During an online lecture, a student interacts with others.

When it comes to involvement and presence, the online classroom can be difficult. Students are typically concerned when they enter an online classroom, not just because of the material but also because of the practicality of learning in an online environment. As an instructor, you need to know that your students are enthusiastic about attending your class and eager to learn about the subject matter. Regardless of the learner profile, online classrooms that are tailored for success will have the following fundamental attributes and characteristics:

• Connection
• Consistency
• Content
• Community
• Compassion

Students must first experience a sense of belonging. They must feel connected to you as an instructor, as well as to your classroom. They are drawn in by connection, which develops a sense of belonging. Students will feel more involved if you first recognise them as individuals and then demonstrate that you care about their academic progress. The big question is why is this so vital, and how do we go about achieving it. The “why” is that when students begin a new course, they are entering a new world, and they may be hesitant to ask questions, resulting in poor classroom performance. The educator must have up-to-date information on their students and be able to exhibit it.

Fundamental attributes and characteristics of Online Classrooms

Connection:

• Making a connection with students might help them feel more confident and have a more productive classroom experience. According to research, when online faculty members demonstrate caring behaviours, students are more likely to stick with them. According to Gallup’s study, students who believe their professor cares about them are more likely to become more engaged and happy about their college experience (Gallup, 2020). It’s worth noting that students who have graduated are more likely to believe that their teachers care about them.
• Some students, however, do not complete their studies. Regardless of the college or university system a student attends, the first few semesters are critical for a student’s engagement and persistence. According to a poll issued to students who had dropped out, the number one reason they dropped out early was that they did not feel connected to their classes. The problem is figuring out how to make students feel connected, especially in an online setting. The bottom line is that professors must demonstrate that they care about their students’ performance in order to be viewed as caring by them.

Consistency :

• Students may become confused about how to prioritize if two classes contain a discussion activity and an interactive activity each week, but one faculty greatly weights the discussion while the other heavily weights the interactivity. We’ve also discovered that keeping vital items in the same place in the LMS from course to course is crucial. Students grow frustrated trying to keep track of where to go to receive what they need if course materials are accessible within the assignment prompt in some classes but under unit resources in others.
• From a technological standpoint, consistency is also essential. Novice students may lack the basic technology required for constant online learning, such as up-to-date gadgets and consistent access to high-speed internet. Our mobile manager recently mentioned that a student contacted us this year attempting to open our app on a Mac computer from the year 2000, and our technology was no longer compatible.
• Access to content should not be hampered by your university’s technology. It’s also crucial to introduce students to your technology, course design, and university jargon in tiny, digestible learning opportunities when they’re ready—typically during their first year. Trying to pack all students’ needs to know about your technology and LMS into an early orientation would almost certainly result in dissatisfaction and content overload rather than actual knowledge absorption.

Content:

• Consistency permits us to focus our pupils’ attention on the content of the course. Students transitioning from in-person to online classroom formats have found it more challenging to interact with content online, according to research conducted in collaboration with Every Learner Everywhere. Students must rapidly see the importance of their course content and have confidence in their ability to engage with and absorb it throughout their first year. As a result, course content must be adequately suited and developed for newcomers to higher education.
• Students who choose online education often have competing objectives, and many must fit their education into and around other important commitments. Students’ chances of success in early courses are typically improved by creating content pieces that are easy to digest and can be tackled in short bursts rather than in protracted study sessions.

Community:

• Furthermore, for online classes and programmes, the opportunity for the community must be a distinct goal. Colleges have long known that creating an effective community ties students to the school and enhances learning. However, in online classes, the community is frequently overlooked or rejected as impracticable. In reality, the community is just as important in online environments.
• In the previously stated Every Learner Everywhere survey, students indicated a lack of chance to participate and collaborate with peers as one of the key reasons for their dissatisfaction with online courses. In order to incorporate online classes into their schedules, many online students forego time spent in their local communities. Worse, as they progress through their studies, underprivileged college students frequently uncover greater chasms between themselves and their immediate neighborhood.

How to improve and promote student engagement in an online classroom?

• Prepare your pupils for the challenges of online learning: Students who are used to attending physical classrooms may need some time to acclimatize to the online classroom’s pace and atmosphere. You, as a teacher, can assist them by providing a brief overview of the online learning environment. Describe how online learning differs from traditional classroom learning.
• Review learning outcomes on a regular basis: Learning objectives and tracking milestones should be included in your introduction. Learning outcomes, as we well know, have a significant influence on quality improvement. Make sure your pupils understand what to expect and what the markers of success are.
• Organized lectures and learning materials: Students should be able to get the resources they need without exerting too much effort. The course materials should be well-organized and accessible from a single location. This emphasizes the overall arrangement and clarity of the training.
• Increase the presence of instructors to avoid isolation: Develop relationships with your pupils and interact with them more frequently than you would in a physical setting.
• Create a learning environment: When students feel like they ‘belong’ and are ‘part of something’ with like-minded people, their engagement rises. Incorporate social learning opportunities into the design of an online course.
• Take regular input and provide it on a regular basis: The only way to know how well your students interact with you and your classroom is to get feedback. Feedback on their performance and achievement of learning objectives on a regular basis would go a long way toward increasing engagement.
• Active learning: Instead of allowing students to passively absorb knowledge, active learning approaches actively include students in the learning process, putting a larger degree of responsibility on the learner. Role-playing, group discussions, problem-solving, case studies, and other techniques are used to improve higher-order thinking skills and engage pupils in deeper learning.
• Collaborate learning is a method of teaching in which two or more people work together to improve learning. Working as a group to explore and comprehend the concepts offered to them allows students to get new views and better retain information by defending and reframing ideas.
• Experiential learning is the process of learning by doing or from experience. Hands-on laboratory investigations, field exercises, studio performances, and other activities are common.

FAQs

How to increase student engagement in online classes?

The following are some active learning tactics that you can use to boost online student participation in your classes. Instead of allowing students to passively absorb knowledge, active learning approaches actively include students in the learning process, putting a larger degree of responsibility on the learner.

What is teacher engagement, and why is it important?

Engagement is linked to self-directed learning practices and proactive preparation for a class as much as it is to students actively participating in the classroom. However, most professors have a superior grasp of how to interact with students and engage them inside the classroom.

How can I assist my students in making the transition to online learning?

Students who are accustomed to learning in a classroom or meeting room may find it difficult to shift to online learning. Give them an overview of online learning, your association's learning management system (LMS), and their online course to assist them in succeeding in this new environment.