Friday, January 27, 2012

Engaging Learners with New Strategies and Tools

Engaging learners is a vital component in any learning environment. Educators must design creative, challenging, and exciting activities for their learners to ensure they are motivated and engaged in their classrooms and online programs. According to Durrington, Berryhill, and Swafford (2006), learning can be effective whether students are participating in traditional face-to-face classrooms and/or in online programs. Educators can incorporate technology devices, software, and strategies into their curriculums that will assist their learners in being higher-order thinkers, and successful in their learning experience. Learning and instruction must provide opportunities for students to collaborate and build relationships with others and promote positive attitudes as well as increase student participation.

In order for learners to be successful in the learning experience, instructors must provide a clear outline of what is required and how students will be assessed within their course of study. Learners need to feel a sense of comfort, supportiveness, and respect with the learning environment, so they can be successful. Instructors can provide a discussion board for students to collaborate and discuss concepts within the course to build relationships with other students. Students will become more comfortable with others, and develop meaningful connections through dialogue and positive feedback from their peers. Eventually, students will begin to ask knowledgeable questions about course related concepts, tasks, etc., and this will foster opportunities for collaboration within the learning community. Students an also connect through email, telephone calls, computers using facebook, instant messaging, smart phones with twitter, You Tube, ooVoo, iPods, iPads. For more strategies and tools used to engage students in a traditional face-to-face classroom and/or in Distance Learning Programs, see information located at http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/433631/strategies_for_enhancing_student_interactivity_in_an_online_environment/.

Reference

Durrington, V. A., Berryhill, A., & Swafford, J. (2006). Strategies for enhancing student interactivity in an online environment. Information retrieved from http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/433631/strategies_for_enhancing_student_interactivity_in_an_online_environment/

9 comments:

  1. Shannon, Do you feel a face-to-face environment, online environment, or blended environment is more engaging? Does research support your opinion?

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    1. Durff,
      I do feel that a blended environment is more engaging for me. I alos think that it depends on the individual and their personal learning style. With a mixture of face-to-face as well as using technology (whether it's through online programs and face-to-face interactions), any learner can be successful in their learning environment. Research does show that the blended environment is more enganging for learners. Do you think that a face-to-face, online environment, and/or a blended environments is more engaging? Why? Shannon~

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  2. Shannon,

    I fully agree with you that learners need to feel safe and supported, both in online and offline environments. It is much more difficult to develop this, in my opinion, when you do not have the face-to-face interaction inherent to the brick-and-mortar classroom. You noted many tools which may be useful to facilitate this. Excellent post! Don't forget to include links per the rubric. In Blogger there is a tool which allows you to enter link information or convert text in your post to a link.

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    1. Marvin,
      Thank you for respponding to my post. I feel that learners can be successful in online programs once trust and respect as been established between the students and educators. The foundation has to be established for the learning community. In online programs, learners have to seek assistance from other group members and their instructor when they do not comprehend the course information, activities, and tasks. As you know, I have emailed you when I am unsure about completing an assignment, and once you explained the process to me, I was able to complete the assignment. In order for all learners to be successful in any online program, communication and support must be implemented as all times. Shannon~

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  3. Every author we have read notes guiding students as important. Syllabuses, course outlines and other strategies allow student to develop knowledge with a focus.

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    1. Luke,
      I am unsure if you were asking a question or just making a general statement. Shannon~

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  4. Shannon- I too am new to blogging and have asked Lisa Durff to help me out in many situations-so I guess you can say we are reaching out to our community members for tech assisetance. Anyway, the tools you listed above- do you use any of them for teaching?

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  5. Sue,
    Thank you for responding to my blog. I have struggled with using technology tools such as blog and several others, but I will continue to work through my difficulties to become more familiar with new technology tools.

    As for using technology devices/software within my classroom, I am presently using the Interactive Whiteboard, CPS, United Streaming, email, and IPads. My students struggled with the adjustment of using these tools, but I explained to them that these tools will be used to assist them in becoming better learners as well as improve their academic performance. I use this tools in our classroom routines on a daily basis, and majority of my students have adjusted and are gaining a better understanding of these tools. It is a work in progress, but I know in the end all my students will gain confidence in using these tools as well as other devices in their learrning process.

    Are you using any technology devices/software? If so, which devices/software? How have your students responded to the tools/software? Shannon~

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  6. Shannon- just a reminder, we are a separate special needs school from severly profound to moderate levels. The only tech we have available here is the whiteboard (only in 3 classes) and a few ipads. Our speech teacher just received a computer based machine called 'tap it'from a grant. Our school gets over looked a lot for finances so we are very limited to tech devices here. I use my iphone in class because I put a boardmaker app on it with pictures. Also I think some of our teachers here are old school and are afraid of the new technology out there. Thanks for writing

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