As more and more of you are called upon to teach online courses, you face the significant challenge of keeping students involved in the course. One way to do this is to increase the sense of community among your students.

This Faculty Focus post from Jane Dwyer, a senior lecturer at Rivier College, suggests some techniques to help you connect more with your online students. The techniques she uses are:

• Introductory letter
• Video clip
• Introductory questions
• Pet gallery
• Bully session
• Shared leadership
• Question forum

The details are in Dwyer's post. But you can see that she uses various course tools we have available: forums, student profiles, etc.

I particularly like the use of a short welcome clip to introduce yourself (no course information) and make your students feel welcome and comfortable. You don't need a high-end video camera – you could use something as simple as an ultra-compact camera like the Flip Video.

Good luck with your next (first?) online course!

Sam Eneman
Center for Teaching & Learning