Student Engagement Online: What Works and Why. ASHE Higher Education Report, Volume 40, Number 6

What makes online learning engaging to students? Engagement depends upon designing learning that is active and collaborative, authentic and experiential, constructive and transformative. While students and instructors can inadvertently act in several ways to decrease student engagement in online coursework, research indicates a range of options that have been proven to engage students in their online courses. This report explores the learning theories, pedagogies, and active learning options that encourage student engagement, push them to think more deeply, and teach them how to learn. It guides instructors on how to evaluate the effectiveness of technological and softwar…