5 Ways to Build Community in Your
Online Course
How can you keep your students engaged and connected to their learning? Explore the five ways to build community listed below for a more interesting and engaged online learning experience. Your students will thank you!
1. Take full advantage of discussions.
- Respond and engage in the discussions frequently - be a presence. If students see that you are reading what they write, and engaging in the conversations, participation will become more valuable.
- Ask open ended questions. There is little worse in online discussions than a question that can been answered to the fullest by the first person that posts. Questions that can be answered with a simple yes or no are one sure fire way to shut down a conversation. Ask questions that include opinions or draw on the different experiences of the learners. Have the students answer a different set of questions when giving feedback to their peers.
- Invite guest experts to weigh in, comment, and engage in discussions. Industry experts answering questions can be exciting for students. Maybe a local non-profit just received a huge grant - how did they do that? Or a local contractor is about to break ground on a new project. What did they do to get there? Adding a new voice to the conversation can go a long way in keeping students engaged.
- Challenge students to support the learning of their classmates by sharing questions, strategies, relevant articles, and insights. Everyone comes to your courses with their own life experiences and opinions. Encourage students to infuse their prior knowledge into the discussion and further the learning of their peers.
2. Check in.
- Find a way to show similarities between learners in your course. One thing that is missing in online learning is the daily interactions that help create community in a face to face learning environment. One way to help this along is to infuse quick, possibly anonymous, surveys into the course, and then to post percentage results in the news section - little bits at a time. For example: 68% of you are apprehensive about presenting about this topic in front of others. 45% of you are pursuing a degree in business. 72% of you indicated that you have a dog. 12% of you listed running as a hobby.
- Encourage meetings between students. As part of your course, have students “meet” using Google Hangouts or Skype. Have them collaborate on a project - it can be as simple or complex as you would like.
- Ask for student feedback throughout the course. Build check in points into the course using discussions, or quick surveys. Teaching math? Ask about how the homework problems are going, what specific problems are they having issues with? Is a re-teach necessary? What about the course accessibility? Can all learners easily access all information? Building in intentional spaces for feedback from students - and listening to the feedback - can go a long way in building community within your online courses.
3. Stay relevant.
- Share industry expert videos. Are you learning about sustainable brewing? Have a local craft brewer or supplier weigh in on a particular topic. Are you talking about classroom management? Interview teachers at various stages in their careers on the topic. Learning about a complicated process or problem in engineering? Have an engineer share a project they are working on that can be tied to the course work. Hearing from individuals in the fields of study that relate to the content makes what the students are learning more real and applicable to life beyond the classroom.
- Connect content to current affairs. Stay on top of industry developments. Share current articles - maybe post these in the news section. Connect local or world events to course materials in real time. If the students see you are engaged in the content and making connections, they will be too.
4. Be present.
- Record weekly video announcements and post them in the news section. Let your students see and hear you! Just having this little bit of contact through a short video or sound bite every week will make them feel more connected to the course, and you, their instructor.
- Give feedback/answer all questions from previous week. Make sure student questions and concerns are heard. Respond to their feedback. Large class? Choose a few really great discussion responses and point the class toward them. As a by product, this may be motivation for the students to have more thought out responses in discussions.
- Share your best days/times of availability for the week each week. Even if you have online office hours posted, it is helpful for students to be reminded that not only are you are ready, willing, and able to assist, you are also available.
5. Use the news section.
- Regularly update the news section. Adding diverse content to the news section regularly will keep learners engaged. Use memes, short videos, and engaging text to draw their eyes to the news section. Just make sure it is all accessible. Keep students guessing on what you will post next.
- Showcase exceptional student work in news. Was there a project due the week before? Or a particularly engaging discussion? Comment on it! Give praise. Note when students are doing well.
- Highlight upcoming events/projects. Maybe mention this in your video post, or just input a reminder mid-week. Maybe address a portion of an upcoming assignment that has been tricky in the past.
- Be yourself. Add humor - memes, gifs, etc. Let your students see who you are. Post memes and funny gifs that are relatable or support a “good job” post. It is those little pieces of who you are that will draw in many students.
- Post campus/state happenings. Is there something happening in the university community? Did we win a rivalry blood drive? Are there goats loose on campus? Did our state get three feet of snow overnight? Post a quick little bit about it!
All in all, the elements that build community in an online course are similar to the ways you would in a face to face learning environment. You just have to be more intentional and consistent with your efforts.
References:
Conrad, R., & Boettcher, J. V. (2016). The Online Teaching Survival Guide: Simple and Practical Pedagogical Tips (Second ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Johnson, A. (2013). Excellent! Online Teaching: Effective Strategies for a Successful Semester Online. Columbia, SC.
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