This post is provided by guest blogger, Suzanne M. Gillespie, graduate student at the University of St. Francis in Joliet, M.S. in Talent Development program.

In his article, Mucundanyi (2021) examines strategies for designing engaging online courses to improve student retention in higher education. He emphasizes the importance of the first two weeks, when students form connections with instructors, peers, and course content. Using the TPACK framework, the author identifies five key design strategies: maintaining clear and consistent course structure, providing a detailed syllabus, fostering a learning community, ensuring strong instructor presence, and prioritizing free, accessible learning materials. These practices aim to strengthen student engagement and support persistence in online learning.

The fact that Mucundanyi’s work was published in a peer-reviewed academic journal as opposed to a commercial website lends it credibility. Its clear focus on TPACK-based design strategies offers practical value for instructors and instructional designers seeking to enhance online course engagement. The guidance on structure, community-building, and instructor presence may be especially useful for those developing or revising online programs. As the study focuses on increasing online engagement via the TPACK framework for the higher education space (p. 198), it would be interesting to see if it also yields a positive outcome for other online learning environments, such as corporate learning and development and lifelong and continuous learning.

Reference:

Mucundanyi, G. (2021). Design strategies for developing an engaging online course in higher education. International Journal of Education and Development Using Information and Communication Technology, 17(3), 198-206. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1334566.pdf