Engaged students are more likely to COMPLETE! Discover some tips to increase learner engagement, get all of your program instructors and online courses "on the same page," and use the BEST elements of competency-based education in your traditional 3 credit hour semester length online courses.

1. Demonstrate the use of competency-based education within the parameters of traditional 3 credit hour semester length online courses. 2. Illustrate 5 effective student engagement techniques to increase retention and student success. 3. Discuss methods to rally instructors around the same goal of student success and utilization of standard best-practices.

We keep hearing about the Texas 60X30 goal, but how are we going to get there without engaging more students? Lack of student engagement is a serious issue because disengaged, discouraged students are more likely to drop out than their enthusiastic and engaged peers. In order to keep students engaged, course content must be presented in ways that capture the attention of students, help them retain the information, and apply the concepts. Instructors must also be actively engaged with the students, guiding them through, providing them with timely feedback, direction, encouragement, and sometimes the needed "nudge" to get the work done! This presentation will discuss the successful Supervisor Certificate program which was redeveloped in a course-based CBE/OER format four years ago. Since its introduction, graduation rates have increased dramatically and other programs have been reformatted to replicate this successful formula. Tips and strategies as well as pitfalls to avoid will be provided.