{"id":4019,"date":"2022-05-16T07:35:06","date_gmt":"2022-05-16T14:35:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/inspire\/?p=4019"},"modified":"2022-05-16T07:35:06","modified_gmt":"2022-05-16T14:35:06","slug":"improving-student-engagement-and-connection-in-online-learning-part-ii-methodologies-and-practices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/inspire\/2022\/05\/16\/improving-student-engagement-and-connection-in-online-learning-part-ii-methodologies-and-practices\/","title":{"rendered":"Improving Student Engagement and Connection in Online Learning: Part II, Methodologies and Practices"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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This blog post is an Instructor Spotlight authored by Xiaohui Chang<\/a>. Xiaohui is a Toomey Faculty Fellow and Associate Professor of Business Analytics in the College of Business. This post is a follow up to Improving Student Engagement and Connection in Online Learning: Part I, Proactive Support.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Introduction<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Since the first post in the series appeared a few months ago, we have received plenty of feedback from other instructors who are actively engaged in online education. Some of the stories shared by them reiterate the points we discussed, and others included tips and techniques that have worked particularly well for them. Almost all of them agreed that teaching well online remains a challenging task.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI love the notes on proactive student support \u2026 especially the notes on checking in with those who are behind. Sometimes all they need is a little empathy!\u201d<\/em><\/p>Vic Matta, Associate Professor, College of Business, Ohio University <\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI regularly incorporate each of these in my relationships with my students, to include weekly zoom “what’s up” meetings with my students. I check in on them if they’re behind on assignments…Yes, it takes effort; but my mission is to help these students find the greatness within themselves to succeed.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

To quickly recap what we have discussed in Part 1, we touched on how to employ empathy statements in communications with students, restructure and promote the office hours, provide personal feedback for students, and periodically check in with students who are behind. You may also refer to the first article here: Improving Student Engagement and Connection in Online Learning: Part I, Proactive Support.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Continuing from the first post, Part II will revolve around six specific practices that I have found particularly helpful for online teaching and learning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Practice 1: Adopt a variety of communication methods<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I provide assignment instructions and guidance using a variety of communication methods including texts, diagrams, images, and short video clips. I have learned that instructions with screenshots and videos tend to be better in explaining complicated procedures than text alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Video Tutorial Example: Creating a random sample using XLSTAT<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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