Student Motivation and Engagement by Selby Cull, Washington University in St. Louis Don Reed, Dept. of Geology, San Jose State UniversityKarin Kirk, Science Education Resource Center authored as part of the 2010 workshop, Teaching Geoscience Online - A Workshop for Digital Faculty Jump down to: The Nature of Online Learners | Pedagogic Design | Instructor Behavior | References and Resources The challenge of keeping our students engaged and motivated is common across grade levels, subject matter, and all types of institutions and courses. Online courses, however, present a special concern. With students and faculty in contact only via the internet several new challenges arise. On the other hand, there are several advantages to the online environment that make it easier to engage students. The self-paced nature of online courses allows students to fit the work time into their schedule. Background: The Nature of Online Learners Pedagogic Design for Engagement Instructor Behavior to Promote Engagement Helpful Web Resources
Harvard Education Letter Students in Hayley Dupuy’s sixth-grade science class at the Jane Lathrop Stanford Middle School in Palo Alto, Calif., are beginning a unit on plate tectonics. In small groups, they are producing their own questions, quickly, one after another: What are plate tectonics? How fast do plates move? Why do plates move? Do plates affect temperature? What animals can sense the plates moving? Far from Palo Alto, in the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston, Mass., Sharif Muhammad’s students at the Boston Day and Evening Academy (BDEA) have a strikingly similar experience. These two students—one in Palo Alto, the other in Roxbury—are discovering something that may seem obvious: When students know how to ask their own questions, they take greater ownership of their learning, deepen comprehension, and make new connections and discoveries on their own. The origins of the QFT can be traced back 20 years to a dropout prevention program for the city of Lawrence, Mass., that was funded by the Annie E.
Using Piazza to Encourage Interaction [This is a guest post by Abir Qasem, who teaches intro to programming, AI, cloud, and device programming courses for the Computer Science Department at Bridgewater College. You can find him online or follow him on Twitter at @abirqasem.--@JBJ] In my introductory programming courses, my pedagogy relies heavily on collaborative problem solving during class time. Piazza is a Web 2.0 tool that allows students to ask questions and engage in dialogue on the Internet with the professor and with each other. Click for full size. Piazza has a chatroom feel to it, while offering enough structure to be used effectively in a classroom environment. My initial goal was quite modest – I wanted to use it as an extension to the classroom discussion. Piazza captures class statistics, which can be interesting (see screenshot for “posts” vs. What I specifically did Initially I started the class with challenge questions on Piazza. The bottom line Have you tried Piazza, or a similar system? Return to Top
Pic Collage Pedagogy and Moodle Let's sit back and really reflect on the pedagogy that is at the core of what we, as online educators, are trying to do. Definition of Pedagogy One definition of pedagogy in Wiktionary says The profession of teaching The activities of educating, teaching or instructing Wikipedia has a much longer page on Pedagogy. At one point it said Pedagogy is the art or science of being a teacher, generally refers to strategies of instruction, or a style of instruction. Moodle in three short paragraphs The heart of Moodle is courses that contain activities and resources. There are a number of other tools that make it easier to build communities of learners, including blogs, messaging, participant lists etc, as well useful tools like grading, reports, integration with other systems and so on. For more about Moodle, see and particularly the main community “course” called Using Moodle. Social Constructionism as a Referent How Moodle tries to support a Social Constructionist view Progression
Five Factors that Affect Online Student Motivation Understanding what motivates online learners is important because motivated students are more likely to engage in activities that help them learn and achieve, says Brett Jones, associate professor of educational psychology at Virginia Tech. Based on an extensive review of the literature on student motivation, Jones has developed the MUSIC model of student motivation, which identifies five main factors that contribute to student motivation: eMpowerment, Usefulness, Success, Interest, and Caring. “The primary purpose of the model is to provide instructors with a guide that they can use to make intentional decisions about the design of their courses,” Jones says. In an interview with Online Classroom, Jones explained his model and its implications for online course design. 1. eMpowerment – Students feel empowered when they feel that they have some control over some aspects of their learning. 2. 3. 4. Situational interest can be enhanced by novelty and emotions. 5.
Best Embeds for Moodle, Wikis, and Blogs Apr26 Now that you and/or your students are using wikis and blogs, are you curious what could be added to them? From animated slideshows to collaborative documents to interactive review games, many great (and free) tools are available. As a follow up to my previous post “What Teachers Should and Should Not Be Posting on their Classroom Webpages”, I’ve pulled a master list of embedding options that will hopefully spark your imagination. As you browse the list consider how you will use these embeds. While some of these work perfectly for classroom blog posts, others tend to be more effective wiki tools. One note of warning, however. Good luck and again if you have any other suggestions please post them in the comments section. Collaborative Project Tools aMap is an excellent tool for social studies projects. Communication Tools to Parents and Students Google Calendar – I’ve become a big fan of Google calendar this spring. Photos Student Products Videos
How to use Google Drive Of all the cloud storage and file synchronization services out there, Google Drive is arguably one of the best. The idea behind it is simple: Place any file in Drive and so long as you have Internet access, you’ll be able to view it on any device. Sure, Google isn’t the only company to offer this kind of service — but with its seamless integration with other Google services and a set of dead-simple collaboration tools, Drive easily stands out from the pack. Using Drive isn’t tricky at all. Getting started Step 1: If you don’t already have one, get a Google account. Step 2: Once you’re signed up, you can choose to download Google Drive as a desktop app, or use it exclusively as a Web app through your browser. Basic navigation Google’s UX designers have gone to great lengths to make sure that using their services is extremely easy. To get started, in Drive, click on the big red Create button in the top left. 1.) 2.) 3.) Tips & Tricks: Getting the most out of Google Drive . button.
Discussion Rubric University of Wisconsin - Stout — Schedule of Online Courses, Online Certificate Programs, and Graduate Degree Follow us on Facebook. This rubric may be used for self-assessment and peer feedback. * Open class discussion is an important and significant part of an online course. While class discussion whether online or face to face, can be characterized by free flowing conversation, there are identifiable characteristics that distinguish exemplary contributions to class discussion from those of lesser quality. The criteria found on the rubric above will be used to assess the quality of your initial postings and responses to the postings and comments of peers during class discussion. Original rubric developed by: Lynn E. Used with permission and adapted by Joan Vandervelde University of Wisconsin - Stout — Schedule of Online Courses, Online Certificate Programs, and Graduate Degree Readings on Authentic Assessment Examples of Other Rubrics
iNACOL National Standards for Quality Online Courses (v2) Download (.PDF) Would you like to purchase a hard copy? Contact us. iNACOL organized a team of experts to refresh version one of the iNACOL standards. National Standards for Quality Online Courses is designed to provide states, districts, online programs, and other organizations with a set of quality guidelines for the following: Online course contentInstructional designTechnologyStudent assessmentCourse management Each district or organization using online learning models should use these guidelines, modified for localized needs.