Getting to know you: Student-faculty interaction and student engagement in online courses

Covid-19 presented many challenges to universities as brick-and-mortar courses were moved to an online format. This work is an unofficial study of learner-instructor interaction and student engagement in two 7-week online graduate-level courses conducted in Spring 2020, Fall 2020, and early Spring 2021. Research shows that instructor presence in online courses leads to increased student engagement, as well as motivation, well-being, and academic achievement. Student engagement is shown to have a direct impact on a student's emotional, behavioral, and cognitive successes. This work proposes that increased learner-instructor interaction in online courses using strategies lead to greater student engagement with the course, and greater student success in overcoming barriers and challenges to online learning.