This week, Lesley and Seanna have teamed up to share some new thoughts on engagement. In the right hands, amazing things can be done with online activities, discussions, and assessments. The BIG DEAL though: yours are not the only hands. Engagement is grown by everyone in the class by taking our time in knowing and working with each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As we work with Faculty on engagement, we can see that engagement can mean different things to different people. For some, it\u2019s the feeling that we want to \u201cshow up\u201d. For others, it\u2019s having students\u2019 rapt attention. It\u2019s an interesting activity or brain teaser; a hook to start the class. It can be asking questions or contributing thoughtfully to discussions. And how do we know students are engaged? We can see them. We can observe facial expressions and posture. We can hear them ask questions and gauge responses. Move it all online and POOF \u2013 your data source is gone. Prominent researcher and advocate in UDL, Allison Posey<\/a> recently described the grief that accompanies the shift to online learning: the grief for our cherished practices and cherished connections, face to face with students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Try to take heart that you\u2019ll get back there soon. It\u2019s only goodnight, not goodbye in the words of Gilbert Grape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the meantime, here are three wonderful ways that you can get to a good engagement place for both you and your students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Wonderful Way #1<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Building Community is at the Heart of Learning<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Are you teaching the course or the students? If we are teaching students we need connection \u2013 connection between us and individual students and between students. Building a community can feel like making decisions together and knowing who to look to next when you\u2019re stuck or excited.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Practice:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Example 1. Plan good <\/strong>icebreakers and use them throughout the course.Creating a method to help students know each other will have a big impact. Here are some links to icebreakers<\/a> you might choose to use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Example 2. Create an introduction forum e.g. In a forum post, or with an attached video clip or photo series if you prefer, tell us: what your favourite course has been, what your super power is or what is a hobby or something you\u2019ve had more time for during COVID and social isolating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Example 3. <\/strong>Create bonus off-topic forums that invite students to continue building connections to you and one another, such as this Question of the Day activity<\/a>. Consider setting up a Maker Space in Moodle where students informally discuss what they are really trying to say\/do\/think and where they can ask absurd, tangential, or risky questions to connect ideas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Wonderful Way #2<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Support Deep Learning by Opening Up, Not Boxing In<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n By definition, deep learning is connected to engagement. Deep learning happens when we make multiple connections in multiple ways to multiple sources of information to make sense of problems and questions. Rigour arises through the development of a critically voracious learning community, according to Jesse Stommel and Sean Michael Morris<\/a>. Support engagement wonderfully by designing so students look out and around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In practice:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Example 1.\u00a0 Invite community and industry experts into your course.\u00a0 Short 5-minute videos can provide a career perspective on a topic you are addressing in the course. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Example 2. Bring different voices into your course. Ask students to brainstorm all the ideas, models, skills, approaches that they\u2019ve learned in other courses or places that they could bring to this course. Collaborate with other instructors. Pull in podcasts, TED talks, and blog posts. Some KPU instructors are already preparing voice-over PowerPoints together; consider teaming up and becoming interdisciplinary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Example 3. Design activities where students integrate multiple sources of information (writing, images, films, movie clips). By collecting and curating sources together, students have the opportunity to make choices, and create deeper connection and meaning with each other, with you, and with the course. For instance, have students design a gallery of images that reflect themes in a text, or create a community video to show where students could apply or locate a theoretical framework.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Wonderful Way #3<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Finding Meaning and Joy<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Engagement grows from openness, perspective-taking, and joy. Sometimes we think of activities as being fun. What we\u2019re suggesting is moving into a sense of joy which is more enduring, more meaningful. Even when the work is tough, we still have joy in being open, understanding each other, and pulling together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In practice:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Example 1. Acknowledge that the semester may hold difficulties. Reassure students that we\u2019ll keep talking about access, help and working together. Have students brainstorm barriers and find solutions up front. An example of this might be having students work in teams to identify:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00b7 How they prefer to seek help<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00b7 What they anticipate they will be good at\/not so good at<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00b7 The best kind of support they have experienced in the past year<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00b7 What worries\/fears they have about the course or the semester<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00b7 What barriers they might encounter and how we can reduce them together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Example 2. Use storytelling. Students enjoy sharing stories, but also like to hear your own experiences and curiosities. Modelling humanness is a key part of the experience and creating space for storytelling is an important part of the joy of learning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n