Teaching Online: Creating Student Engagement

In this time of worldwide upheaval and with universities struggling to cope with vast numbers of students being forced into online classes, student interest and engagement in their studies has become more important. Online classes do not provide the inherent discipline that face-to-face environments do, which the turmoil many find in their home lives today exacerbates. In this paper, I suggest that, as instructors, we have a responsibility to our students to help them to "want to be there". Drawing on my personal experiences over many years, I suggest that ways to ignite and retain student interest revolve around building rapport, establishing communication links, and using course content. I make several suggestions for how instructors might do so while acknowledging that no all-encompassing solution exists.