I teach some fully online math courses (community college in the USA), and I'd like to hear how you have made your online classes successfully "interactive" along three axes: Student-to-Instructor (S2I), Student-to-Student (S2S) and Instructor-to-Student (I2S)
Based on student feedback to me (during and after the term), my classes operate alright on content -- they feel the coursework and lessons work well together. What I feel they (may) suffer from is a lack of person-to-person interaction.
Some things I already do:
I provide written feedback to students on quizzes and exams (I2S)
I hold open office hour "help sessions" (both online and in-person, regardless of which course section a student is in) which I remind students about and personally invite them to attend. (I2S and S2I, often becoming S2S)
I make an introductory post at the start of the term in the “Discussion Forum” in our LMS and ask students to do the same with responses to another person's post. (S2S, I2S, S2I)
I send semi-weekly (at least) emails briefly introducing the upcoming topics. (I2S)
Because our college has officially frowned on mandating any type of synchronous activities for online students, I have not found a way to encourage group-work (which would be a standard thing in my face-to-face classes). So, I don't know how to get S2S interactions happening in my class.
Do you have experiences that have helped on any of these axes? I would definitely appreciate hearing if using discussion boards have helped in math courses, other than the typical first "welcome to class" posts. Have you managed this in a system that discourages synchronous activities for students, all while keeping things "interactive"?
Edit: Note that this question is about a 100% remote, asynchronous format where students cannot be forced to do a certain thing at a particular time (per the college's rules). There is no "in class" time scheduled. [There are exam days, where a student must log in to take an exam sometime between 8:00am and 11:59pm.] I am seeking experience increasing interaction in this type of setting.