Enhancing Social-Emotional Engagement in Online Classes

An excerpt from the article Published on September 5, 2020

By: Camille Rutherford

Vice-Provost, Strategic Partnerships, Brock University

The theoretical constructions of social and emotional engagement have many overlapping elements. In reviewing the relevant literature (Fredricks, Blumenfeld, and Paris, 2004) noted that these terms refer to the same features, which describes students’ positive and negative emotional reactions toward teachers, classmates, academic works, as well as a sense of identification with and belonging to the school, value school outcomes, and feel as though they are supported by their peers and teachers (Fredricks, Blumenfeld, and Paris, 2004) 

Connecting with their peers is an essential element of social-emotional engagement and collaborative learning where it is demonstrated by the effort of students to contribute to class discussions, work with other students, and engage in other class activities (Kuh, 2003). Learning is enhanced when it is collaborative and social, not competitive, and isolated. 

In addition to the fact that working with others often increases involvement in learning, having the opportunity to share one’s ideas and responding to others’ improves thinking and deepens understanding (Chickering & Ehrmann, 1996). 

Social-emotional engagement also includes a focus on how the learning tasks are related to the broader social context (Kahu, 2013). Studies have shown that students will tend to invest more effort and achieve more when their assignments are perceived to have personal importance to them (Collaço, 2017).

Having a positive relationship with their peers can be essential to the creation of learning communities where students are at ease with one another so that they may work collaboratively, freely share opinions and respond constructively to the ideas of their peers. 

These conditions are a necessary prerequisite for the critical thinking that supports learning to occur (Chickering & Gamson, 1987). 

Thus, to encourage students to be socially and emotionally engaged in their learning, instructors will need to ensure that their online courses include the following NSSE-related tasks that require students to:

- Ask questions or contribute to course discussions
- Connect ideas from your course to their prior experiences and knowledge
- Connect their learning to societal problems or issues
- Ask another student to help you understand course material
- Explain course material to one or more students
- Work with other students on course projects or assignments
- Include diverse perspectives (political, religious, racial/ethnic, gender, etc.) in course 

     discussions or assignments
- Try to better understand someone else's views by imagining how an issue looks from his or 

     her perspective
- Evaluate what others have concluded from numerical information
- Understand people of other backgrounds (economic, racial/ethnic, political, religious, 

   nationality, etc.)
- Have discussions with people from a different race or ethnicity
- Have discussions with people from a different economic background
- Have discussions with people with different religious beliefs
- Have discussions with people with from different religious beliefs
- Have discussions with people with different political views


Unlike in large lecture halls, online learning can make it easier for students to ask questions and contribute to discussions, where raising your hand in the presence of hundreds of your peers can be very intimidating. 

A core element of most learning management systems are discussion forums that facilitate discussions amongst hundreds of students. Dynamic online discussion tools, that allow for audio or video posts like Flipgrid and VoiceThread can provide more students with behavioural engagement opportunities than would have been possible in a traditional classroom. Online discussions enable students to ask questions, have discussions with others that are different from themselves, so that they may better comprehend someone else's views by imagining how an issue looks from his or her perspective and understand people of other backgrounds.

Collaboration tools like Google G-Suite and Microsoft’s Office 365 mitigate the complexity of having students work with other students on course projects or assignments this is vital as collaboration is key to promoting engagement in the online classroom (Robinson & Hullinger, 2008). Thus, it is essential for instructors to design online opportunities for students to have meaningful interactions with peers and afford richer opportunities for collaborative learning (Paulsen & McCormick, 2020).

Even before the current level of ubiquitous access to social media tools, Chickering & Ehrmann (1996) identified the potential of online learning to promote authentic problem solving and the applications to academic learning to real-life situations. The public nature of social media provides instructors with unique and innovative opportunities to foster authentic and highly relevant learning experiences. 

Online tools that facilitate brainstorming and authentic problem solving like OpenIDEO and Tricider enable students to apply what they are learning to consequential issues that may have local, national, or global implications. As a consequence, it is paramount that instructors create online learning tasks that students will regard as being socially relevant (Furlong & Christenson, 2008). 

By integrating the types of experiences that facilitate social-emotional engagement into their courses, instructors can support learning that moves beyond the private learning spaces of the ivory tower and permit students to benefit from learning from noted experts and practitioners outside of their campus community (Rutherford, 2010).

Also posted to the Online Learning and Technology Page - Part A