In the 21st century, technology in teaching is everywhere. From K-12 classrooms to graduate courses and corporate training, teachers and learners interact more and more with technology. One of the biggest uses of technology in teaching is the online classroom. By incorporating multimedia into the online classroom, teachers can make online learning dynamic and engaging for students of all ages.

Advice to post a faculty bio and develop online presence are not uncommon, but when I look out at my class roster in the school's learning management system (LMS), on a sea of new names at the beginning of each term, my focus has increasingly become direct instructor-student exchange with each person.

This article answers some FAQ about online collaboration.

Close your eyes, and picture the most engaging discussion you've ever had in a classroom. What characterized that discussion? Was it the participants' passion and enthusiasm for a particular topic? Was it their energized, but respectful, debate around differing perspectives on a challenging subject?

Flickr Photo Courtesy Of: Eric Wignall Teaching Online Across Devices In online courses, discussion forums provide a place for student-to-student and instructor-to-student interaction. Within discussion forums, students share thoughts and review the ideas of others modeled through collegial, dialogic Read More >

Just because you are running your learning program online, that doesn't mean that you don't have to consider building an online learning community.

How can an instructional designer (ID) leverage social interaction online to engage learners, increase exchange and dialogue, and get better results, without losing the purposeful focus provided by an instructor or traditional course content and structure? Here is an approach that you can adapt to your requirements.