on assignments.

Promote a Variety of Communication Tools

Students can communicate by sending text messages or using video and audio platforms beyond the LMS. At schools that use Microsoft Office 365, students can talk over Teams or Skype. Additionally, students can connect via Google Hangouts at schools that use G Suite for Education. Through these tools, students can meet in relaxed study groups as they experienced on campus. As a result, you'll help narrow the social distance they may feel following a rapid transition to virtual learning.

Conclusion

Student-to-student interaction is a valuable component of virtual classes. By establishing a social presence in your course, you can develop a balanced learning framework that enables students to bond and work together. Be intentional as you connect students and weave a variety of opportunities for collaboration throughout your virtual courses.

Want to learn more? Visit our Virtual Resource Center to access articles and guidance for building, maintaining, and enhancing virtual courses.

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How to Promote Engagement in Virtual Classes

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All students benefit when their learning experience includes opportunities to connect with their peers. But student-to-student engagement is especially helpful for adult learners in virtual classes. These learners bring a wealth of work and life experience to courses, which can enrich their learning by making it personally relevant.

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The Utah State Psychology Department is home to seven graduate specializations and a thriving undergraduate major. With more than 170 PhDs awarded our alumni network is rapidly growing. Students from many different walks of life have found a home and place of belonging in Logan, Utah.

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Keeping Students Engaged in Digital Learning

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Whether you’re new to teaching online or a veteran, these six tips can help you make sure your students stay connected and immersed in learning.

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(This is Part Five in an ongoing series responding to specific teacher questions related to remote learning. You can see Part One here, Part Two here, Part Three here, and Part Four here.) Note: In addition to a recent 11-part series and video offering advice to educators making the transition to remote learning, and a video offering advice to parents (along with many more upcoming related posts-look for a multipart series at the end of this month in which both teachers and students will be reflecting on their first five weeks of distance learning), I've begun a series of short posts responding to specific questions from readers.
What are ways to keep student engagement up? How do we motivate reluctant learners to continue learning in a virtual environment?

This post is not the first, nor will it be the last, response to that question.

Today, David Sherrin, shares his suggestions.
"Students are more likely to complete tasks that they care about" David Sherrin is the father (and temporary educator) of three young children, a social studies teacher at Scarsdale High School, author of Authentic Assessment in Social Studies: A Guide to Keeping it Real, and recipient of the 2014 Robert H Jackson Center National Award for Teaching Justice. He maintains the teaching website JADE Learning. You can contact him at: dsherrin@scarsdaleschools.org:
There is no secret magical formula for student engagement in distance learning. While almost everything we do is harder and less effective in this realm, it is the same tried-and-true recipe we've known for decades that gets students motivated. Teachers need to provide assignments that are meaningful, joyful, relevant, and dynamic. Simply put, all students are more likely to complete tasks that they care about.

Moreover, we need to recognize that disparities in student engagement in distance learning correspond to disparities in engagement in real school: It is higher in affluent areas where there is significant support at home. In high-needs schools, many times the only factor that gets students to "produce" is the relationship with the teacher and the one-to-one teacher-to-student request to "please complete the work." It is that individual face-to-face connection and the positive results that follow from it that seem so glaringly missing in distance learning.

That being said, we need to identify the difference between compliance and engagement. In the former, students complete tasks, often passively, without intrinsic motivation or interest. This type of experience can be rampant in high-performing schools, and it follows students into the distance-learning reality. They multitask during a video, check off some boxes, and then move on without fully participating mentally and emotionally in the learning.

Instead, we want students to engage in learning due to actual intellectual interest. This happens when we provide tasks and assessments that are authentic, playful, student-centered, and dynamic. In all disciplines and at all grade-levels, we need to get students moving, thinking, interacting with family members, creating (off the computer), and making choices. Providing a menu of options for small tasks or assessments cultivates student engagement because the empowering act of choosing builds trust, confidence, and motivation. For my son, in elementary school, one activity that achieved all of this was to build a map (or model) of his town using paper and pen or Legos/toys. He chose the latter, and it turned into a joyful family activity to figure out what to use to represent a train station, park, library, etc.

I'm now expanding from this unit's success by creating a full World History Distance Learning that includes an Iranian Revolution Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Game as well as an India Colonialism and Independence Virtual Role-Play, all of which is meant to achieve those fundamental goals of engagement, joy, and authenticity. While not every teacher has the web-design background or interest to make that happen, thinking about how to transfer the type of dynamic and student-centered activities that build real student engagement in the classroom into the distance-learning space is what we need to be doing. And, as I pointed out, that type of experience can range from an online role-playing game to a great idea of what to build with Legos.

Please feel free to leave a comment with your reactions to the topic or directly to anything that has been said in this post.
Just a reminder; you can subscribe and receive updates from this blog via email or RSS Reader. And if you missed any of the highlights from the first eight years of this blog, you can see a categorized list below. The list doesn't include ones from this current year, but you can find those by clicking on the "answers" category found in the sidebar. Look for many more questions-and-answers in the future!

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Encouraging Student Engagement in Remote Learning (Opinion)

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(This is Part Five in an ongoing series responding to specific teacher questions related to remote learning. You can see Part One here, Part Two here, Part Three here, and Part Four here.)

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As university professors and researchers who work closely with K-12 online teachers and learners, we've heard from many newly remote educators who are struggling. Recent class discussions have focused on the difficulties of getting through to students without in-person contact, especially during a time of enormous stress. Some teachers report that their students lack interest and in the worst cases, that students are dropping from classes entirely.

From our experience both in the online classroom and in training teachers to teach online, this is familiar territory and typically happens about six weeks into a new school session. The newness has worn off, the excitement around technology wanes and teachers often struggle finding ways to engage with their students.

The crucial question that has emerged is: how do we engage learners when we are not together physically? It's a complicated question, even in the best of times-one that has been at the forefront of our daily online teaching practice and our research into the online behaviors and interactions that can have the greatest impact on successful learner outcomes. Thankfully, research into online learning can provide us with a starting point to make sure our students continue to be engaged in the process of learning.

There isn't one solution for increasing learner engagement and motivation. Online teachers need to combine multiple strategies to reach learners, such as strengthening relationships with learners, engaging families and helping learners connect with their peers. But building strong relationships online is difficult.

What Is Engagement and Why Is It So Important to the Learning Process?

In its simplest form, engagement is a measure of how much we are attending to a purpose, task or activity. When it comes to learning, engagement is influenced by a learner's level of motivation, focus and cognitive ability as well as online course design and a teacher's decisions regarding facilitation style.

Grounded in the learning sciences, engagement is deepest in environments that support fostering relationships, productive instructional strategies, and social and emotional development. Engaged learners demonstrate stronger satisfaction with learning experiences, stronger achievement in courses and increased graduation rates.

Researchers identify three primary components of learner engagement for in-person and online settings: behavioral, cognitive and emotional. In other words, we know that learners are engaged if they exhibit behaviors, thinking processes or emotions that indicate they are connecting with course materials, with the teacher and with each other.

Measuring these types of engagement is easier said than done, though researchers have settled on some common approaches in traditional classrooms that can easily be translated to the online classroom, where research isn't as far along. Some of these measures will be more difficult for teachers to assess, and some may require teachers to understand and use the analytics capabilities of online tools. Teachers needn't collect data on every single measure, but having familiarity with the following common measurements will allow teachers to determine which factors they can reasonably assess according to the type of engagement they hope to spur.

Types of engagement with common measurements for virtual settings

How can we make the leap from this research to practical application in the remote classroom? The Adolescent Community of Engagement Framework proposed by Jered Borup, Richard West, Charles Graham and Randall Davies gives us one approach. These researchers argue that student engagement is created and enhanced by the involvement of three key players in any K-12 online learning experience: teachers, parents and peers.

Adolescent Community of Engagement Framework: A Lens for Research in K-12 Online Learning Environments hypothesizes that as parent, teacher, and peer engagement increase, student engagement will likely increase until it fills the area indicated by the dotted line. Image credit: Jered Borup, Richard West, Charles Graham and Randall Davies. Used with permission.

How Teachers Can Increase Learner Engagement in a Remote Classroom

One of the most consistent findings in engagement research is that a teacher has an enormous impact on the student's experience, influencing everything from students' perceived learning and self efficacy to their motivation. Being an engaged teacher online means being visible in the class, whether that's through discussion posts, announcements or assignment feedback. Teachers can emphasize their visibility and overall engagement in a remote classroom by implementing these practices:

Post regular announcements: A funny video or meme along with a hello and a weekly reminder of due dates can go a long way in reconnecting learners.

Reply early and often: Students need to feel that teachers are immediately available to help and may feel isolated when educators take a full business day to respond to a request for help. Quick communication builds connection.

Vary communication tools: Teachers should consider the communication preferences of individual students and make sure that their tools are best positioned to respond to students' questions. Phone calls, synchronous video tools, instant messaging or texting are all good options to use in combination, depending on the district's communication policies and student preferences.

Use feedback to build relationships: Providing personalized feedback to let students know their work has been reviewed can strengthen relations. Video feedback is also effective in building a connection with learners.

Physical connections under social distancing: Teacher parades and chalk messages on students' sidewalks are a great example of recent efforts teachers have taken to demonstrate their level of commitment to maintain high levels of engagement with their students. Similar online approaches such as recorded or live book readings and virtual office hours can be just as effective.

How Teachers Can Increase Parent Engagement in a Remote Classroom

Research has shown that the involvement of a responsible adult, typically a parent, is critical to the success of online learners. K-12 learners need the support of a caring adult to build executive functioning, manage their workload and maintain motivation. Teachers can support parents in this role by implementing a few key practices:

Connect with parents: Phone calls, texts and friendly emails help parents feel connected, realizing that the teacher is there to support the entire family.

Provide a schedule: Parents can use a schedule that shows the days and times of synchronous classes and includes what activities students should be working on each day to help keep students on task.

Offer tech support: Teachers can create short videos to help parents understand how to access their online content.

Less is more: Parents can quickly become inundated with well-intentioned emails from various teachers. Keeping emails short and focused is best.

Survey parents: Periodic, brief surveys can help teachers understand what support parents need.

How Teachers Can Facilitate Connections Between Students in a Remote Classroom

Research shows that students who feel connected to other learners are more engaged. In connecting with other learners, students feel that they are part of a classroom community. When motivation for the content itself is lacking, the desire to socialize with other learners can keep a student coming back to the work of a remote classroom. Teachers can improve peer engagement in a virtual setting by implementing these practices:

Use prompts to spark discussion: Discussion boards can be a great space for conversations, especially when teachers use prompts that are open-ended, stir debate or force deeper learning. Prompts can also be used to generate video discussions using a social learning tool like Flipgrid or an online debate tool such as Tricider.

Student talk during synchronous learning: Lectures and focused learning can happen through recorded videos but synchronous sessions offer an opportunity to share and talk to each other as a community. Sessions hosted through Zoom or Google Meet can incorporate traditional classroom activities like jigsaws, small group activities in breakout rooms or discussion protocols.

Group assignments: Learners can create collaborative group projects through a shared Google doc or Google site. For instance, students can collaborate on the creation of an Editor's Toolbox website with grammar tips by assigning groups of students to each page within the site.

Student-led tech support: Students who are exceptionally gifted in technology might troubleshoot or a teacher can create a "Tech Help" forum that students can moderate. Teachers should take care to set up structured guidelines for classroom use.

Carving out time to share: Teachers can allow time and space for students to showcase their expertise, hobbies or projects using a Padlet or Pinterest board.

Figuring out how to effectively engage learners has always been a complex challenge for educators like the ones that we instruct. Identifying ways to motivate students, help them maintain focus and get the most out of learning was difficult when we had physical classrooms and it remains a challenge now that our learning environments are entirely virtual. A savvy educator will employ a variety of strategies to build engagement. By recognizing the critical importance of engaging learners, parents and peers, and selecting the strategies that work for them and their contexts, educators can move toward deeper engagement in online environments.

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How Can Educators Tap Into Research to Increase Engagement During Remote Learning? - EdSurge News

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As university professors and researchers who work closely with K-12 online teachers and learners, we've heard from many newly remote educators who are ...

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If you've taken a continuing education class, you've seen how students fade away over time. People get busy. They have trouble making class and keeping up with coursework. Or, they don't get the support they need and lose motivation.

Online learning presents additional challenges. Online students must have the motivation and discipline to work in isolation. A lack of face-to-face accountability makes it easier for an online student to give up without anyone noticing.

An online course that merely provides information is no better than any other in today's competitive lifelong learning market. Your association must differentiate itself by offering online courses that engage, connect, and transform students.

If you follow the nine steps below to increase online student engagement, research shows you will increase the level of student satisfaction, perceived learning, and actual learning. When more students enjoy and complete your course successfully, your eLearning programs benefit from their return business and referrals.

#1 - Prepare students for the online learning experience.

Students who are used to learning in a classroom or meeting room may have trouble adjusting to the online learning experience. To help them thrive in this new environment, give them an introduction to online learning, your association's learning management system (LMS), and their online course.

Require all students to go through the introduction to online learning the first time they register for one of your online educational programs. Explain how online learning is different from the traditional classroom experience. Provide tips on time management, goal setting, and planning and prioritizing work.

Take them on a guided video tour through your LMS, pointing out the different features and functionality, including the online community. Show them how to find materials, assignments, and assessments, and how to communicate with their instructor and fellow students.

Instructors should also provide an introduction for students to watch before the course begins, like this introductory video for the Coursera course, Learning How to Learn. Instructors should review course requirements, provide estimates for the amount of time students should spend each week on coursework, and go over course materials.

A good introductory video could also serve as a promotional trailer, like this one from another Coursera MOOC, Modern & Contemporary American Poetry-a course we've discussed before on this blog because of its creative and effective instructional design.

#2 - Frequently review learning outcomes.

The instructor's introductory video should also review the learning outcomes for the course. These learning outcomes should be included in the course description so students know what to expect and whether the course is right for them.

Students want impact, not information. Tell them what they'll be able to do after taking the course, not what information the curriculum contains. Remind students throughout the course about the results they can expect if they stick with it.

Instructors should explain the purpose of each course activity and connect it to the learning outcomes for the course. If students know why they're doing an activity and how it will impact them, they're more likely to invest themselves in it and complete the work.

#3 - Present clear, organized learning materials.

Students must be able to easily navigate your LMS to find their course materials, discussions, assessments, and records. Everything they need should be right where they would naturally look for it.

Instructors have a role to play as well. Course materials should be organized and labelled in a consistent way to reduce student confusion. Checklists for each lesson or module help students know how far they've come and how far they still have to go-providing students a sense of progress.

#4 - Prevent isolation by increasing the presence of instructors.

Students should feel as if the instructor is right there with them. The course shouldn't feel like it's running on auto-pilot. Students feel more connected to instructors who talk to them, as if in a one-on-one conversation, via instructional videos. Videos also relay a sense of an instructor's personality-another means of connection with the audience.

If a student hasn't logged into the course for a while, instructors should contact them to see what's going on. The student may need help or encouragement. These touchpoints will help students feel less isolated and less likely to abandon the course.

Instructors should make it easy for students to get in touch with them via email. A regularly scheduled "office hour" encourages students to speak up if they have issues or questions.

Ask instructors to check in with students throughout the course, especially when coursework becomes more challenging. During the Modern & Contemporary American Poetry ( ModPo) course, the instructor and his teaching assistants (TAs) upload videos each week in which they review assignments and address recurring student questions.

For high enrollment courses, consider hiring TAs to check in with students to see if they're progressing on schedule, find out if they need help, and gather feedback on the course.

#5 - Build a learning community.

Researchers found that when an online course included an online community component, students were five times more engaged and 16 times more likely to finish the course. Engagement increases when students feel like they 'belong' and are 'part of something' with like-minded people.

Build opportunities for social learning into an online course's design. Jeff Cobb at Tagoras explains why:

"The social context in which we learn is usually what supplies relevance-a critical element for adult learning, or andragogy -and it is by wrestling with ideas and information in a social context that we make sense of them, modify them, and make them our own."

When an online course requires community participation, students have more opportunities to connect with instructors and fellow students, discuss coursework, help each other through struggles, share ideas, and, most importantly, become more engaged.

#6 - Deliver bite-sized, spaced learning.

Make course content easy to digest and retain by delivering it in bite-sized chunks. Jeff Hurt refers to the science that backs up the chunking principle:

"Neuroscience has proven that our attention span is 10 minutes. After that, our attention starts to wane. Chunking content into ten minute segments and then allowing learners 10 minutes to digest is the best way to learn."

Give students the opportunity to recall and review information, therefore committing it to their long-term memory, by spacing out content. Keep their brains engaged by delivering content in different formats: videos, voice over slides, audio, text, and panel discussions.

#7 - Get students to take action on what they've learned.

Help students cross the knowing-doing gap by having them immediately apply what they've learned. Each lesson should consist of a piece of information and a student action. These actions could include:

Participating in an online forum.

Providing examples or scenarios.

Solving a problem.

Writing a short essay or opinion piece.

Having a conversation (online or offline) with a fellow student.

Reviewing what they've learned in notes or journaling.

Answering instructor questions.

Ask good questions, for example, open-ended questions that require a higher level of reflection and thinking. Ask students to refer back to the content in their answers-another opportunity to revisit the material.

Put the information in context for students. Discuss how they can apply what they've learned by sharing case studies. The sooner students act on the new information they've digested, the more likely it will stick in their long-term memory.

#8 - Provide regular feedback.

Feedback helps students feel a sense of progress and rescues them from isolation. Instructors, TAs, or peers should provide feedback on all assignments with suggestions for improvement and kudos for good work. To convey a personal sense of connection, instructors should use video every now and then to deliver feedback.

Remind instructors and TAs that everyone watches their behavior in online community discussions. They should model the type of responses and feedback they want students to give each other. Draw students out in discussions. Ask them to go further, elaborate, or think of the topic from another angle-anything that helps them revisit what they've learned and make it stick.

#9 - Make time for fun.

Learning is serious business-even life and death business for some professions. But you can make it an enjoyable experience your students will remember and talk about with others.

The ModPo instructor and his TAs have created an online community of poetry lovers because they make learning fun, as you can see in this video preview of an upcoming week of the course.

To compete in the crowded online learning space against the likes of Coursera and EdX, colleges and universities, LinkedIn and Lynda.com, and dozens of other for-profit organizations entering your market, your association's online courses must offer a distinctive and engaging experience. By adding these engagement elements to your online learning programs, you'll create a learning experience that stands out in the marketplace.

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9 Ways to Increase Online Student Engagement

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If you've taken a continuing education class, you've seen how students fade away over time. People get busy. They have trouble making class and keeping up with coursework. Or, they don't get the support they need and lose motivation. Online learning presents additional challenges. Online students must have the motivation and discipline to work in isolation.