Engaging Learners with New Strategies and Tools

Learning can occur anywhere and in any situation, but formal learning tends to occur in a classroom setting. Prior to the era of modern technology, formal education only occurs in the traditional face-to-face (F2F) classroom, where the teacher/instructor stands before a group of learners, who is expected to receive all the knowledge, where possible, from that individual. The way people learn is changing, as the F2F classroom is not the only setting in which learning occurs, online learning, a feature of distance education, is becoming prominent among learners, as well. Durrington etal., in their article, Strategies for enhancing student interactivity in an online environment, said ‘during the past decade, distance education has grown from a phenomenon offered by a few institutions to an almost universal option that students expect’. With this phenomenon, comes the ideology of learner engagement. The engagement process is very important to the learning environment, and it begins with the presence of the learner. Palloff and Pratt (2007) said ‘learning in the distance education cannot be passive. If students do not enter the online classroom, the instructor has almost no way of knowing whether they have been there.’ Once the learner has established a presence, he/she needs to be engaged in the process.

Durrington, etal., and Siemens postulated ideas as to the engagement of the learner online. The former discussed four strategies in which the online learner can be engaged. These include (1) structured learning environments, (2) interactive discussions, (3) peer-to-peer interactions, and (4) problem-based learning (PBL). The latter, on the other hand, proposed, what he called, ‘curatorial teaching’. This, according to Siemens, is where the instructor, likened to the keeper of a museum, creates a platform on which the learner is expected to be engaged. These two ideologies of engagement are great, and can serve as the basis on which new strategies and tools of engagement can be enhanced. However, for the process of this blog, I will focus mainly on one of these two ideologies, as I include new strategies and tools in the engagement process.



The mind map (graphic organizer) above focuses on the interactivity of the learner as he/she experiences the four categories of the online learning environment postulated by Durrington etal.

First, the structured learning environments allowed the learner to experience the instructor’s input in the learning process. The instructor created foundation strategies on which the learner builds. These strategies range from brainstorming to problem-solving, to the instructor’s guidance of mentorship. These are established learning environments, some of which have been used in a F2F situation, and are now being used online. For example, a learner may obtain guidance from an instructor, who may be his/her mentor. This is beneficial to the learner, as professional guidance is always welcome in any learning environment, be it online or F2F.

The interactive discussions’ strategies include the learner’s response to the technology tools that aid in the learning process. These tools include the use of Internet search engines, web page or web site references, or WebQuest, to name a few. Here, the learner interacts with the knowledge presented by these tools. For example, the learner can use the search engine to look up needed information for a project assignment without making a direct link to the instructor for information. In this situation, the learner tends to be the creator of knowledge, not a dependent of the teacher.

Another set of strategies that the learner depends on is the peer-to-peer interactions’ strategies. The strategies see the learner collaborating with fellow learners in the environment by means of blogs, wikis, threaded discussions, and so on. These collaborative technology tools allow the learner to build knowledge in a group setting among his/her peers. A case in point is this blog assignment. Each member of a learning community reads each others blog then critique constructively, making suggestions for improvement, where necessary. This is a way of recognizing the deficiencies and strengths of each member of the learning community, and being able to correct each others deficiencies, and build up each others strengths. Most times this occurs during collaborative assessments, a feature of online group assessment.

A final set of strategies that the learner relies on is the problem-based learning (PBL) strategies. This set of strategies allows the learner to be able to create the learning environment suitable for his/her own success in the learning environment, of course with the aid of the instructor. This set of strategies sees the learner designing steps on which to create a learning platform; being involved in collaborative assessment, part of the overall assessment of the instructor; and utilizing generic skills needed to succeed in this type of learning environment, among other strategies in this category.

These categories, I believe, are not exhaustive, even if they are coupled with Siemens curatorial teaching ideology. There is room for improvement and/or creation of new focuses; only time will tell.


Reference

Durrington, V., Berryhill, A., & Swafford, J. (2006). Strategies for enhancing student interactivity in an online environment. College Teaching , 54(1), 190−193.

Palloff, R., & Pratt, K. (2007). Building online learning communities: Effective strategies for the virtual classroom. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Instructional strategies online http://olc.spsd.sk.ca/DE/PD/instr/intera.html
Instructional strategies for online courses http://www.ion.uillinois.edu/resources/tutorials/pedagogy/instructionalstrategies.asp

Discussion – Online applications http://www.saskschools.ca/curr_content/onlineteach/instructionalstrategies/interactiveinstruction/discussion.htm

Peer-to-peer collaboration http://designing.flexiblelearning.net.au/gallery/support/peer_to_peer.htm

Problem-based learning http://designing.flexiblelearning.net.au/gallery/activities/problem_based.htm