[Socrates] Curating Engagement with Your Online Class: A Two-part Series

[Jean Kelly]

>From the Center for Teaching & Learning:

“I am ZOOMed out.”.... “I just CANNOT be online for so many hours in a row.”… “I feel like I’m talking to a void.”... “I can’t tell if my students are understanding.”.
 
Being engaged, and engaging, in your hybrid and online courses has been an ongoing discussion and source of frustration for faculty and students. How can we create engaging, welcoming classes for our students while online? 
 
The Center for Teaching & Learning presents a two-part workshop series that will discuss proven strategies that increase engagement in online environments. It will also allow faculty to collaborate and discuss on the subject, as well as offer discussion of the challenges and affordances of engaging online.
 
This workshop series will cover strategies that will engage your course in asynchronous (Part 1) or synchronous (Part 2) methods, the affordances of either strategy, and how they can be used for your specific course. Attend either or both sessions, depending on your interest level.
 
**Part 1: Asynchronous Engagement and Creating Community**
Wednesday, July 7, 12:15-1:30 pm 

“Many of my students are essential workers and synchronous classes just don’t work.” … “I hate discussion boards because my students reply ‘I agree’ and I can’t read any more of that.”...”I feel like my students are doing poorly because they are not ‘together’ as they’d be in person.”
 
These are common frustrations for faculty, but how can we create an inclusive welcoming learning experiences when people are not in the same (virtual) space at the same time? This workshop will focus on different ways of effectively creating asynchronous engagement in your course. 
 
Specific topics we will cover are: 
Curating quality discourse in discussion boards (aka: No more “I Agree” responses!).
Facilitating student engagement through rotating student moderators.
Facilitating student engagement through multimodal discussion platforms (FlipGrid, YouTube, VoiceThread).
Curating a class community, even asynchronously.
 
**To register and for more information, including about the upcoming part 2 (to be presented on July 14), please visit http://ctl.qc.cuny.edu/engaging-your-online-class.
 
Details about the second part of the series will be sent out closer to the event. 
 
If you have any questions, please email CTLOnline at qc.cuny.edu.
 
We look forward to seeing you there.