Engage Equitably and Consistently with Online Learners

<aside> 💡 Equitable, inclusive, and consistent engagement with online learners will help learners feel supported as they work toward achieving course outcomes.

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Specific Techniques

• Involve learners in shaping online course interactions and assignments.
• Be intentional about communicating expectations about learner attentiveness and presence in online course activities and interactions.
• Give learners choices for how they make their thinking and learning visible to you and others in the online course.
• Build trust and a sense of online class community.
• Don’t make assumptions. Communicate with learners, and ask about their life circumstances.
• Offer opportunities for student input on specific elements of the course and activities.
• Inquire about and provide options to accommodate diverse learners and their needs.
• Experiment with new online course design elements, and collect feedback from learners on their use.
• Be clear about your expectations and requirements in all online course activities, interactions, and assessments, so that all learners have all the information they need to succeed and meet your expectations. This makes any hidden or implicit aspects of your course more equitably accessible to all.
• Intentionally select technologies that align with course outcomes and that allow learners to engage equitably, inclusively, and consistently with you and with peers.
• Consider using the equitable engagement lens to assist you in selecting tools and technologies that support more equitable and consistent engagement with and between learners. For example, will the tool assist you to achieve your course objectives in a manner that is more effective, efficient, faster, safer, or cost-effective than if you didn’t use that technology.

Overview

Engaging equitably, inclusively, and consistently with learners in online teaching environments requires awareness, intent, and commitment. It requires self-reflection and education to build awareness of internalized biases and assumptions. It does not mean interacting with each student equally in terms of quantity. It means understanding the diversity of needs and contexts among individual online learners, and engaging based on their needs and circumstances to ensure meeting those needs, and doing that consistently by turning a critical eye throughout the online course content, interactions, assessments, and feedback.

“Equality means each individual or group of people is given the same resources or opportunities. Equity recognizes that each person has different circumstances and allocates the exact resources and opportunities needed to reach an equal outcome. “ (Equality v. Equity, 2021)

How to Implement the Practice

To implement this practice:

• Ask learners what they are interested in and need to be successful, and allow that to shape aspects of course interactions and assignments. Check-in to confirm periodically by asking, ‘is this approach still serving your needs?’
• Provide clear expectations, course goals, instructions, activities/assignments for the course are clearly articulated, well-integrated, well-planned, and easy to access. The inclusive online teaching practice, Co-Create an Online Learning Community Agreement, can assist with implementing this practice.
  • Communicate expectations around learning attentiveness and presence in online course activities and interactions.
    • During synchronous sessions, for example, no multitasking, emailing, chatting, folding laundry, etc.
    • During asynchronous interactions, for example, read instructions carefully, contribute and respond in a timely manner according to instructions and course expectations, engage fully in all course activities and interactions, and ask questions, or ask for help when needed.
• Give learners permission to pursue and tailor assignments to their skills and interests so that their work and learning can be personally relevant and meaningful.
• Design ice-breaking activities and communications that support building a sense of belonging, and open communications about needs and expectations. See ice-breaking examples for ideas.
  • Ask learners what competing life priorities / challenges they may have that may hinder their ability to meet course expectations and be successful, may reveal learners with personal contexts that put them at greater risk of disengagement and persistence, so reaching out, seeing them, and providing support, and/or connections to relevant student supports services is key.
• Communicate with learners - Consider Maslow’s (1943) before Bloom’s (1956), i.e., people need to fulfill their basic physical, psychological and self-fulfillment needs, before being able to fully engage in higher order and critical thinking skills that characterize academic learning. Permit learners to give you information on potential issues with connectivity, childcare, parent care, time zone, abilities, international standing, resources, etc. Consider how you might accommodate equitable participation and engagement by all in all aspects of the course.
• Appreciate the diversity of online course participants, invite and welcome individual contributions, and proactively encourage engagement in the process of decision-making in the course. For example, co-create aspects of the online course where appropriate/possible, such as in the use of a certain tools, or in the expectations of a particular assignment. Check with students on assignment due dates/times. Friday at midnight, or Monday at 9am? What works best for you and for them?
• Be flexible and adaptable by providing choices to learners in how they demonstrate learning/mastery in course assignments and learning experiences.
• Inquire, and endeavor to understand, and address online course participants that are at risk of being excluded in varied ways.

Course Modality Considerations

Asynchronous

Synchronous

Hybrid

References and Resources

Citations

Resources

Contributors

Alexandra M. Pickett, Paul Montone, Steven Edwards