Re-envisioning Virtual Spaces for Teaching and Learning: Strategies for Fostering Online Learner Engagement

Abstract

The growing body of research on student engagement in online writing courses suggests that learning management system (LMS) technology does not by itself create an interactive learning situation nor does it automatically engage students in meaningful interactions with their peers and the instructor. Traditional top-down engagement strategies such as a discussion forum, we argue, have not worked to increase student-to-student engagement in the online environment, confirming our contention that students’ notions of engagement and quality are different from instructors’. Engagement should be re-envisioned as a student-centered effort, wherein educators take on the responsibility of implementing strategies that promote student-to-student engagement. This chapter, then, reconceptualizes approaches to student engagement in online writing-intensive classes. It examines how virtual learning environments challenge traditional notions of student engagement, offers some innovative learner–instructor engagement strategies that can be marshaled to improve student learning, and addresses the challenges and successes of this undertaking, in an effort to establish a meaningful and sustainable student-centered online writing classroom.

Citation

Chemishanova, P. and Tita, C. (2020), "Re-envisioning Virtual Spaces for Teaching and Learning: Strategies for Fostering Online Learner Engagement", Sengupta, E., Blessinger, P. and Makhanya, M. (Ed.) Improving Classroom Engagement and International Development Programs: International Perspectives on Humanizing Higher Education (Innovations in Higher Education Teaching and Learning, Vol. 27), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 159-171. https://doi.org/10.1108/S2055-364120200000027013