This module has been quite interesting. Though the information does not seem too elaborated, it makes sense and appears to be easily incorporated. The suggestions of content chunking and reaching the students in a variety of ways, are constructive ways of engaging online students that have parallel activities and little organized time to devote into their studies. Social engagement seems also very appropiate to consider, since individuals are intrinsically motivated through meaningful relationships, established for with their peers and intstructor.
I love this module! What a simple reminder to take what is done well in the in-person environment and make it alive in the online environment. A big takeaway for me is ACCESSIBILITY. It doesn't matter if we do all these cool thing in course design and engagement--but if the student can't get to it, can't understand it, doesn't see the value of it... it won't help the learner.
I have learned from this course what I need to improve on with engaging students in an online course. I have identified what I am doing well already, but there are multiple methods that I can implement that will help with student engagement. I realize that I have to be more active in the weekly discussions. While I don't have to reply to every student in a discussion post, I do need to reply to a few students each week. I will focus on replying to students that no other student has replied to.
The other major area that needs improvement is the idea of Content Chunking in my courses. I believe students are overwhelmed by the weekly module and the workload. By breaking the module down into smaller sections, that content will feel more manageable to students.
This has been a good affirmation of some of the practices we use and additional ones that would be useful. It was great to see some of these techniques were encouraged. Giving constant feedback to students, motivation, affirmations and acknowledgement is important to keep students engaged. The online environment can be effective but keeping assignments relevant to material is also important.
