When we first talk about adding social elements, most people think about interactions with other people. Learner engagement definitions revolve around the following interaction categories:

• learner-to-learner
• learner-to-instructor
• learner-to-content

Complications arise in learner to content engagement because not all learners know how to organize the information they receive in a useful way for them to retrieve later and not all learners are able to motivate themselves when working independently. Reviewing your course structure compared to your syllabus to unify terminology and consider a simplistic approach from the learner’s perspective can help improve your course design in relation to learner-to-content engagement.

In the video below, you can gain ideas for icebreakers to get conversations started amongst peers. The document below has further details on increasing student engagement.