6 Keys To Engaging Students Online

The digital generation practically lives online, so it's natural it be educated online as well, well partially atleast.

Obviously, online learning is seeing great success and has fascinated both educators and students enrolled in higher education with its potential to engage students in context-based content and enabling them to personalize their learning process.

Online learning is all about engaging and empowering students. Boring, rarely updated, and poor quality content of traditional media, like printed books, no longer satiates the academic appetite of today's students, who have the opportunity to leverage easily accessible digital tools to enhance their learning and add real world relevancy to their studies.

While discussing online learning environments, especially for higher education, student engagement is perhaps the single most important factor contributing towards the success of students, departments/programs, courses, and institutions.

Engaging students in a non-physical environment can be a challenge, but there are some keys you can follow to engage students online. They are:

Mentoring rather than teaching- The advent of digital tools and online educational resources has essentially changed the very dynamic of the student-teacher relationship. Students need to be guided today, not taught because they have the tools, the resources a click away. That's why teachers today need to act more as mentors and facilitators helping students wade through the rigors of the curriculum, especially in online modalities. But because there are so many exciting tools available to today's students, it becomes even more exciting and challenging for a mentor to find creative ways to keep them enthralled about the coursework. And of course, there are tools to help out teachers as well.

Developing an online learning community - Developing a learning community is considered to be the most powerful key to engage students in the learning process. Holding discussions and taking on group assignments through learning communities enable much needed social interaction and help connecting students and the educator. Besides, these learning communities can be used as a platform where adult learners can share their opinions and experiences. Such communities increase students' retention as well as enhance their academic achievement.

Encouraging participation - Students should be regularly informed about when they need be present in the online classroom. A participation framework should be created to encourage students to join the classroom at regular intervals and be actively involved in all that is being discussed in online classrooms.

Engaging through interactivity- Interactivity plays a vital role when it comes to engaging and motivating students in online learning. Well-crafted educational app easily draw learners and help them to fulfill their intrinsic desire of finding solutions to different problems in a playful manner.

Case studies are also helpful tools in online teaching and learning. Educators, by crafting case studies based on real-world scenario, can effectively boost the student engagement in the courses or subjects. Instructors can ask students the questions, such as how they would respond to the situation mentioned in the case study, making them competitive in handling real-life situations appropriately.

Engaging through debates - Conducting online debates is another excellent way to engage students. Educators can direct students to read a case study or article that can be used as a topic of debate and can also provide them how the directions in which the debate will be moderated. The students can be asked to write a position paper on the topic in order to defend their chosen viewpoints. These position papers can be uploaded online for peer review and further discussions.

Integrating Student app for education - For students that may require additional help in organizing and setting up their academic workload, should seriously consider educational apps such as SJSU KonnectIN App which will help students to cope with a full schedule, as this app is based on Artifical Intelligence (AI) technology from dotin.us. The app is available on android and IOS and can be synced on all these devices. The functions are separated into different areas such as planner, overview, instructors, holidays and assignments. SJSU KonnectIN App include plan study sessions, course schedules and students can prioritize assignments according to the importance as well as a host of other uses. To connect students, using data-backed analytics, with their peers and mentors so that they can develop their careers and better understand the industry and market forces.

Student can take their own assessment to see what their subconscious mind is saying about themselves - The true Digital Personality Fingerprint..

How to get your Personalized Digital Personality Fingerprint?

Step1- Click on http://report.dotin.us

Step2- Link your Facebook or LinkedIN

Step3- Select or Upload 'ANY' 10 pictures that you 'LIKE', 'AGNOSTIC' of objects (I doesn't have to be your picture, but it should be 'LIKED' by you)

Step4- Get your PERSONALIZED PERSONALITY FINGER PRINT (reflecting your subconscious mind)