Supporting online students with faculty-led live sessions

With the continued challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, now, more than ever, faculty in higher education need to ensure that students feel supported, connected, and engaged in their online courses. One effective strategy that can help both faculty and students is holding live sessions for students. Research shows that live sessions in online courses have helped students feel more connected with instructors and classmates as well as with the University community in general; these sessions also allow students to get answers to their questions in real time (Murphy, 2017).

The goal of this presentation is to discuss and elicit participant interaction based on the following questions:

How often and on what day(s) of the week should online live sessions be held to ensure maximum engagement and productivity?
What content should be presented in live sessions to make them meaningful for students?
How can faculty encourage student attendance and engagement in live sessions?

As part of the discussion around these questions, the authors will provide relevant research as well as personal experiences on using different types of live sessions in their own online courses. The authors who are full-time faculty for the online campus at their University, have researched this topic as part of a project on student performance and engagement in the online classroom.

Tracy Crawford
University of Phoenix

Tracy Crawford is a full-time faculty member for University of Phoenix, teaching entry-point and foundational courses for the College of General Studies. She has been with University of Phoenix for nearly 18 years and she is passionate about helping her students learn the foundational skills that will help them as college students as well as in their professional and personal lives. During her time as a University of Phoenix faculty member, Tracy has also served as a faculty trainer and mentor, facilitated both faculty and student workshops and was designated as a Certified Advanced Facilitator. Prior to working at University of Phoenix, Tracy taught at the elementary level and has been involved with education for the past 21 years not only as a teacher, but also as a volunteer with United Way, Head Start, Art Masterpiece and as a Faculty Supervisor for student teachers. Tracy earned a bachelor’s degree in Business and a Master of Arts in Education – Curriculum & Instruction/Adult Education Distance Learning and also completed a Post-Baccalaureate Teacher Education Program for teacher certification.

Tracy lives in beautiful Encinitas, California with her husband, Simon and 3 sons, Brady, Chase, & Peyton and their dog, Piper.

Jennifer Romano
University of Phoenix

Lauren Critchley
University of Phoenix

Lauren earned her Bachelor of Arts in English at Brigham Young University in 1994 and her Master of Arts in English at University of North Florida in 1997. While completing graduate school at UNF, Lauren taught developmental reading and writing at Florida Gateway College in Lake City, Florida. After graduating from UNF, Lauren accepted a full-time faculty position at the University of West Georgia in Carrollton, Georgia. Lauren has since taught writing, speech, reading, and literature courses at Richland Community College in Illinois, Roane State Community College in Tennessee, and Brigham Young University in Idaho (online). In 2013, Lauren accepted a full-time teaching position with University of Phoenix where she currently teaches introductory writing courses along with college skills and critical thinking courses. Lauren has over 25 years of experience teaching in higher education with ten of those years in online education.

Lauren has presented at the Virginia Tech Conference on Higher Education Pedagogy as well as at the Teaching, Colleges, and Community Conference (TCC Hawaii).

Session Description

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