Group items tagged

"The results suggest that the lowest-ability students benefit more from engagement than classmates, first-year students and seniors convert different forms of engagement into academic achievement, and certain institutions more effectively convert student engagement into higher performance on critical thinking tests.

"First, student engagement in educationally purposeful activities is positively related to academic outcomes as repretsented by first year student grades and by persistence between the first and second year of college." "Second, engagement has a compensatory effect on first-year grades and persistence to the second year of college at the same institution"

"Specifically, students who reported being highly engaged connected ideas from other courses, changed their understanding of a topic or concept, found connections between their learning and societal problems, and had fun. . . . "What students in online classes seek is connection--to oneself, to others, and/or to course material."

"The History and Future of (Mostly Higher) Education:  How We Can Unlearn Our Old Patterns to Relearn for a Happier, More Productive, Ethical, and Socially Engaged Future* COURSERA/Duke University:  JANUARY 27, 2014-MARCH 8 2014 DRAFT SYLLABUS (Posted October 6, 2013)"

A feature of OSU's Google Apps suite that might be handy for student clubs / student groups -- might be especially handy in engaging off-campus students into student activities? See the video for a quick overview.

Research: When Instructure began analyzing the course designs for its higher ed customers, the LMS company discovered something about getting students to interact with the online elements of their courses.

Excerpt: "In order for video to serve as a productive part of a learning experience . . . it is important for the instructor to consider three elements for video design and implementation: 1. cognitive load 2. non-cognitive elements that impact engagement 3. features that promote active learning."

"Rethinking the variety of voices and formats will not only be better for engagement, but also for learning. Rather than presenting information in scripted bullet points like an old-fashioned e-learning module, we should experiment with formats like debates, conversations, open-ended inquiry and stories in online courses. This will require students to extrapolate key points, synthesize what they've heard, and sometimes leave with more questions than clear take-aways."

Very interesting, sound study. Even though this is done in a face to face environment, the takeaway most likely remains the same - students don't know what effective teaching looks and feels like. Quote: "Compared with students in traditional lectures, students in active classes perceived that they learned less, while in reality they learned more."

Timely! Regan Gurung just published a CTL blog post about this study: http://blogs.oregonstate.edu/osuteaching/2019/12/16/eating-your-peas-like-active-learning-not-preferred-but-better-for-you/

Florida International University "compared 29 online course sections that had been redesigned according to best practices to 664 online sections that hadn't. Across all the metrics the university's researchers looked at--from the time students spent in the online course to how they evaluated the course and the grades they earned--the redesigned courses posted better results."

Interactive graphs -- data, data, and more data. Very engaging.

Lessons from a Texas A&M professor who flipped a 400-student "Introduction to Ancient Rome" course.

I'd love to hear some real world examples that address one point in the article: "Content delivery is the easy part. The hard part is figuring out what to do in class that keeps students engaged, and motivated to prepare for class." If anyone in our group knows of some specific tricks teachers usually employ for this, please let me know. (lil' quizzes? Q&A discussions? or something more interesting?) I'm wondering if there are other sorts of multimedia activities I could make that would serve similar function.

Warren, good question! The peer instruction approach of Eric Mazur et al. (see http://mazur.harvard.edu/research/detailspage.php?rowid=8) is a popular in-class technique. Here are some of other methods OSU hybrid faculty use to link online and face-to-face spheres: 1 - A low-stakes weekly quiz online prior to each class meeting. 2 - A discussion that flows from online to face-to-face and back again. 3 - A very short online essay turned in before each class meeting that builds on the online content, and is tied directly to in-class discussion or group work that follows. 4 - An interactive multimedia lesson online that provides a foundation for or extends in-class learning. (Examples: I recommend looking at Simon Driver and Megan McDonald's hybrid EXSS 444--I can connect you.) 5 - Group work online (e.g., formulating a debate position or a solution to real-world problem) that feeds into the next f2f class activity. 6 - A quiz at the start of each class meeting based on the online content. Whatever the method, a key is that the learning activities online channel rather directly into the in-class activities and vice versa. Think of it as a long ping-pong volley between learning activities in the online and f2f spheres from the first day of the term until the final exam or project.

"As long as aviation pioneers tried to mimic birds, controlled, heavier-than-air human flight proved impossible. Along somewhat similar lines, it is only by breaking decisively from traditional face-to-face models that it will be truly possible to create the kinds of immersive, social experiences in online education that will truly engage students and promote high levels of attainment among broad profiles of students."