Online courses let students complete their coursework anywhere with an internet connection.
Teaching English online has its own set of challenges. One challenge that all online instructors face is keeping students engaged in a distance environment; students tend to only log in when something is due and ignore the course and the course website in between major assignments. One way to keep students logging in is to require graded discussion assignments and other short activities that require the students to log in every week. The activities must teach the students and engage them in an ongoing discussion if they are going to support the course content and not just serve as "busywork."
Introduction Game
Even though the course is online, the students still need to get to know one another. If students need immediate answers to problems or simply need a classmate to look over their work, they must make connections online with other students. One way to do this is to start a discussion thread that asks students to learn about one another.
The instructor should start the thread by typing ten facts about himself, such as his interests, his hometown or how many pets he has. A student will respond and mention one to three things that she has in common with the instructor, then list her own ten facts. The next student who logs on can comment on that student's list, and list his own, and so on. In this way, students all learn about at least one other student, and finding common ground can help students feel less uneasy about contacting one another with questions.
Finding a Source Game
One concept that is difficult to teach for undergraduates in a research-based English course is finding appropriate sources. Students usually have a great deal of difficulty finding and using sources, and seeing how other students approach finding sources for a research project can be very helpful.
Begin a discussion thread and introduce a topic for a research report. Make the topic interesting and a little bit controversial so the students will be eager to find sources that support their point of view. Have all students respond with an entry similar to an annotated bibliography in which they cite the full source and then explain how it connects with the topic. Then you may critique their choices and discuss the issue of bias.
Proofreading Games
Proofreading and revision are essential skills for any English class, so it is a good idea to remind students that they must take the time to revise their essays. The instructor should start a discussion thread that is a short paragraph about her life or any topic that interests her, and she should introduce four errors in the paragraph. The next student should identify the errors, describe what the errors are and create a paragraph of his own with four errors. The students will not only obtain practice in identifying errors, but having to purposefully introduce errors will force them to learn about specific errors and include them.
Thesis Games
Every English paper has a thesis, whether it is obvious or implied. For a major research paper, the instructor should begin a thread with a paragraph from a research essay and ask the students to find the thesis statement or, if the thesis is implied, state it in her own words. Then the student should assess her own introduction to her research paper and ask the next student to find the thesis. The next student who logs on will have to identify her thesis statement and then include his introduction, and so on. This game can be easily modified for other more advanced online English courses as well; for example, students in a Business Communications course can find the problem statement in each others' introductions for their investigative reports.
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