Persistence is one of the greatest challenges when teaching an online course. According to Allen, Seaman, Poulin, & Straut (2016), there are 5.7 million students enrolled in at least one online class each year (p.4). Despite the difficulties campuses have in online student persistence,, online classes remain a vital component of a student’s college experience. At public institutions, 85% of students take at least one online course (Allen, Seaman, Poulin, Straut, 2016, p. 43) . Students who take at least one online class are 25% more likely to graduate with a degree than students who did not take any online courses (Shea & Bidjarano, 2014). Notably, female students take more online classes than male students and this accounts for one of the reasons why female students graduate more quickly from college and in higher numbers than their male peers.

When I first began teaching Women’s Studies 101 online in the Spring of 2016 and I asked my students about their reason for taking this course online, I found that many of them needed it to fulfill their Pluralism and Diversity requirement to graduate. SInce their work and family commitments made it difficult for them to come to campus, this was the best way to achieve their goal of a college degree. Not surprisingly in the three years I have taught Women’s Studies online, my students have primarily been non-traditional students: mostly older women with young children. Where the course topic might have in some way appealed to them, it was the schedule and format of the course that made them sign up. Given that Women and Gender Studies courses are about igniting social change and moving us toward a more equitable and inclusive society, it seemed only fitting that the online space was an opportunity to model the equity we desire in all aspects of our offline lives. I decided to design my future Women’s Studies online courses in a way that would support student success through digital humanism.

Digital humanism is the understanding that people, not technological tools, are the center of the digital ecosystem. The term digital humanism was established by Gartner (2015) as a business principle to think about tech tool innovation as an opportunity to “redfine the way people achieve their goals and enable people to achieve things not previously possible.” The term has since been co-opted in academic spaces, most notably the 2019 Vienna Manifesto, set forth by the Vienna University of Technology, with the aims to “shape technologies in accordance with human values and needs” and to “promote democracy and inclusion.” Within this philosophical framework of digital humanism, I curated features on BlackBoard to support five key strategies for student retention and success. For these strategies, the instructor: 1) posts frequently; 2) invites student questions through a variety of modalities; 3) responds quickly to student queries; 4) solicits and incorporates student feedback; 5) demonstrates a sense of care and concern for students.

Kaltura was the Blackboard tech tool that was most helpful in implementing these strategies. The first week requirement was that students had to upload an avatar and then post a video, using Kaltura, to introduce them self to the class. I also did an introductory video and for every week that followed I created a video diary. In each week’s video diary I went over what was coming up on the syllabus and gave general comments and reflections on the posts from the previous week. In my diaries I would make adjustments to the course, based on student feedback from the message boards or my office hour discussions with students. My most memorable video diary (attached) were my reflections on our childcare and the workplace unit. I gave my lecture beside my infant son in my home office/living room/dining room, personifying the struggles that were not only discussed in our shared readings, but were experienced by many of the students in the class who were also parents themselves. Every week my students saw my face, and heard my voice. Moreover, since their avatar was linked to their work, I saw their faces every week as well. The act of seeing one another’s faces, even in a virtual space helps to build human connections.
Although I encouraged student emails, and responded to emails within 48 hours of receiving them, I only answered perfunctory questions over email (ex: help locating a link or verifying an assignment detail). For every question posed over email that was not logistical, I set up an appointment to speak with the student over the phone or in my office, face to face. This was an opportunity to better understand why a student might need an extension for an assignment and, if they were in crisis, to redirect them to on-campus resources like our food pantry, The NEST, or our childcare center, The Children’s Greenhouse. Knowing that concrete help is available within the physical campus space is sometimes enough to keep a student enrolled. It is for these reasons that I opted not to use Blackboard Messages and instead opted for campus email. I wanted to break down the barrier of multiple clicks and logins for a student to reach me.

I used the discussion board as not just a weekly check in, but a place to ask students to reflect on what they were thinking and learning, On my exams I always included at least one question that was tied back to posts or comments made by students. For this question, students had to reflect on a specific exchange on the message board and explain how this conversation shaped their thinking. Did the conversation encouraged them to shift opinions, even slightly, or become further entrenched in their initial position. Knowing that their responses were worthy of inclusion on our exams encouraged a higher level of commitment.

Digital Humanism is an effective approach because implementing it requires no additional financial investment on the part of the students, instructor, or college and this framework can be successfully applied across academic disciplines, regardless of topic. It takes the campus’ existing technological infrastructure and harnesses it for the ultimate aim of online student persistence, which in turn can increase student graduate rates when a student is using the online platform to complete degree requirements.

Allen, I. E., Seaman, J., Poulin, R., & Straut, T. T. (2016). Online Report Card: Tracking online education in the United States (pp. 1–57). Wellsely , MA: Babson Survey Research Group.

Pettey, C. (2015, June 5). Embracing Digital Humanism. Retrieved January 1, 2020, from https://www.gartner.com/smarterwithgartner/embracing-digital-humanism/

Shea, P., & Bidjerano, T. (2016). A National Study of Differences between Online and Classroom-Only Community College Students in Time to First Associate Degree Attainment, Transfer, and Dropout. Online Learning, 20(3), 14–15. Retrieved from https://search-ebscohost-com.ezproxy.hofstra.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=cookie,ip,url&db=eric&AN=EJ1113344&site=eds-live

Werthner, H., Lee, E. A., Akkermans, H., Vardi, M., Ghezzi,, C., & Magnenat-Thalmann, N., et al. (2019, May 20). Vienna Manifesto on Digital Humanism. Retrieved January 1, 2020, from https://www.informatik.tuwien.ac.at/dighum/index.php

70% of Students (14/20) who persisted in the course passed and earned Pluralism and Diversity Credit (2019); 90% of Students (18/19) who persisted in the course passed and earned Pluralism and Diversity Credit (2017). According to the Public Policy Institute of California (as cited in the LA Times), only 60% of students enrolled in an online community college class receive a passing grade. https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-online-classes-20140514-story.html