1.  Communicate in multiple formats

Online education provides instructors with multiple avenues for communicating with students. Course email and discussion forums tend to be the standard communication tools, but don’t overlook embedded audio and video, chat rooms or instant messaging, broadcast text messaging, and home page announcements. Explanatory screencast videos tend to be well received by students, and are increasingly easy and inexpensive to create.

2. Provide active learning opportunities

A common misconception about online learning is that students only sit in front of their computers. That might be true if the course is designed that way, but one way to engage online learners is to get them out of their chairs (or beds) and get them involved in active learning. One definition of active learning is “hands-on learning,” although that could probably include “hands-on your mouse,” which is not the suggestion here. Assign your online students to interview people working in the field, or to otherwise bring their learning out into the community where they live. Case studies, group projects, or gathering and analyzing local data are just a few of the many examples of active learning.

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1. Communicate in multiple formats. ...
2. Provide active learning opportunities. ...
3. Make Learning Social. ...
4. Gamify with Badges and Certificates. ...
5. Provide timely and useful feedback. ...
6. Add self-assessment opportunities. ...
7. Improve course accessibility for all.

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