Abstract
Student engagement in classroom discussions is critical to the learning process. By engaging students in constructive fruitful discussions, teachers can understand the amount of “learning” that is happening, assess performance, and recognize gaps and needs in the learning process of each individual student. Due to the current Covid-19 situation, universities around the world moved to online teaching, including the researcher’s institute. The shift to online teaching results in less or no face-to-face interaction in the classroom, which makes the class discussions even more important than it already was. Despite the many advantages of online teaching, it also comes with challenges: it may be more difficult engaging students in constructive discussions due to certain inhibits and constrains. Given that the Covid-19 situation brought to light many advantages of online teaching, it is expected that the focus might remain on online teaching in the future. Therefore, it is of high importance to gain understanding of how to improve and encourage online discussions and increase effectiveness.
Presenters
Laila MohebiAssistant Professor, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Zayed University, United Arab Emirates
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
STUDENT ENGAGEMENT, ONLINE LEARNING, BLACKBOARD, DISCUSSION FORUMS
