Learner Engagement is a term reflecting positive interaction and participation within a learning environment, be that a single course or an entire learning system.

An engaged learner is not only participating in a learning activity because they must do so to complete their goals, but is actively participating in the learning process because they are enjoying it.

There are several methods you can employ to keep learners engaged and keep them from losing interest via the two major enemies of the engaged learner: Boredom and Frustration. I'll cover a few of them here based on my own experience in keeping learners engaged in a digital learning environment:

Fighting Boredom:

• Put a face to the name! I spoke about this in an earlier update but people are programmed to focus on the bbody language of other people. Have a visible instructor in your video content.

Put a face to the name and try to speak casually!

• Break up non-participatory activities such as reading and watching videos with small quizzes. keep these non-participatory activities under 5 minutes: These days a great many of us have the attention span of kittens. Add funny questions to the quizzes, or format the quiz into scavenger hunt or matching game.
• Offer badges or certification. Give your learners something tho work towards and a reward for their participation. When we are working towards something we tend to be much more engaged in learning.
• Create cross-student engagement by allowing commentary or setting direct links to discussion forums on every lesson to increase metacognition. Even better if possible group students into collaborative quizzes or projects.

Speak conversationally to your learners. Speak as if you were speaking to them at a coffee shop or in your living room. Avoid acronyms and don't assume your learners know what an acronym stands for just because it is common knowledge. Don't afraid to be funny or make fun of simple mistakes, as these just make you seem more human which your learners will react to positively.

Fighting Frustration:

Take a moment to make sure your learners are comfortable with your learning environment to head off frustrations down the line!

• Try and get ahead of frustrating elements in your course content. If there is a particularly confusing piece of content make sure you spend extra effort making clear explanations and instructions within the course/activity itself. If there is a common complaint you are hearing through help channels, address or fix the issue right within the lesson itself so that the learner can the initial frustration.
• Set a mid-course followup to check in with your students (this can be automated in most systems) to make sure there aren't any nagging issues or help necessary that the student either hasn't had time or has been uncomfortable about addressing. The act of checking in itself will allow a student to feel more heard and be more engaged in the content, as well as offering valuable insights to the learning designers.
• Allow frequent links to email or direct help resources within lessons. Make absolutely sure an instructor or help resource is getting notifications of questions or concerns coming from within a course and make sure the student is replied to quickly, regardless of the question. Learners will be more engaged when they feel like they are in a collaborative environment with their instructors. 

It's important to remember, especially in a self-guided learning environment that an engaged learner is a successful learner, and to use all the unique tools a digital learning environment can supply to keep that engagement high.

Sources:

https://www.talentlms.com/ebook/learner-engagement/strategies

https://edyoucated.org/blog/what-exactly-is-learner-engagement-and-how-do-you-measure-it

https://trainingindustry.com/articles/learning-technologies/the-5-golden-rules-of-creating-video-training-content/