Online educators are struggling to build meaningful realationships with their students as they would in a ground class. This research-based workshop will take a look at the theory behind the need for rhese relationships and provide attendees with practical tools that can be used immediately in any online classroom to begin building this relationship and to engage the student at a much higher level. Laptops are encouraged.
Online education is rapidly increasing in popularity across the globe. Instructors and professors struggle to engage with and build meaningful relationships with these students in the same manner as the ground student, and without this critical component in place, online students report a lack of interest, and thus, lower quality of work produced and less overall satisfaction. There are a host of tools and strategies that may be used by the online instructor to build meaningful relationships with students and increase these satisfaction levels. This paper discusses multiple approaches using both basic and technological tools to manage the online classroom. These tactics reach out to the online student, build these all-important relationships, and create a greater sense of satisfaction and higher level of work produced by the online student.