Building Community and Student Engagement in an Online Course
Welcome to this module, Creating Community & Student Engagement in an Online Class. This module is grounded in the understanding that building community in any classroom — but particularly in an online classroom — is an essential factor in ensuring students are engaged in their learning experience. We will explore the rationale behind this understanding in this module while we examine and practice using different community building strategies for online classes.
Where do I start?
Read through the information in the linked pages below and then select the option that best suits what you would like to learn from this module.
- Read and reflect on the questions below to guide your learning.
- Read the first chapter on principles behind community building in online teaching and learning.
- Select the module option that will be most useful to you.
- Optional: Complete the suggested activities for your option of choice.
- Optional: Submit your resource(s) for feedback and reflect on its usefulness for your course.
The questions guiding learning for this module are the following:
Inquiring
- Why is community building important in online teaching and learning contexts?
- What are the theoretical frameworks that underlie community building in online teaching and learning?
- What are specific challenges to building community for student engagement in the online classroom?
Exploring and identifying
- What are strategies for community building in an online course?
- How can I use or adapt these strategies for my own online course?
- When and where can one use community building strategies in online courses?
- What kinds of strategies will be most effective for my course learning outcomes?
- How can I facilitate peer interaction in my online course?
Reflecting
- What is my own philosophy towards community building in an online course?
- How can I communicate this philosophy in my own online course?
Activity submission formats:
Video (FlipGrid), written posts, and/or visual representations
Time Commitment:
This module is designed to take 2-3 hours to complete.
