Teaching in an on-line environment can be educational and rewarding to students provided instructors demonstrate respect. I have heard stories about phantom instructors who provide students with little in return for their tuition. Showing respect, for me, translates into much more than simply using their name in my replies. The purpose of this presentation will be to discuss how I try to demonstrate respect and how I think that results in increased student engagement.

Most of my college experience has been done in a traditional classroom. On-line instruction was unavailable during my college days. Contemporary college students expect to receive much if not all of their instruction on-line. College teachers of the 21^st century, therefore, must learn to adapt to their expectations. But how can that be done in a way that promotes effective learning? My on-line teaching strategy promotes engagement by emphasizing respect.

The Angel and Blackboard  platforms provide numerous  pedagogical and course management options. It is important to utilize many those options, but to do so with correctly.  Grand Canyon University's (GCU)  use of the Turnitin software provides a good example of how to demonstrate respect. When students receive a high Turnitin score, I work with them as an advisor helping them to understand how they got the score thus helping them avoid it in the future.

Students need faculty to make sense out of complicated subjects and I do this by striving to always tie course Discussion Questions and essays into the assigned lecture and reading materials. Sometimes this is difficult to do, but I believe that if I don't make those connections then I'm not leading and therefore I am not respecting my students.

Many on-line students must complete their course work in addition to working a full-time job. When they get home they juggle their coursework with important family, church and other personal interests. In many cases, it has been awhile since they've been in school and it's is difficult to resurrect effective study habits. It is critical in that environment to get the students to know that I am there leading the class and I have the personal discipline to provide regular involvement.

I have facilitated a few GCU classes where my enrollment was less than five students. On-line students are used to interacting with other students, and low enrollment classes may disappoint them. I have found it important to increase my involvement in the discussion fora to offset that loss. This approach increases the volume of discussions and shows the students that I am willing to provide them with the stimulation they expect.

In summary, I think on-line student engagement can be promoted through faculty demonstrating they respect both the students and the subject matter.  This can be done by utilizing the available technology, synthesizing assignments with the lectures and readings, helping students stay focused by being actively involved and increasing my participation in low enrollment courses. While I am a new GCU faculty member and feel that I have a lot to learn about on-line instruction I have found that showing respect yields great benefits.