Student Engagement Online by Katrina A. Meyer

Author:Katrina A. Meyer [Meyer, Katrina A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781119000761
Publisher: Wiley
Published: 2014-11-14T00:00:00+00:00

Guides to Engagement Online

Three guides to engaging online learners present several activities promoted for their ability to encourage student engagement in the online classroom. Rita-Marie Conrad and J. Ana Donaldson have produced two books: Engaging the Online Learner (2011) and Continuing to Engage the Online Learner (2012). Activities are categorized into Conrad and Donaldson's four phases of engagement in the first book: newcomer, cooperator, collaborator, and initiator/partner. Each phase calls upon the instructor to perform different roles—social negotiator, structural engineer, facilitator, and community member/challenger—which includes providing activities for students to know each other, to work in dyads to think and reflect, to collaborate in small groups to solve problems, and to contribute to designing their own learning. The first three roles are instructor-centric and the fourth role can be instructor-centric, but it also allows for some leadership on the part of students. In the second volume, Conrad and Donaldson (2012) have five phases of engagement: connect, communicate, collaborate, cofacilitate, and continue. The fifth phase (continue) focuses on the transformation of the learner into a fully functioning, independent, and engaged learner.

The vast majority of the activities in these two books are examples of active learning (such as “Dyad Debate” in Conrad & Donaldson, 2011, p. 72), collaborative learning (such as “Group Wiki” in Conrad & Donaldson, 2012, p. 99), and cognitive engagement (such as “Critical Insight” in Conrad & Donaldson, 2011, p. 86). Readers who need specific tactics for engaging students in online courses are encouraged to review these books for ideas that can be adopted as described or modified to fit the needs of a specific course or discipline. Generally, the tactics seem most appropriate for younger students or students new to online learning (or new to learning to learn), although many activities could be applied to older or more mature students who want to design their own learning. It will be essential that instructors using these activities make it clear to students what the learning objective is; if instructors and designers have learned anything from the research on online discussions, it is that activities need to be chosen for educational reasons.

Barkley (2010) has written Student Engagement Techniques that includes 50 “student engagement techniques” that cover eight categories: knowledge, skills, recall, and understanding; analysis and critical thinking; synthesis and creative thinking; problem solving; application and performance; attitudes and values; self-awareness as learners; and learning and study skills. These examples are also heavily oriented to active learning (such as “Seminar,” p. 181), collaborative learning (such as “Analytic Teams,” p. 207), and cognitive learning (such as “Ethical Dilemmas,” p. 313). Many activities are based on collaborative learning, and they go from simple projects to more complex ones (such as “Jigsaw,” p. 289).

These engagement techniques are largely based on active and collaborative learning approaches that are considered to be the “hallmark of student engagement” (Lester & Perini, 2010, p. 72). Yet, these techniques can be applied to all kinds of instructional models such as the CoI or the instructional design models discussed earlier.

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