Best practices in promoting faculty-student interaction in online STEM courses

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Publication Date

2019

Department

Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering; Department of Engineering Fundamentals

Abstract

In this paper two experienced veterans in the fields of online teaching and supporting instructors in teaching online will detail several best practices in promoting faculty to student interaction in online courses. The unique demands faced by those teaching science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses online will be considered and addressed in each of these best practices.

Faculty-Student interaction is vital to the success and quality of any online course. The need to develop a rich sense of active instructor presence in online learning has never been greater. Recently The US Department of Education (1) and the Higher Learning Commission (2) (HLC) have required "regular and substantive interaction between the students and the instructor" (1) in online courses. Additionally, research has consistently shown that a strong sense of instructor presence and frequent and meaningful faculty to student interactions improve student persistence (3), satisfaction (4), and achievement (5) in online courses. This paper will provide instructors with several evidence-based techniques and methods to incorporate effective, meaningful, and STEM-friendly faculty to student interactions into their online courses.

Publisher's Statement

Copyright American Society for Engineering Education, 2019. Publisher’s version of record: https://www.asee.org/public/conferences/140/papers/25830/view

Publication Title

2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

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