Engagement

“When you don't talk, there's a lot of stuff that ends up not getting said.” Catherine Gilbert Murdock

Over the past few weeks, I've had the opportunity to participate in different elements in our Online Course. Two important elements, in my opinion, were the virtual chat and the Phases of Engagement Framework that was completed within a group discussion forum. Both of these require some planning, forethought, and participation. They are not quick, mindless postings with little to no interaction or an assignment done solo and submitted. When you provide opportunities for students to engage, you are creating a more inclusive community and it just feels...well, more personal.

Even though planning an online meeting can be a challenge - people's schedules are often difficult to accommodate - there are so many benefits to a virtual meeting. This is where you get to see and hear your instructor and your fellow students and interact in real time. Students don't always realize the power this has on their online experience and even their overall performance in the class. Many will choose to skip the live meeting and watch the recording later. When I was teaching online, virtual meetings weren't mandatory, so I tried to play up all the benefits of being there live and in person!  At our meeting for this class, I really enjoyed the time with my classmates and instructor and was reminded how much fun these meetings can be. Keeping it lighthearted and conversational is important too. If you immediately get down to business and start lecturing, you're going to lose students - and they're less likely to show up for the next meeting. When I hosted live lectures, as we called them, I always left a few minutes before and after the meeting to let students visit with each other and ask questions. I also had a slideshow of some kind in the background while I spoke - adding visuals is also important  to keep an online meeting moving and relevant. At our recent class meeting, I was one of those unfortunate students who did not have video (left my laptop at school) so others could not see me. I apologized for this but then recalled how most of my online students preferred to use only audio or typing in the chat box rather than have themselves on video. This is one of those places where online is still a challenge. We want everyone to connect, but some students are not interested in being on video. When they're not present on screen, we can't really be sure what they're actually doing during the meeting. Are they participating fully? Are they talking on the phone, watching TV, or working on something else...are they even in the room?? With or without video, live meetings are challenging.

For the Phases of Engagement Framework discussion, I had to really evaluate how I worked to engage students in both F2F and Online courses. It's quite enlightening to see how some of the things you do in the classroom can be modified for online, and vice-versa. But this assignment also exposed some of the weaknesses in my online engagement. Group work, for example, can be difficult. Someone who responded to my post asked several questions about online groups and a student's responsibility to share, and I realized that this is an area where so many of us struggle. There's some worry over privacy, which I understand, but I don't know that it should be this way. Online engagement requires that we constantly encourage our students to share as much as possible to make connections with their classmates. That may mean that some students "overshare" I suppose, as my poster mentioned, but I'd rather have too much engagement than a lack of it. Those classes (and we've all had them) where students do not connect and discussions are stilted and painful, are the WORST. The "oversharer" can often coax others to participate more or feel that they can offer something valuable. And maybe that's the key - students need to know that they can each offer something of value to any conversation or group project. It may be fear just as often as it is laziness. As far as this Phases of Engagement assignment was concerned, I liked that it was a discussion rather than just an assignment to be submitted. Seeing what others do, and getting feedback on what we're doing, is immensely valuable. I may modify some of my own assignments into discussions just to keep the students learning from each other and staying engaged.