Teacher preparation programs and staff development programs today emphasize that student engagement is a critical element of student success.  Teacher engagement is not as strongly stressed, but is absolutely essential in fostering student engagement.  As an educational consultant I conduct walk-through classroom observations in the public school sector.  I've seen first-hand teachers who are walking around, asking questions, guiding, encouraging, and supporting students.  The students were engaged.  However, I've also seen teachers who are playing solitaire on the computer or texting on their cell phones.  While students may have been on-task, they were not truly engaged. Let's not be the cyber-version of those disengaged teachers in the online classroom.

The discussion board often becomes the heart of the course and I am addicted to "hearing" what my students think, feel, and wonder about our current topics.  I check in every day and post every day, with a personal response to each individual student at least once each week.  One simple and effective way to "grab their attention" is by personalizing the response by changing the subject line to the student's name.  Of course, we increase their knowledge and skills by asking thought-provoking questions, providing outside resources and professional insights.  Those elements demonstrate knowledge and expertise.  However, we further demonstrate our engagement by building upon their responses and sharing personal experiences.  

Perhaps the most effective elements, illustrating to students that the instructor is engaged, are support, guidance, encouragement and respect.  Those should be demonstrated in our responses to students, so positive affirmation of each student's post is an effective opening line in our responses. Our posts should always be written in ways that demonstrate that we are committed to truly listening to student concerns, asking the right questions, and providing clear assessments and responses.  The same approach applies to assignment feedback.  Our students pay a lot for tuition; they work hard on their assignments.  Their posts and their assignments deserve our full attention.  It's our job to help them be the best they can be and to enrich their learning experiences.  Yes, student engagement is critical.  If we show them that we are engaged, they will be more engaged too.  It's a win-win.

Faculty Spotlight:

Anita Riehm has thirty years of teaching and administrative experience within the public school system.  She is currently the Director of an Academic Program Services consulting firm and teaches in the College of Education for Grand Canyon University where she has also helped to develop some of the courses. Anita has designed, implemented and managed educational programs, and has conducted seminars and workshops for school districts and other organizations. She has been responsible for administering, managing and evaluating a variety of federal grants, language, and educational programs in accordance with federal, state and district guidelines.

Ms. Riehm is approved by the Arizona Department of education to teach the SEI courses.  She is recognized and approved as having specialized expertise in School Improvement and serves as External Facilitator, School Improvement Plan Support Coach and Solutions Team member for the Arizona Department of Education. 

Anita holds a BA in Liberal Arts with an emphasis on Second Language Acquisition, and a Masters in Elementary Education with a Multi-disciplinary and Multicultural focus.  She can be reached at 602.615.5357 or by email at [email protected]