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KF: This edition (006) looks at "student engagement" - 5 minutes of video that might just introduce a few new ideas about getting students to engage.
Via Kim Flintoff
Video lectures may have worked as a stop-gap measure in the emergency move to online learning, but they just don't cut it for the long term. Here are nine ways to bring distance education courses to the next level.
Higher education educators play a pivotal role in supporting students' emotional engagement with online course content.
Employment is the main reason students drop out of online degree courses, our new research shows. This is despite claims that online university programs offer greater flexibility to workers and employers who want to up-skill.
Most online dropouts occur due to students’ changing employment commitments, which affect their ability to complete assessments on time.
However, the assessment policies of many universities offer no concession for work-related challenges, so working students often fail to resume their studies. To tackle the biggest driver of attrition, university policies must offer flexibility around employment and assessment. Only then can universities truly provide the flexible online learning experience that workers and industry require.
5 Paths to Blended Learning Engagement
Teachers can guide practice and create expectations in these 5 ways:
1. Create and nurture the need to know.
2. Combine collaborative work with virtual meetings.
3. Set goals and milestones.
4. Student assignments can be individualized online.
5. Allow students to use appropriate online tools to learn core concepts.
We often talk about the importance of learner motivation in eLearning. In fact, we’ve even said that motivation is often more important than the specific content when seeking to maximize the impact of instruction – particularly in eLearning, where relatively few social or external environmental factors are likely to inspire learners.
This has a great deal of surface value, in that motivation is actually a factor in all of human activity. For example, it’s been over 95 degrees here every day for the last week, and my motivation to work outside has plummeted. Of course, lacking motivation affects my level of effort. If willing effort is the only result of creating motivation, then saying that “designing for learner motivation in eLearning is important” is not really that significant. Of course it’s true, but it is so general a statement that this insight gains us very little in trying to really improve instruction. But actually, our focus on motivation has very specific importance in instruction.
It’s no longer acceptable to upload video lectures to a website and call it a course. We need to start redesigning courses from scratch to find new ways to engage students.
I used to think that when students were disengaged it was their own fault, and while sometimes that is still true, I have found in my years of teaching that a lot of the fault lies with me as the teacher. Yet, realizing that I may be the cause of my students disengagement is hard to swallow. It certainly has not done wonders to my self-esteem, and yet, there is something liberating about realizing that while I am a part of the problem, that also means that I can fix it.
Via Nik Peachey
Since then, I've tried lots of different strategies in my classes and, despite the fact that our world has become more connected through social technologies in recent years (that are easy to use and often free), I still have students who regularly share with me that my class is different -- because they feel like they know me and they feel like I care. This isn't to say that online instructors who use voice/video and interactive tools to design and facilitate their courses are the only instructors who care. But these strategies are key to my ability to be present in the experiences of my students. And they're key to my ability to share my inflection, my concern, and my enthusiasm for them -- nuances text cannot convey.
Via Peter Mellow
... Passively watching a video doesn’t achieve the same level of rich learning, because it does not require the student to do anything but sit, watch, and hopefully absorb information. The great news is, designing active learning experiences for your MOOC is fun and won’t cost you a thing! ... http://www.scoop.it/t/easy-mooc
Via Lucas Gruez, SusanBat
The infThis hub contains the 2014 student and faculty studies from the EDUCAUSE Technology Research in the Academic Community research series. In 2014, ECAR collaborated with 151 institutions to collect responses from 17,451 faculty respondents across 13 countries about their technology experiences. ECAR also collaborated with 213 institutions to collect responses from 75,306 undergraduate students about their technology experiences.
Understanding the workings of your mind can lead to optimum essay and exam results at university. Jessica Powell speaks to the experts
According to self-determination theory, a theory developed by Deci and Ryan, three basic psychological needs affect motivation: autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Susan Epps, associate professor of Allied Health Sciences, and Alison Barton, associate professor of Teaching and Learning, both at East Tennessee State University, have used this theory to develop ways to improve online learner motivation.
Via Ana Cristina Pratas
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Several years ago, when it first became clear that online education was becoming more prevalent, questions were asked about the format of educational content. At the time, in the early years of online education, we witnessed teachers taking content that had been traditionally delivered, and pushing it across into the online environment. This practice quickly became known as 'shovelware' because teachers were ultimately shovelling their content across to the online platform. Quantity was more important than quality, because a rapid population of new digital spaces was deemed to be expedient - the pedagogy could wait.
Scaffolding is an instructional strategy that provides students with a framework that guides and supports their learning. Here's how to get started.
The key to student motivation has to do with internal drive and individual interests. Whether educators, entrepreneurs, or motivational speakers, we must ask ourselves: How can I help each of my students to feel more connected to themselves as learners, as well as more personally invested in the world they live in, as a result of deep engagement with the subject matter at hand? Many of the factors that hold true in effective traditional education formats also apply to online learning formats. For example, a low student-to-teacher ratio is necessary for probable student success, regardless of the format – in-person or online. However, there are a few specific techniques online instructors can adopt that will maximize the motivation, learning, and subsequent retention of adult students. To motivate students online, provide opportunities for students to personally connect to the subject matter; have students set their own goals; set up a system for self-monitoring and progress-tracking; encourage students to collaborate with you on the syllabus or course reading material; and act as the facilitator, rather than transmitter, of information.
Wondering how to Boost Online Learner Retention? Check 10 innovative ways to Boost Online Learner Retention and make learners remember the key takeaways.
"Often times, tips for engaging learners in corporate online learning include external features and novel delivery methods. These range from using animations, “real-life” scenarios, game-design, leaderboards, and badges. But with learners actually spending more time learning and developing themselves outside of the corporate learning infrastructure, knowing what is appealing for them could have us directing our efforts and attention in a more focused approach that leads to greater engagement, activity and—more importantly—results. Here are some tips based on learner preferences that could give you the results that you are seeking."
Via EDTECH@UTRGV
You are probably reading this because you are interested in the use of digital media in learning. My single strongest recommendation to you: if you want the best and latest evidence-based, authoritative, nuanced, critical knowledge about how digital media and networks are transforming not just learning but commercial media, citizen participation in democracy, and the everyday practices of young people, my advice is to obtain a copy of the new book, “Participatory Culture in A Networked Era,” by Henry Jenkins, Mizuko Ito, and danah boyd.
Paste your text into Analyze My Writing and it will generate a ton of information about your writing. Analyze My Writing will give you a break-down of the readability of your writing on five indices. The analysis will include listings of the most common words and most common word pairs in your writing. A listing of how frequently you use punctuation and punctuation types is included in the analysis provided by Analyze My Writing. Finally, a word cloud is included at the end of the analysis of your writing.
Via Jim Lerman
Wondering how to Engage Passive Learners In eLearning? Check the 6 Tips To Engage Passive Learners In eLearning.
Via EDTECH@UTRGV
Discover the secret recipe for creating engaging eLearning courses. Only 4 ingredients required!
Via EDTECH@UTRGV
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