Today  I learned new and effective ways to teach an on line course how to keep the informed and engaged so that them and I can succeed 

As online educators, we know that balancing student engagement with flexibility is one of the biggest challenges in virtual learning. Some students thrive with synchronous interaction, while others value the independence of asynchronous coursework. In your professional experience, how have you found the right balance between these two approaches? Do you lean more toward real-time virtual classrooms, or do you prefer structured, self-paced modules—and why?

I’d love to hear different perspectives on how you design your courses to both motivate students and respect their need for flexibility. How do you decide which method best supports your learning outcomes?

Students and instructors should share their academic background, including degrees, certifications, and major achievements. helps establish credibility and shows the foundation of their knowledge.

This subject is more about creating a supportive, engaging, and a well managed space that helps students succeed. 

What strategies have you all tried that establishes online presence ? Which were the most effective, which were the least effective?

Online environments offer instructors greater flexibility, freeing them from the constraints of physical classroom size and fixed schedules. This allows for more experimentation with a diverse range of synchronous (real-time) and asynchronous (delayed-time) active learning activities. A key benefit of online learning is the global reach, enabling students from varied backgrounds, cultures, and living environments to engage with the material and enrich discussions.

This seems like a great resource to enhance online teaching.

Hello Everyone!

The learning provides good ideas for how to change up teaching styles. I like the collaborative learning & problem based learning ideas

I am not sure, but being an older adult student I was motivated to complete what was required as part of the online class. In reflection I can see how at a younger age perhaps I wouldn't have been as motivated. This is in reflection of my perspective. 

I can also say taking statistics on-line isn't always the best, in my experience :D

I can tell I have a lot to learn as a new instructor.

I can say clear communication and setting clear expectations is very important. If these two things are not done students will not be successful. How can students meet expectations if the teacher does not communicate clearly what the student needs to do. It should start at the beginning and go throughout the course.

Having organization is essential too for faculty and student success

I can see how I might hinder my ability to support active learning. I can see how I have a lot to learn. Since I am just starting out I also see I need to give myself a chance to get acclimated, get organized, put my content together and then tweak things to incorporate more actively learning.

It is very interesting to see the changes in education. I am old enough that I have seen these changes take place over time. As a new instructor I am struggling to Id different strategies for teaching and also making sure I cover content. I think with time this will get better.

With so much emphasis on engagement and retention in virtual learning environments, I’m curious how others are building meaningful interactions among students. What specific tools, strategies, or course designs have helped you encourage participation, collaboration, and connection—particularly with those who may feel isolated or overwhelmed?

I’d love to hear both your successes and your challenges. Let’s learn from each other!

As online learning continues to evolve, I'm curious to hear your thoughts on how we can best balance structure and flexibility in virtual classrooms to support both accountability and student well-being.

In your experience, how do you design your courses or set expectations to ensure students stay on track without becoming overwhelmed? Do you favor strict weekly deadlines, soft due dates, or open pacing with check-ins? How has this approach impacted student engagement and success?

Looking forward to learning from your experiences and strategies!

As educators, we’re always walking the line between providing enough structure for student success and offering the flexibility that adult learners often need. With so many of us teaching in hybrid, asynchronous, or fully online formats, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

How do you balance structure and flexibility in your online courses?

Do you use flexible deadlines?
Do you release all course content at once or week by week?
Have you found certain strategies that support student responsibility without compromising academic rigor?
I’m especially curious to know how others have handled late work, varied student schedules, and real-life interruptions—while still keeping students engaged and accountable.

Please share your approaches, what has worked (or not), and any creative solutions you’ve tried. I’d love to learn from your experiences.

I find that in the midst of a semester or school year it is difficult to keep up with current technology. How do you keep up with all of the planning needed for instruction, as well as new technology, uses of these, and keep up with daily instruction? Is it delegated to summer institutes, continuous training, online training, or other and how do you find time to do this type of training during the school year when you are teaching?

This training led me to reflect on engaging students in class discussions in a synchronous session. While it is important to learn the technical components, posting assignments, discussions, and more, synchronous engagement can be challenging. I use online tools and apps such as Padlet, Google Forms, Chat, Breakout Rooms in Zoom to engage students in peer discussions and idea sharing. I have realized that many students experience anxiety in unmuting and speaking online, while some may dominate the verbal exchange. For this reason, a variety of tools are necessary to increase engagement. In my next class, I am planning to assign a number to each student and call on students randomly to share and respond to questions. I am hoping that this strategy may also help in increasing engagement. 

How do you engage students in a synchronous class session?

I have learned that it is important as an instructor to not only familiarize myself with he course content, but also ensure students have access to the content. It also needs to be clear to students what the expectations are for them in the course and to guide them so that they can be successful. 

I have engaged with students who have reported that their daily work/life responsibilities are frequently overwhelming - thus leading to 'last minute' online discussion posts.  The discussion rubric clearly indicates that multiple, same day, 'last minute' contributions to the discussion board shall/may be interpreted as 'low value" primarily because such posts don't really represent substantive additions to the discussion.  I sometimes struggle with the subjectiveness of my grading (esp. in this context, mostly because it is difficult to accurately gauge who benefits from 'last minute posts")- but don't want to eliminate the implied impetus for timely discussion posts from the students and also don't want to micromanage adult learners by discussion-board hoovering.

What are some strategies utilized for dealing with the 'last minute' discussion posts?  [Context] Paraphrased from the syllabus: Each student must contribute to the discussion (to one or more of the posted discussion prompts) and respond to at least three posts entered by other students.