Building Relationships and Increasing Engagement in the Virtual Classroom

 Jeffrey Martin, Grand Canyon University

Abstract

Online education is rapidly increasing in popularity across the globe. Instructors and professors struggle to engage with and build meaningful relationships with online students in the same manner as on-ground students, and without this critical component in place, online students report a lack of interest, and thus, they produce a lower quality of work and report less overall satisfaction. There are a host of tools and strategies that may be used by the online instructor to build meaningful relationships with students and increase these satisfaction levels. This article discusses multiple approaches using both basic and technological tools to manage the online classroom. These tactics reach out to the online student, build these important relationships, and create a greater sense of satisfaction and produce a higher level of work by the online student.

Keywords: 

online, education, classroom management, video, relationships, higher education, engagement