4.2 Understanding engagement in online courses

Online courses can provide rich and engaging learning experiences for students when designed and facilitated in a way that is mindful of both the advantages and the challenges online students face. For example, there is a psychological distance associated with physical distance that can result in students feeling disconnected from the instructor and other students in the class. This can be intensified by course design decisions which don’t provide opportunities for students to interact with each other or with their instructor. This feeling of isolation in online courses can make engagement more difficult (Bolinger & Inan, 2012) so it is important to build opportunities for interaction in order to overcome the isolation students may feel.

A useful way to consider the interactions that promote student learning is the Community of Inquiry model, developed by Garrison, Anderson and Archer (2000). This model identifies three dimensions of presence that define learning interactions: social, cognitive and teaching. The model suggests that effective learning experiences occur when the three dimensions coincide.

• Social presence is about interaction with peers.
• Cognitive presence is the extent to which learners are able to construct meaning through reflection and interaction with content.
• Teaching presence is the design, facilitation and direction of cognitive and social processes to achieve learning outcomes through interaction with instructors.

In an on-campus classroom, presence is implicit and the spontaneous interactions create an engaging environment. Students can see other students and the instructor and easily communicate and engage with them. In an online learning environment, however, opportunities for social presence must be explicitly designed by integrating activities for students to connect and interact with content, each other, and their instructor.

A potential advantage of online courses is that student participation is not limited by defined class times as it is on-campus. Also, it is possible online to mix both synchronous and asynchronous activities to create interactions across the course. This opens up a range of activities instructors can use in online courses to help engage students and create meaningful learning experiences. However, it is important to recognize that students will likely have other courses and commitments and you should take this into consideration when planning your course activities.

Teaching presence is also important to consider when teaching in a fully online classroom. Beyond the role that the instructor plays in choosing content and designing activities and assignments for students, instructor presence can be established activities like synchronous online lectures or through asynchronous communication such as email, online discussions, announcements in Canvas, or timely feedback on assignments. These actions have an impact on how students perceive their instructor’s presence as actively engaged in supporting their learning.

For more information about teaching presence, read 6.2 Establishing teaching presence in Module 6 of the Online Teaching Program.