3 Ways to Create Engaging Online Content

We all hear about having engaging content in our courses - both face to face and online. So what makes one course more engaging than another?  Creating engaging content is what makes teaching both a science and an art.

I hope you find the following helpful.

1. Develop good learning objectives.
Developing good learning objectives is not a gift as much as it is a skill. This skill can be learned by anyone. Try by re-writing your learning objectives with "action" verbs instead of "thinking" verbs. It is not enough to just expect your students to "know" something. Try re-thinking the reason you are teaching the lesson. What works instead of "know", "understand" and "appreciate"? How about, "define", "compare" or "criticize". These are more concrete verbs that actually will lead your students to do something about what they know. This will also make it easier to create learning activities using forums, discussions and other interactive media. Thus your course will be much more than just an "info dump" with a quiz after each section.

2. Be less abstract and more contextual.
This can be a balancing act. I'm not saying to eliminate abstract thinking in education - some couldn't if they tried. But we certainly can approach it better. A master at this is Dan Meyer (http://blog.mrmeyer.com/). One principle that Dan mentions in his blog is to engage students with what they know, then only introduce abstract concepts to students when they know they should care about it.  He illustrates this with a simple video about solving a geometry problem:





Some Really Obscure Geometry Problem from Dan Meyer on Vimeo.


To check out the full post go to (http://blog.mrmeyer.com/?p=11116).

Another way to approach abstract concepts is with a learning scenario. Learning scenarios can start out with a story and end up with the student actively engaged in a solution that will finish the story or resolve a dilemma.  It is important that you provide the means for the story to be finished and easy guidelines for finishing the story (i.e. good instructions and rubrics).

3.  Get in touch with your inner voice.
When it comes to online content, many end up writing something akin to an undergraduate term paper (and you all know how boring those can be).  Forget about writing generic trash and flavor your lesson with personal examples & obsessions - even a foible or two.  Doing this will make your lessons sticky and memorable.  I'm not suggesting to be unprofessional or sophomoric, but if you do this right your genius will show through. 

This is by no means a comprehensive list, but perhaps it will trigger some ideas that will make your courses (online or otherwise) remarkable.  In short, by having better, more measurable learning objectives, memorable context, and good writing tone, you can create stimulating courses loved by everyone.  That is something even the least interested will find palatable.