Last week at the ETUG conference here at SFU, I attended a talk, “A Technologist’s edX Case Study,” by Ian Linkletter (UBC).
Drawing on his experience, Ian Linkletter gave us some great tips on how to get people to sign up to an online course, and to stay engaged, especially if it’s free.
One thing I really took away from this talk was in regards to deadlines. It is this: give your students a deadline for assignments that you know is not firm, and then, extend it! By showing the students that you are ready to be flexible allows them to buy in. He also recommended putting a countdown clock on the course website, which gives students a sense of urgency. In Ian’s example, 451 students had met the first deadline, and 721 met the second extended deadline. That’s quite a difference!
Check out my graphic notes for some more tips.