Underpinnings For Effective Online Course Engagement

Exploring How Learner Engagement Works

Learning design requires a solid understanding of educational underpinnings for course engagement and a good grasp of how learners think, interact, and engage with learning content. Practiced teachers have the privilege of being closely involved with learning processes that take place in the real world. In the classroom, teachers can observe, assess, and evaluate firsthand how learning dynamics shift when students become emotionally or cognitively engaged in specific situations that foster increased learner involvement. They may closely observe the learners’ increased engagement when something visually engaging is presented, when students compete with each other to be the first to answer, or when they are prompted with a question that requires them to think for themselves and present their own views. Such demonstrations of “learning in action” that come into play in such practical learning environments can be seen to share the same key underpinnings of learner engagement across other forms of learning environments. For online learning or blended learning environments, we can bring these same underpinnings into our online course design. By doing so, we can better capture and enhance learner engagement.

What Are The Underpinnings For Course Engagement In Traditional Classrooms?

Firstly, let’s examine what is taking place in an engaging classroom. In a traditional classroom learning approach, we have the teacher, who is orchestrating the learning that is taking place. While we notice that the presentation of the teaching content intertwines with the learning taking place, we can see that good teachers utilize a logical and structured approach for both the teaching and the learning that takes place. For example, students will be given clear task instructions, will know the topic area and area within that topic that they are exploring, and will be able to view written and visual content in a large, easily readable format.

As students progress further in their learning journey, the teacher may touch upon how previously-learned content relates to the current content, which facilitates the creation of learning connections for the learner. Linking the learning content with the students’ existing knowledge, encouraging students to draw upon their personal experiences, or incorporating real-life examples into the learning content are all ways to strengthen the learner’s personal connection with the learning content.

Lastly, we see that providing positive or corrective feedback to student responses can help to foster emotive and motivational aspects of their engagement. Pop quizzes, group discussions, class challenges, and smaller formative assessments are examples of learning activities that can inform the learner while utilizing these aspects. These activities serve to help students evaluate their responses, correct their errors, and measure their learning progress in a low-risk environment; all important forms of learner feedback.

Aspects Of Learner Engagement

In the above classroom narrative, we can see that there are a number of identifiable underpinnings for the learning dynamics that occur in the class that can make learning more effective and more engaging for the learner. Upon further analysis (see the table below), it is also clear that they all have strong associations with the following aspects of learner-focused engagement:

1. Executive function and self-regulation (planning, goal setting, and measuring progress)
2. Cognitive function (gaining an understanding of the subject content, key concepts, associated content, and their interconnections)
3. Affective function (emotional connection and engagement with the learning content)

Table: Keir, G. 2023. “Aspects of learner-focused involvement in learning.” The University of Queensland.

The 3 Underpinnings For Course Engagement

Through a careful analysis of the classroom scenario presented, and a thorough examination of the executive, cognitive, and affective aspects of learner-focused involvement (detailed in the table above), we can extract three fundamental underpinnings for effective and engaging learning. These underpinnings serve as a framework for developing a robust online course design that caters to enhancing learner engagement:

1. Be simple, structured, and goal-focused
   Display learning content that is easy to process and follow (cognitive and executive)
2. Be relevant and meaningful
   Incorporate learning interactions that strengthen and enhance the developing understanding of content (cognitive), and have the learner apply contextualized understandings to oneself by bringing them into the contextual focus (affective)
3. Provide learner feedback
   Correct answer responses (cognitive), and inform learning progress (affective and executive)

The following provides further elaboration for implementing these underpinnings into your online course design:

1. Be Simple, Structured, And Goal-Focused

From both a design approach, and from a learner’s perspective, a simple and structured approach should take into account how the learner engages with the content at the surface level. Clear content delivery considers chunking learning content through the delineation of focus points, compartmentalization of similar information, and use of differentiation for presenting different information. Use examples include: the good use of headings and subheadings, utilizing colored background paneling and designed information boxes, using a color treatment for subheading panels to combine or differentiate similar or different content types, and separating different content by using border lines.

A course-content navigation map and module-structure overview are also very useful in enabling the learner to better self-navigate through the course. Furthermore, be explicit in the information you provide about assessments, activities, and learner-engagement expectations in the beginning and ongoing parts of the course, and aim to include some learning objectives at the beginning of each content module or content component.

2. Be Relevant And Meaningful

If we are able to enhance both learning and engagement through the integration of interactive learning interactions, we can facilitate and strengthen the making of relevant learning connections. We can provide opportunities for the learner to establish and create learning connections by utilizing their existing and ongoing content knowledge and reviewing the newly learned content throughout the course. Incorporate glossaries, mouse-hover explanations, and supplementary information panels to enhance understanding of content relationships and provide opportunities for deeper reflection and exploration of ideas. Use knowledge checks to help learners clarify their understanding as they advance through the course. Simple interactive elements like drop-downs, embedded maps, H5P slideshows, hotspots, flashcards, and drag-and-drop activities are also effective in promoting learner engagement and facilitating understanding.

It is also important to make sure that the learning objectives are aligned with the content, and if not, make changes where necessary. Another important, but often overlooked, aspect is ensuring that the learning content aligns with the practical requirements needed for learners to demonstrate their achievements in the summative assessment. In the case of the testing of the content, this is not really an issue. However, if there are few practical examples, or limited opportunities for the learner to apply themselves using the same skills required of them in the assessment, then it can be considered that the assessment and the course learnings are incongruent.

Learners connect with engaging content that is meaningful to them. Consider the way the material is delivered so that it is better reflected in the learner’s own understandings, and the way the learner is able to strengthen meaning through their student-centered involvement in interactions with the course content. Case studies, for example, are useful for bringing the learnings into practical contexts, showing the learner how theory can be applied in practice. Furthermore, we can personalize the learner experience by incorporating their personal involvement across a range of interactive tools/components. These include peer discussions, polls, impactful images that evoke a personal connection, and input response areas where learners can openly express their thoughts or observations.

3. Provide Learner Feedback

Learner feedback mechanisms—such as peer engagement, ungraded quizzes, and interactive elements—not only help the learner to strengthen and clarify their understandings, they also form an important part of the learner experience by helping the learner to evaluate and reframe their understanding as they progress through the course. Learner feedback is therefore seen to play a significant role in influencing the learner’s learning journey. Again, discussion boards are useful, however particular evaluative and corrective feedback may be limited. Often, the most commonly used forms of automated learner feedback are through the use of ungraded formative knowledge checks, which can be placed at the end of each learning module. Interactive components, such as H5P quizzes (in the form of drag-and-drops or those used within the “course presentation” tool providing for a range of quiz questions or activities within), are also ideal for interactive feedback responses, and a reset button can be included which enables the learner to revise their answers, and thus helps them to reframe their learning in the process.

Feedback responses can also affect motivational and outcome-based student engagement. A simple activity or question, for example, can be contributive to the learner’s affective domain, supporting the learner’s self-confidence level and positive feelings of engagement. It is also possible to incorporate specific feedback responses in multiple-choice quiz questions, allowing for the inclusion of positively worded responses. For incorrect answer responses, providing feedback that indicates where to find the correct information in the course material can be very helpful. As a measure of the learner’s learning progress, end-of-module multiple-choice quizzes can provide the feedback necessary for the learner to consider the progress of their learning, allowing them to reflect on their own performance. In a low-stakes evaluation with poor outcomes, such feedback can help learners reassess their understanding, especially if their performance falls short of the expected achievement level based on the questions and overall comprehension required.

Conclusion

You may be able to identify how one or more of the examples discussed above may effectively fulfill at least one of the three key underpinnings for effective online course engagement. Like classroom teaching, learning design is a comprehensive skill that takes into account a wide range of learning interactions that occur in learning environments. By thoughtfully implementing strategies that create purposeful and engaging learning environments, we will be successful in achieving a range of learning outcomes that better support and enhance learning engagement in our online courses.

Image Credits

• The table within the body of this article was created/supplied by the author.