In the digital world, we are living in, leaving behind the conventional methods of working, people are switching to modern and technical ways. The same goes for our education system too. The platform to sell courses online is growing at a much faster rate. With the better flexibility, convenience, comfort, and cost-effectiveness provided, online teaching is the new preference of educators and learners. An online course is said to be successful when students get an effective learning experience. For this, making students more engaged and active in course classes is important. Let us discuss some ways that educators can follow to make online classes more engaging for learners.
Types of student engagement in the classroom
- Emotional and behavioral engagement
Emotional engagement tells us about how much students feel connected with the teachers and whether they feel safe or secure in the learning environment. For online classes, sometimes students feel a sense of isolation. Therefore, teachers must ensure that students develop an emotional connection with the teachers for a quality learning experience. Behavioral engagement refers to students’ actions and responses in the class. Ideal student behavior promotes their learning and participation in the classroom.
- Cognitive engagement
This type of engagement measures how much students are understanding and how actively they have been involved in-class activities and lesson plans. Cognitive engagement helps teachers to analyze students’ learning abilities and activeness in the class. The more effective the teaching skills, the more students participate in the classroom.
Ways to make online course classes more engaging
1. Use audio-visual tools to teach
Focusing on learning via computer screens is challenging for students and if the teachers will limit their teaching to the textbooks, it becomes more difficult as well as boring for students. Today’s kids are highly attracted to technology. To make online courses more engaging, teachers should use the same in classes.
By using online teaching apps and sites, teachers can access several audio-visual tools like educational video modules, demonstrations, picture cards, PowerPoint presentations, visual graphs, and more. With the help of visualization, students tend to understand the concepts better and quicker. Classes become more fun and interesting.
2. Share real-life examples
Only making students read, and listen to the textbooks and ebooks content is not effective enough to make the classes engaging. For a better class engagement, teachers should share real-life examples related to the topics being taught. For example, you can tell students what you feel about this topic, what you learned in this, or any relevant example. Storytelling methods can also be used. This help students to understand more, connect to the class topics more, and participate better.
3. Have interesting participatory activities
The teacher-centered approach of teaching which is a teacher explaining the topics and making students simply sit as mere listeners won’t help in enhancing class engagement. Teachers should conduct interesting participatory activities in this regard. For example, group discussions, recitations, question-answer rounds, presentations, debates, etc can be conducted. This will make students actively listen to each other, share their thoughts and knowledge and become more vocal. Game-based learning, such as online quizzes, riddles, and puzzles can also be used to make students more engaged in online course classes.
4. Take feedback for improvisation
After researching well for the best platform for selling online courses, conducting engaging classes for students is important. For increasing student engagement, effective teaching is important. In this regard, teachers must take feedback from students. Ask students how much they are understanding and what more they expect from the teachers.
The ones whom you find less interactive in the class, talk to them separately. Try to know the reasons and problems behind their less engagement in the class. The suggestions and feedback received will help you to make necessary changes and additions to your teaching styles. This will surely provide students with more academic satisfaction and make them more participatory in the class.
Conclusion
The growing technology led to the formation of online platforms for education. To make online courses successful, making students more interactive and engaged in the classes is important. By following the above-mentioned tips, teachers can teach effectively and work to enhance student engagement in online classes.