I'm probably a bit unconventional...but then again, that's the person that I am. I believe in excitement, color, audio, video in the courseroom. Each day, I send motivational images with quotes to my students. Some days, I may send a funny meme (of course, they are appropriate communication). I also use a lot of games in my weekly discussions. I have YouTube videos posted in my course. Some videos are inspirational. I use others for scavenger hunts. Some are for pure entertainment...of course, related to the material. And then there are days where I just might feel like a virtual potluck for the class to bring us together for a few moments without the pressure of schoolwork. At one point, I posted weekly awards; which they absolutely LOVED! It motivated them to no end to see their names posted for the various categories. After about 3 years, leadership asked me to stop doing it because they felt that some students may have felt left out. Anyhoooo...my students never know which way I'm going to flow from day to day, so many of them are intrigued and keep logging into the course; and/or checking their emails. I send all of my emails with images/video/audio to their personal emails; which populate on their cell phones. I have had mostly great success with my unconventional methods. The thing is...the students don't realize that I'm doing it as much for me as I'm doing it for them. I'd be bored if I didn't keep myself entertained as well. Giggles. I hope that helps a bit.
