Student engagement
Tools and strategies for communication and collaboration online.
Communication
Tips for communicating with students.
Sections and groups in Canvas
Ways to organise and group students.
Camera use in Zoom
Ideas to consider when students leave their cameras off.
Canvas Analytics
Canvas Analytics can help you determine student engagement.
Digital citizenship
Guidelines for you and your students to develop trust and respect.
Online presence and community of inquiry
The Community of Inquiry model is a useful way to think about mixed-mode teaching.
Tone and style
Given that students will be accessing the course materials and announcements mostly online using Canvas, be mindful to use clear language:
- Ensure your weekly communication is friendly, succinct and uses simple language.
- Use red, bold, italics, exclamation mark and capital letters in the body of your text sparingly.
- Use bullet points where possible when communicating directly.
- Use meaningful headings to chunk information.
- Communicate with empathy.
- Do not use acronyms, jargon, colloquial language.
- Keep your communication clear and unambiguous.
View teacher’s checklist as a guide to help develop a sense of learning community within your class:
An academic’s perspective
In Semester Two 2020, Dr. Ella Kahu (Massey University) held a webinar for the Faculty of Science’s Ako Innovations workshop series. The seminar was called ‘Creating an engaging online learning and teaching environment.’
Read more about Dr. Ella Kahu research article on “Framing student engagement in higher education“.
Page updated 24/05/2023 (minor edit)