How to Create an Engaging Online Lesson

Many teachers new to online education are pros when it comes to delivering an in class lesson that engages students while clearly delivering the course material. Some are surprised to find out that there are many similarities between an effective in class lesson and online lesson.
Like in a classroom, some structure is beneficial. Having a format that all of your online lessons follow will help the students understand what is required. Many schools advocate the use style sheets in their courses to ensure a uniform course is presented. In many cases, less is more. Unless there is a sound reason for doing so, using multiple colors, fonts, italics and bold is not recommended. 
Objectives: It is helpful to provide the basic objectives that each lesson will meet. This ensures backward design is occurring with the planning beginning with the curriculum standards required by your jurisdiction.


Expectations: You may wish to provide students with an estimated time required to complete the lesson. This can help the student who likes to rush through work slow down and take the time necessary to thoroughly complete the work. This also helps the student who likes to plan their study schedule ahead of time. You will also want to include any necessary tools that the student will need in order to complete the lesson (example: word processing software, membership to a specific account etc.). This will ensure students have what they need to begin their work.


Introduction: In the classroom, this used to be called the "anticipatory set" where you would introduce the lesson material in an engaging way to students. In an online lesson, this can be done by relating the material to a relevant real-world example for students. Also, asking for students to reflect on the issue and their opinions can help them see how this lesson will be meaningful for them. Scenarios, case studies and stories are effective in an introduction.


Main Body: This is where the meat of the lesson is. Here you are using multiple means of delivering the content. Just using text is the equivalent of the monotone teacher standing at the front of the room while the class nods off. Videos, pictures, audio clips, games and simulations are great ways to engage students while they delve into the course material.


Providing checkpoints where students can verify they understand the material ensures student success. These checkpoints need to provide formative assessment for learning so multiple attempts and timely feedback are imperative. This is where flash quizzes and games come in handy. These checkpoints can assess lower order thinking so that the student is prepared for more inquiry based work in their assignments.


Reflection: Having students connect the lesson material to their every day lives can help to hook the material so that even after the lesson has been closed, the student continues to refine their understanding as they work through their day. This also helps this information to become integrated into their working knowledge and be built on as opposed to information they can recall for a year or two when needed for assessment purposes.


Summative assessment: Although you will not necessarily have a summative assessment piece in each lesson, they will be peppered throughout your units. In assessment, student choice is key. So just as you provided multiple methods of delivering the content in your lesson, allow students the opportunity to demonstrate their understanding of the material in various ways. Although some students prefer text, allowing the choice of creating products that include speech, drawing, physical manipulatives (3D models), video, multimedia (web designs, comic strips), music or visual art will engage a higher proportion of students. In many cases students will find that by choosing an alternative method of representation that they learn even more about their topic.

Be sure to provided detailed assignment criteria including step-by step instructions. Paragraphs of text are not encouraged here as students tend to skim and may not catch all of the requirements. Also include a visible rubric, recommending that students perform a self-assessment before they submit their work to ensure they have met all of the required criteria. You may want to make some of your assessments peer and/or self-evaluated as well to help students strengthen their evaluation skills.


Summary: It is a good idea to provide a brief summary of the most important points the lesson covered. Also, reconnecting the lesson material to the example provided in the introduction can help students analyze how their initial opinions and understanding have changed as they worked through the lesson. You may to include some tidbits about the next lesson with engaging references that will encourage the student to continue on.


So, as you can see structure, clear instructions, making relevant connections, setting clear expectations, encouraging student choice and switching things up are techniques that will create an engaging and effective lesson plan in the class or online.
For more teacher tools, trends and information about online education visit Online Education Toolkit