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Engagement Strategies for the Online Learning Environment Dr. Yakut Gazi, Texas A&M – Central Texas Dr. Credence Baker, Tarleton State University Chancellor’s Summit on Teacher Education September 26, 2011 Why Student Engagement/Interaction? National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) • The amount of time and effort students put into their studies and other educationally purposeful activities • How the institution deploys its resources and organizes the curriculum and other learning opportunities to get students to participate in activities that decades of research studies showed are linked to student learning – Level of academic challenge – Active and collaborative learning – Student-faculty interaction – Enriching educational experiences – Supportive campus environment Experiences that Matter – 90% of college seniors worked on projects or assignments with classmates (in or out of classroom) – 50% not written a 20-page paper, one in ten (9%) did not write a paper longer than 5 pages. – One third taken course work that “very much” emphasized synthesizing and organizing ideas – 40% taken course work that “very much” focused on applying or analyzing theories or concepts – 63% spent less than 15 hours/week on studying Types of Interaction Learner – content: the process of intellectually interacting with content that results in changes in the learner’s understanding, the learner’s perspective, or the cognitive structures of the learner’s mind Learner – learner: between one and other learners, with or without the real-time presence of an instructor Learner – instructor: students and teacher communicate with each other; regarded essential by educators and highly desirable by learners Learner – interface: between the learner and the technology used in learning Moore (1989) and Hillman, Willis, & Gunawardena (1994) What Is Teaching Presence? • Traditional Classroom – engaging your students through the design, facilitation, and direction of your course. • Online Course – engaging your students through the design, facilitation, and direction of your course although physical contact is not available. (Garrison, 2000; Picciano, 2002) How to be Invisible in an Online Course • Being “silent” in an online classroom is equivalent to being invisible. • Presence requires action in the online environment. – – – – Communication/Interaction Pictures, Color, Sound Simulations Demonstrations (Blignaut and Trollip, 2003) Why is Teaching Presence Important for Online Learning? • Established Teaching Presence in an Online Course Has Been Positively Linked To: – Increased Affective Learning – Increased Cognition – Increased Motivation – Increased Sense of Class Community (Anderson, Rourke, Garrison & Archer, 2001; Arbaugh, 2001; Richardson & Swan, 2003; Baker, 2004; Garrison & Cleveland-Innes, 2005; Nippard & Murphy, 2007; Baker, 2008) Increasing Teaching Presence From the Beginning: Designing Your Course • Before the course commences, you can infuse personality into the course: – Personalized Graphics – Pictures or Avatars – Welcome Video – Virtual Hallway / Café • Students can post “whatever” here • Plan unique bits of “trivia” separate from course content • Also good place for school-related announcements not necessarily related to the course – Interactive Content Increasing Teaching Presence: Facilitating and Directing Your Course • Strategies for increasing teaching presence during the course: – Contact Students Prior to the Semester if Possible – Develop Consistent Patterns of Communication – Use of Communication Immediacy (Merabian, 1974) ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦ Addressing students by name Initiating discussions Asking questions Using humor Using self-disclosure – Virtual Office Hours ◦ Responding quickly and frequently ◦ Praising others (publicly & privately) ◦ Conveying attentiveness Important for Engagement • Learning objectives • Appropriate interactions to accomplish these objectives • Learning tasks to promote the essential kind of interaction • Degree of structure required to promote interaction • Optimal group size • “Intelligent” use of technology to facilitate engagement and learning • Alignment Questions / Comments