Engaging Students in Learning Activities

1. Engaging Students in Learning Activities Mark H. Gelula, Ph.D. Director of Faculty Development Department of Medical Education mgelula@uic.edu

2. The Online Classroom • Fast communication across distances • Anytime learning and teaching • Integration of the computer

3. Caveats • Technical skills • All participants must have access to suitable hardware and software • Bandwidth is usually limited • Technological problems

4. Pedagogical Decisions • Learners and their needs • Motivation • How can my course material help the students in their lives outside of the course • Learning styles: an important consideration for every online teacher

5. Instructors and their teaching model • four types of teaching models: • discipline-centered, • teacher-centered, • student-centered cognitive • student-centered affective

6. Questions to Consider • Is this content primarily factual, experiential, conceptual, or attitudinal? • Is this content better approached by an individual activity, a group activity, or both? • Should units be completed at each student’s own pace, or should there be deadlines for assignments?

7. Instructional methods • Lectures and readings • fixed material to students – passive • Discussions and group activities • allow students to interact as they grapple with course material – active • Exercises and simulations • provide individual students with an opportunity to try out course concepts in a limited way and thus enhance their understanding – experiential

8. Modes of Interaction • Two basic concepts • the shape of the communication. • the timing of the communication

9. Shape of the Communication A course activity may be • Solitary (like individual reading) • One-to-one communication (as in a tutorial) • One-to-many (as in a lecture) • Many-to-many (as in a discussion).

10. Timing of the Communication • Synchronous communication • Asynchronous communication

11. Synchronous Communication • Participants receive the communication at the time that it is spoken (or written); • Telephone calls

12. Asynchronous Communication, • Some delay between the time the speaker speaks and the listener hears. • correspondence by mail. • "telephone tag" and voice mail messages.

13. Shape Venue Timing Synchronous Asynchronous One-to-one Off-line On-line • Telephone call • Instant messages • Postal mail • Email One-to-many Off-line On-line • Lecture • Streaming audio/video broadcast • Grocery store bulletin board • Website Many-to-many Off-line On-line • Brainstorming session • Chat room • Hospital patient's chart • Network newsgroup Communication Shape, Venue, and Timing

14. Technological decisions • Software • Hardware • Network Bandwidth • Security

15. A Learning Taxonomy* 1. Knowledge: arrange, define, duplicate, label, list, memorize, name, order, recognize, relate, recall, repeat, reproduce state. 2. Comprehension: classify, describe, discuss, explain, express, identify, indicate, locate, recognize, report, restate, review, select, translate, 3.Application: apply, choose, demonstrate, dramatize, employ, illustrate, interpret, operate, practice, schedule, sketch, solve, use, write. *From Distance Learning Resource Network's Technology Resource Guide Chapter 4: Bloom's Taxonomy. http://www.dlrn.org/library/dl/guide4.html

16. A Learning Taxonomy 4. Analysis: analyze, appraise, calculate, categorize, compare, contrast, criticize, differentiate, discriminate, distinguish, examine, experiment, question, test. 5.Synthesis: arrange, assemble, collect, compose, construct, create, design, develop, formulate, manage, organize, plan, prepare, propose, set up, write. 6.Evaluation: appraise, argue, assess, attach, choose compare, defend estimate, judge, predict, rate, core, select, support, value, evaluate

17. What about Lectures? • Streaming audio-video • PowerPoint presentation • Textual • Lecture • Notes • Supplements

18. Concrete Experience Active Experimentation Reflective Observation Abstract Conceptualization Kolb’s Learning Cycle

19. Experiential Learning Experiencing Applying Sharing Generalizing Processing º º

20. Activity and Learning Didactic: Meaning External to Learner Experiential: Meaning Internal to Learner Exp. Lec Role Play Read i ng Discussion Simulation Instrumnt Lecture Case

21. Three Principles • Active and experiential learning • Dynamic student to student discussion • Opportunities for reflective thought followed by relative risk taking

22. More than Distributing Information • Processes to assist students as they • discover how to think critically and reflectively • work collaboratively • establish leadership skills • learn to exchange ideas leading to • productive problem-solving • careful decision making, • substantive applied learning.

23. Vary Group Size and Purpose • Students learn to • relate concepts to each other • develop new strategies and approaches to problems

24. Organizational Process for a Typical Course Week

25. Asynchronous Discussions • General class conferences are for the use of all of the students in the class. These conferences appear in every student’s conference list, and include “Announcements” • Topical class conferences are associated with each of the topics covered in the course. These conferences are also open to all students, and appear in every student’s conference list, after the general conferences.

26. Asynchronous Discussions • Small group conferences are used by each of the 4-5 person student groups in the course. Each student’s conference list includes only the small group conference for their group; • Private conferences are for discussion between an individual student and the instructors. Using private conferences rather than email allows both student and instructor to keep everything associated with the course in one place.

27. Asynchronous Discussion Examples • Four per-group conferences • Four per-group conferences with topical sub-conferences • Four per-group conferences with weekly sub-conferences • Eight per-week conferences with group sub-conferences

28. Asynchronous Discussion Examples • Three topical conferences with group sub-conferences • Three topic conferences with weekly sub-conferences and group subsubconferences • 2-person paper review • Co-writing papers • Case analysis

29. Synchronous Discussions • Text • Computer bulletin board systems and Unix systems have long supported text-based synchronous “chat” discussions. • Audioconferencing and Videoconferencing

30. How to Suggestions • Use Small Group Sizes • Find Group Facilitators • Set Deadlines • Focus on Goals • Ask Questions • Lie Back

31. Specific Activities • Problem-based Learning • Case Analysis • Peer Teaching • Group Writing • Critical Incident Discussions • Nominal Group Technique • Delphi Process and Polling