Yes, it is hard to know sometimes online if students feel engaged. However, this is difficult also in a face-to-face situation. A student can look very interested but in reality be doing his facebook. If one or two students pose a good question, a teacher may feel a lot of engagement feedback, but this is not the whole class, these can be the students that want to talk and always talk.

Furthermore, only a small part of the required learning happens in the synchronous classroom or online video conference situation. A lot more time is normally spent asynchronously or in peer communication with tasks, assignment, reading and understanding course literature.

What I want to say is that teachers probably only see a part of the iceberg in the classroom, and don’t know how to interpret reactions of students when online. As example, when the teacher is telling a joke, all are muted anyway because they are supposed to listen only and not disturb. They wont activate microphones to laugh and thereby give the teacher positive feedback.

To your question: of course you can go for quizzes and that kind of designed interaction as part of lectures. That can be better than nothing. I think it is far better to use more of a flipped approach. Demand reading of texts and listening to lectures at home beforehand (be demanding, have them report something from preparations before the meeting as example) and use valuable time together for discussions, follow-up of learning, problem solving, application, presenting and discussing student contributions, introducing next section of course, etc.

(these reflections build on a time-based blended learning model. See paper attached.)

Article A time based blended learning model

Keeping the engagement of students during distance teaching is a serious problem that is encountered when using e-Learning platforms. I think that proposing some pedagogical tasks or teaching strategies can help to resolve this problem. For example, we can propose some pedagogical tasks that require a regular intervention of the learners. Furthermore, we can adopt some teaching methods like problem-based learning, collaborative learning, learning by doing, etc. Also, we can use some intervention rules that help the system or the teachers to intervene in order to assist the learners in the suitable times and moments.

It is a challange in online learning. However we can improve students engagement by incorporating;

• Case study based approach
• Problem based approach
• Interactive approach
• Simulation based approach
• Threaded or branching assessment approach
• Learning outcome based collaborative project approach

Student engagement is a problem, but agree with Shirshendu Roy that interactive case based approach helps, in my opinion smaller groups are easier to handle from instructor point of view and can be better encouraged to achieve required learning

Dear Luqman M Rababah thanks to my official retirement last year (I'm still active in research) I have fortunately been spared online teaching in corona times. However, my co-workers regularly give online lectures and seminars via ZOOM. Their experiences are quite frustrating. Normally they stare at black screens, and none of the students ativate their microphones.

I agree with Shirshendu Roy and Manisha Naithani .

Encouraging students, providing simple and easy explanations of the material and reinforcing their answers

Dear Luqman M Rababah, I think giving more practical and animated videos with online learning is beneficial rather than a boring lecture.

Ensuring stable internet connection and making content of presentation/slides interesting

I keep students engaged first with a brief explanation of the new concept. Second, I have a list of students' names and I ask each student so that all students participate, so the student is very focused in the lesson because he will answer a question later and be rewarded.

The existing online platforms are not perfect enough to organize a full-fledged interactive interaction. As a palliative, web seminar technology can be used in combination with the proposed Anders Norberg inverted approach + collaborative learning. It should be noted that this approach places very high demands on the instructor, and requires extremely intensive work. This is the price that the instructor must pay in the current environment.

I am new to online delivery of learning. At first I found it quite difficult as I did not understand the capabilities of the software I was using (MS Teams). A few classroom rules were useful such as turn your camera on when asked a question. Cameras cannot all be on if the WiFi connection is not good. A second trainer monitoring the chat and answering questions also worked well. With Teams you can set up sub groups for your students to go and discuss the topics you want them to and then meet back in the Main group. Presentation of PP or video is easy (Once mastered!) There is also a white board function when you can see the engagement of the students. Don't get me wrong face to face facilitation is better but online also has a lot of positives.

In the Higher Education sector it is important to involve students in discussion forums , use break-out rooms, encourage them to write blogs and share feedback on padlets. Recording videos and uploading it before the class will encourage more discussion. Using Direct Polls intermittently also helps in learning.

During the first session the instructor should provide essential learning material like handouts, slides etc, and asked the learners for preparing assignment on the very topic to be presented. Other participants should be motivated to ask questions regarding the very presentation.

So there will be a moderate discussion rather than just a lecture delivered by the instructor..

I will add to the answer Tahir Ullah. It is advisable to evaluate each unit of performed work in standard hours and determine the current rating in the form of accumulated teaching hours. If such ratings of students are posted online openly, then this is the best stimulus for competitive work.

I think that it is important to re-design our curriculum to be matching with online education philosophy. All courses' materials should be available with low internet dependent. Materials and recorded lessons should be uploaded to the learning platform to enable the student to study anytime and anywhere. Also using different methods of free access communication (i.e. microsoft teams, google meet, zoom, forums, ...etc) increase engagement toward online learning.

The most important point is re-designing the course content by dividing it into tasks (i.e. 4-6 tasks). This strategy helps the instructors to deliver their lessos and apply assessments simultaneously.

Sure Mr. Shehar Elyan

The very procesure is followed here in our univeristy.

Ensure strong internet connection.

Contextualize learning and link it to students' preferred channels of learning and their own experience.

Keep leaners busy, doing interesting and challenging tasks

Avoid talking and talking to avoid boredom.

Include fun whenever possible.

Dear respected researchers, thank you indeed for such great contributions.

I upload my presentation well on time so that the students are able to do some preparation. i ask a students to do the screen sharing of the presentation and thus student involvement is ensured. I make the session as interactive thus students feel they have opportunity to clear any doubts.

What a great strategy to adopt! thanks indeed dear K.E Karunakaran

Dear Luqman M Rababah ,

Interaction is an important element in the educational process

Regards

Thanks to you Dear M Rababah

8 New Ideas for Engaging Online Students https://www.wbtsystems.com/learning-hub/blogs/8-new-ideas-engaging-online-students Luqman M Rababah

Prepare your lessons well.

Send materials to students and give them time to go through these materials.

Do warm up at the beginning of each session, provide a room for students to raise issues.

Create breakdown rooms/group and ask students to do online tasks in groups, meanwhile check how active they are.

Use Forms to monitor homework.

Use sway fir engaging design.

Use different resoures

Share your screen from time to time.

Turn on you camera and make sure that the picture is clear and on the full screen of ur camera.

Randomly ask students to elaborate, or answer raised questions.

Listen to your students and be friendly with them.

*for

* resources

Online student engagement is a combination of readings and discussions. the readings are from the text and the discussion questions are germane to the topic but are an ability for the student to apply the information in a practical manner!

Set some rules at the beginning so students know what is expected and what are the consequences of certain behaviours

Interact with the students as much as possible by calling on them to answer questions or to be part of discussions

Have frequent breaks as being online for long periods can be daunting

Allow the use of video recordings to submit assignments as opposed to the traditional text

Provide feedback as often as possible, use a combination of group and individual session to provide this

This can be achieved by creating interactive and engaging online learning contents, with immediate feedback when the learner makes a question

GM

They have to be reading, and we should open forums and different activities. Also, a portfolio of evaluation.

BR

Ingrid García

Motivate students by attracting their attention

Although certain actions are recommended for both (such as showing them you care about their learning process), I would say that engament depends pretty much on whether they are studying 1:1 or in a group; live or programmed.

In general, in my practice, there are three relevant actions I take to keep my students engaged: bring the unexpected (surprise them with different activities), keep contact, and always give feedback.

All the best!

Debora:

I agree with your three actions, but I find that there are those that will disengage regardless of what is done!

For example, I was able to divide the semester into two seven/eight-week sessions with new students each half and I have several that have not even signed into the class and we are finishing the second week of the second half!

Here some considerations:

First it is a good idea to avoid zoom fatigue: https://bit.ly/3omqKeF

Additionally I can recommend to stick to these principles shown helpful in experiments: Try to maintain a positive mood. Track your progress. Imagine the end of the task and the good feeling of having completed the task. Don't let yourself be distracted (not even by thoughts of things you would like to do) (Hennecke, Uni Siegen, European Journal of Personality, 2019).

By making the classes into discussion tables where the student participates in a sharing of knowledge and thus be the protagonist of their own learning.

By getting students to use online applications and upload assignments to the institutional system, in a prudent time frame that is not so extensive. Also to design their own learning resources online in a kind of reverse classroom learning.

To keep students engaged with online learning, motivation is necessary while providing constructive feedback, as an e-tutor, by showing them their strong points, weak sides and the areas they should improve . Managing their time as a host is another important point but all depends on how well one encourages them in their learning.

Screen fatigue due to long lesson periods has caused students to disconnect, I break the lesson into short (20 min) sessions plus a 5 min timeout/break helps. Starting the next session with a snap quiz ( using previous session material ) allows re-engagement and measures students' retention level with some value outcomes. In a multimodal delivery environment with students opting to be on-line or on-campus, the same process provides similar benefits.

Since calling them as the online class is ongoing, it may help to prepare a list of the day's participant in class.

Dear all,

Thanks for your insightful comments.

The literature review in the article below gives some insight about online learning:

Season of Migration to Remote Language Learning Platforms: Voices from EFL University Learners

Abdelrahman Abdalla Salih, Lamis Ismail Omar

thank you dr Lamis Ismail Omar for sharing this article. It is indeed a valuable piece of work.

من خلال استخدام مهارات التدريس الصفي الفعال ومن هذه المهارات مثل مهارة الالقاء ومهارة المناقشة ومهارة طرح الاسئلة ومهارة اثارة الدافعية لدى الطلاب ومهارة التعزيز كل هذه المهارات تحافظ وتشجع الطلاب على مشاركة الطلاب في التعليم عبر الانترنت

شكرا دكتور Abdulbasit Aljanabi

By including online quiz and by keeping a day for problem solving on weekly basis can be helpful.

Agree with Sonika Kumari

I think there are some aspects if take into consideration learning online will be benefit:

1- Preparing good materials and select suitable evaluation methods ( quiz, labs, homework,....etc).

2-Improving communication skills for teaching staff.

3- Make sure all members stay and active during class (open camera, voice,...etc).

4- Overcome the Internet problem.

5- Different time zone if teaching for students from different countries. .

Good day

There are many strategies.

Teachers have gradually been making more use of active methodologies at all

educational levels, and some even carry out research in this area.

It is in this context that the well-known active methodologies have emerged. As

their name indicates, they are based on making students work actively during their learning . The engagement of students in their learning process is very important but the idea of student engagement does not only refer to participation in something that is being proposed, but also to the fact that this proposal should be something useful for the students, since students learn when a context is created in which they involve themselves in a meaningful way, from a deeper

perspective

Segura-Robles, A., Parra-González, M. E., & Gallardo-Vigil, M. ˙(2020). Bibliometric and Collaborative

Network Analysis on Active Methodologies in Education. Journal of New Approaches in Educational Research, 9(2),

259-274. doi: 10.7821/naer.2020.7.575.

Best regards

Ph.D. Ingrid del Valle García Carreño