Online learning will continue to expand as faculties learn more effective ways to integrate technology into their instruction. The emergency plunge into distance learning caught many college instructors unprepared, but a significant number took advantage of the crisis by adapting their teaching methods for online learning.
Maintaining student engagement in virtual learning was a challenge without the face-to-face instruction that instructors and students prefer. Over the course of the pandemic, however, instructors became more adept at building community with their students in online environments that increased engagement. They provided opportunities for students to interact with each other; added both synchronous and asynchronous elements to their courses; and asked their students for feedback.
In a recent article, faculty instructors advocate keeping some of the COVID-induced teaching practices that stimulated student engagement throughout the pandemic:
- Collaboration through documents, file sharing, online discussion, discussion boards, and peer feedback. Digital technology allows students to collaborate with each other, their instructor, and the course content. Increasing the exchange of ideas helps students develop critical thinking skills and boosts engagement in the learning process.
- Back channel communication using the chat functionality in various technology programs is a visible, but less risky communication tool for students who are reluctant to participate publicly. This informal communication tool can sometimes put students at ease enough to allow them to engage with the content, their peers, and their instructor.
- Breakout rooms in video conferencing software allow students to collaborate to solve problems and challenges together. They can boost engagement by helping students distill the main ideas from the conversation about course content.
- Supplemental recordings capture class sessions for those students who cannot attend live sessions. These recordings also benefit the learners who need to review or repeat course content as well as instructors who want to review or analyze their content delivery.
All of these pandemic practices have a place in student-centered learning models moving forward. These experiences can be integrated into hybrid learning models that blend the best of face-to-face instruction and online learning—providing flexibility for both faculty and students.
Advice from the Field
“As instructors make the transition to online, it is an opportunity for them to reassess their syllabi and teaching plans to better meet student needs and emphasize a more student-centered approach,” said Judith Altschuler Cahn, director of the Department of Online Education and Support at John Jay College of Criminal Justice CUNY.
Longtime educator and author Flower Darby cautions that if we don’t see the value of change, “we’ll slide back into ineffective and inequitable teaching practices,” when the pandemic has already done a lot of the work of change. “Inclusive online teaching must become central to the mission of every institution, or it will be left behind,” she said. “The future of teaching post-Covid-19 is not just about better teaching with technology. It’s about seizing this unforeseen moment to radically rethink what happens in our classes and how that can affect our society.”