Engaging Learners with New Strategies and Tools

Building Knowledge

Building knowledge involves moving from the lower level to higher order cognitive skills. Instead of memorizing and repeating information their knowledge should reflect their ability to synthesize and create using the data they have access to. Creating various types of multimedia products will allow students to demonstrate their ability assimilate and analyze data rather than simply recall that same data.

Engaging in Communication

Expanding social media across a broad range of today’s society provides educators with a rich selection of communication tools. One the challenges facing faculty in online distance programs is creating a culture where these common tools are used for strategic educational purposes. “To encourage high student interactivity in an online setting, the learning environment must be supportive, open, and respectful” (Durrington, Berryhill, & Swafford, 2006 p. 191). This type of interactive learning environment where all stakeholders are valued and respected will bring tremendous depth to the online classroom. It may even be possible to create online courses with higher levels of engaging communication than traditional face to face courses.

Authentic, Collaborative, Problem-based Tasks

No one likes to spend their time on busy work or tasks that seem to have no value or meaning. Online faculty members have the opportunity and responsibility to engage students in challenging real world tasks that stretch the limits of their abilities. This includes completing tasks that require collaboration with other students. In life there are often challenges that cannot be achieved through a single genius or mastermind. It is more realistic to conceive that a team of individuals with unique skills could work together to achieve a far greater feat than that of any single person. Real authentic tasks can be presented as text in collaborative workspaces or as problems in some type of virtual environment.

References

Durrington, V. A., Berryhill, A., & Swafford, J. (2006). Strategies for enhancing student interactivity in an online environment. College Teaching, 54(1), 190−193. Use the Academic Search Premier database, and search using the article's Accession Number: 19754742

Storyboard for Video Presentation

Todd Zakrajsek discusses student engagement and learning

Narrative	Visual
Define engagement	Children engaging in various activities
The relationship between student engagement and learning	Students engaging in learning activities
Into keynote speaker Dr. Todd Zakrajsek	Dr. Zakrajesek still picture
Highlights of Dr. Zakrajsek CV	Graphics showing institutions where Dr. Z has worked.
Dr. Z is actively involved in research and writing in the areas of faculty development, effective instructional strategies, and student learning.	Clips of Dr. Z speaking as well as still shots of publications and research projects.
Students who actively engage in the content being presented achieve greater academic growth.	Students engaging in hands on activities
What instructional strategies will have the greatest impact on increasing student engagement?	Board students staring at a teacher or video presentation.

Assessing Collaborative Efforts

The growth of structured collaboration and group learning within distance education has contributed to student engagement and brought new challenges for educators. As Dr. Siemens stated in the course video, “The challenge is: How do we change an assessment model based on individual learning to a model based on collaborative learning?” (Laureate, 2008). As the transition is occurring between an individual learning model and a collaborative learning community there are several assessment options to consider. Instead of looking at assessment as a separate component to teaching or learning it is more appropriate to view each component as an interdependent piece of the education process. Assessment, learning objectives, and instructional strategies must all be aligned to achieve the highest degree of success. If collaboration and group work is part of the learning objectives then they must also be included in assessment. Some of the possible options for assessment in an online learning environment include peer assessment, providing opportunities for participation in online communities where students receive direct feedback, assessment based on the value of student contribution, and assessment based on computer collected data (Laureate, 2008).  To provide the most comprehensive assessment more than one strategy should be used.

Another important consideration for developing the assessment component of an online program is whether the assessment is fair and equitable. “Assessment should be: fair and direct, based on stated outcomes, and equitable” (Laureate, 2008). It is also worth considering the weight placed on specific levels of achievement vs. student growth. There must be balance between these two aspects to create an accurate, fair, and equitable assessment component.

In addition to these considerations an educator should also consider the unique and individual characteristics of the students who will be enrolling in this program. Each student learns best in different ways and even has what Howard Gardner identifies as multiple intelligences. Students who are strong in the interpersonal intelligence will naturally do well in collaborative and group work. Those who are weak may struggle in this area. In order to meet the needs of these students it will be necessary to differentiate both instruction and assessment. Educators must also consider student growth as well as provide clear and measurable goals for student collaboration.  When these steps are taken students who may struggle with working in groups will have the best chance for success within the distance program.

Reference

Gardner, H. E. (2000). Intelligence Reframed: Multiple Int. Perseus Books Group.

Laureate Education, Inc. (2008). Principles of distance education: Assessment of collaborative learning. Baltimore, MD: Author.