Hello Jonah,
You ask a very big question with lots of moving parts. This is variously addressed in a growing body of books, studies, articles, case studies, white papers, and graduate thesese. I know becuase I keep reading as many as I can in support of our own work with the Prelude Suite™ www.playprelude.com/ The following are a few articles in which I address an essential issue underpinning your question. In a nutshell, whatever technologies, design features, or activity designs are used they need to transcend virtual distance by helping to create and sustain authetic human connections online with "virtual strangers". It's been rightly said that "the soft stuff is the hard stuff". It would be great to discuss this further given your work in Professional Development curriculum for the MS in Leadership for Creative Enterprises program at Northwestern University. We're doing some really innovative things that might be of interest and value.
Kind Regards,
Howard
Made In Canada: Virtual Team Research & Development
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/made-canada-virtual-team-research-development-howard-b-esbin-phd
Software Teams: Soft Skills. Hard Facts.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/software-teams-soft-skills-hard-facts-howard-b-esbin-phd
High Performing Virtual Teams: Why Symbolic Identity Matters
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/high-performing-virtual-teams-why-symbolic-identity-esbin-phd-1?trk=mp-author-card
University Student Virtual Teams: Challenges & Innovations
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/university-student-virtual-teams-challenges-howard-b-esbin-phd-1?trk=mp-author-card

Hi Jonah,
Really excellent question. Unfortunately there isn't a definitive answer due to the fact that there are numerous learning styles and combinations. Additionally what "engages" one student may cause aversion in another.
I believe the key to solving this issue isn't in finding the single silver bullet that works each and every time but rather in designing a program that appeals to as many learning styles as possible! This entails presenting material in several formats simultaneously. Knowing your student audience is critical to success.
Thank you for the great question!
Best,
Michael A. Capristo, M.H.A., B.S.B.A.

Hello Johan,
The secret is RL interactivity. We cannot learn something from the moment that we unlog from our real time/real life to log in an on-line module. Knowledge comes with experience, not with receiving information. For example: Are you in the UK and you are taking online private courses to improve your English? Take your lesson about shopping while in a supermarket and buy stuff on the same time

Based on my experience to facilitate the student engagement I joined courses providing with:

• documents and referrals to external pages. Docs were available for download
• videos available even when offline to facilitate the students
• periodic tests including practical cases to check the current status of the studies
• a forum to incentivize discussions between students and sometimes with professors too
• a final test providing with a certificate if everything was successful
• anything provided in an userfriendly format
• The most important point to me is provide with an interactive experience engaging and challenging students