The Student Role in Engagement

The student's role as an engaged learner develops over time. Interaction and collaboration is not intuitive to many adult learners who have been educated in a predominately lecture-based environment. Initially, a learner may be more comfortable in a passive student role and will need guidance and the opportunity to become more involved in an online learning environment. An online learner must quickly establish comfort with the technology, comfort with predominantly text-based communication, and comfort with a higher level of self-direction than in a traditional classroom. If this comfort level is not reached, the learner will walk away from the course in frustration.

In addition to these elements, learners have the additional uncertainty of having to quickly build trust and interdependence with others that they may never meet face to face. It becomes the teacher's responsibility to make sure that they learners find others in the learning environment with whom they can build a collaborative relationship. To do this, the online instructor must design course elements that encourage the growth of learners in these new relationships. Using teamwork and collaboration effectively, students can learn how to get the most out of the online environment.

Teamwork and Collaboration (5:40)

Education and Collaboration (2:46)

The video presents something that you could provide to your online students before your online class actually begins. It is important that you clearly define student roles in the online environment. Where learning alone works in the traditional classroom, online learning that is engaging, requires collaboration and looking to peers for knowledge.

Why Collaboration is an Individual Effort (12:38)

Understanding personalities, people, and their individual needs is essential to collaboration and good teamwork. Indeed, this video from TedX shows us that there is an "I" in "Team," and that the individual has a lot of power in our over-connected world.

Now that we understand a little more about what the online student needs to do in order to have an engaged experience, let's explore the role of the teacher!

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