Improving student engagement in online platforms

A large fourth year elective course of 200+ students was converted to a blended learning mode. The task is to design online course delivery that offers students a variety of learning styles and preferences in interactive ways. To achieve this, short video streaming of the concepts (typically 5 minutes) were recorded in a variety of ways, using lecturer’s face-face video clips, iPad based annotations of lecture materials and UNSW’s glass board. A number of challenging activities were included. An online facilitator was used to prompt interaction. The lecturer’s voice was amplified by frequent announcements and replying to the students’ doubts. It was evident that students participated in these efforts but they did not engage long term, as there were no assessments attached to the activities. This presentation will focus on some of the strategies used in this course to promote student engagement. The features include use of tools in setting up a quiz based on the online materials and creating unique opportunities for students to work with their peers. Results show that the engagement increased by 33%. This project encompasses methodologies that are not only sustainable and scalable, but can also be easily adopted in other engineering courses