Catherine Romeo

I think this course pushes me to think about every assignment my students have in each course and evaluate it for effectiveness from an online engagement aspect.  Are we giving them just 'busy work' to fulfill a course requirement so they can just earn a grade and move on, or are these assignments including student engagement that is meaningful and leads to real and useful learning after graduation once in their field?

Making sure you students know you're present, engaged and care about their success in learning is key to retention.  Students respond better to quicker turn around times like grading assignments in a timely way and with feedback, answering their emails and messages promptly, and helping them find solutions to their barriers so they don't give up.

Asynchronous discussion allows students to participate and respond when they can, after work, on a lunch break. It's a great form of online discussion for a vast number of course topics and has the potential to be interactive because it gives the participants many opportunities to interact and respond without missing a window of time.

I like to highlight my professional experience through examples throughout the lectures and their learning and draw on theirs so they don't think I'm taking a superiority approach to their experiences. 

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