Online Course Application: The Strategies in Boosting Students’ Engagement

Abstract

This study explores the strategies in boosting students' engagement through online course application. By using a qualitative design, it examined the posting of students' comments toward the materials, instructor's instructions, students' assignments, and all the activities in Canvas. The finding shows that online course application is one of the media that can boost the students' engagement through some features and services provided. However, the role of the online instructor cannot be ignored in boosting students' engagement. The instructor controls all the activities during the course. Moreover, there are some strategies provided by the instructor. The first is building good interaction between the instructor and the students. Next is elaborating and exploring the students' ideas through assignments. Then, providing the materials and assignments are relevant to the real-life situation and technology development. Next is applying the usage of technology and multimedia in the learning process in accordance with online course application. Another strategy is giving different and challenging instruction to avoid flatness. The last is preparing an authentic assessment by providing a discussion or assessment rubric. In short, the online course application is a medium to support the learning process by providing several features that are in accordance with the materials and the strategies used by the instructor. The features available in the application and the instructor are the keys to success in boosting students' engagement.