Engaging Learners with New Strategies and Tools - EDUC 8842 Module 4

 

The learning environment in an online setting is a determining factor for effective engagement of learners. The environment must be supportive, open, trustworthy and respectful (Durrington, Berryhill, & Swafford, 2006). Anderson (2008) in his community of inquiry model stated the essence of social presence, cognitive presence and teaching presence for learners to be actively engaged in an online learning environment. Social presence will establish a supportive environment for learners with a level of comfort and safety to express opinions and present themselves as real human beings. Cognitive presence will ensure the development of critical thinking skills, and teaching presence will involve instructional design and organization of the learning experience, activities to facilitate interactivity and varied forms of direct instruction. It is vital that educators create learning resources that will expose learners to critical concepts on the new knowledge to be acquired (Siemens, 2008).

The framework of the teaching presence and its components is the driving force for building a strong sense of community among learners. Shea, Li, Swan and Pickett (2005) in their study on the role of teaching presence in developing a learning community in online asynchronous college courses established that perceived teaching presence is associated with student’s sense of a learning community. Another finding established by Swan and Shih (2005) in their study on the nature and development of social presence in online discussion was the existence of a significant relationship between perceived social presence and satisfaction with online discussions.

Strategies that encourage student interactivity include asynchronous instructor-mediated discussion, student-moderated discussion, and problem-based learning (Durrington et al., 2006). The educational experience of learners must involve communication, collaboration and content, which are embedded in these various strategies. There is a variety of tools that could help to achieve a high level of student interactivity in online learning environment. The use of Skype is very effective for communication as it includes facilities for web conferencing, online meeting, instant messaging and sharing of files. Google docs is a collaborative tool that allow learners to share ideas and work together on documents in asynchronous and synchronous ways. Learners can access the documents on any system as a result of the cloud computing. Mind Meister is online collaborative tool for developing mind map concepts. It is an easy to use tool for class tasks. It allows learners to create mind maps on various lessons with color coding for easy of reference, and can be used on interactive whiteboard, to engage learners in brainstorming activities. Google sites allow learners and teachers to integrate technology into their daily activities. It is free, fast and easy to use. In an educational environment, it can be used to build content knowledge, which is accessible anywhere.

References

Anderson, T. (2008). Teaching in an online learning context. In Anderson, T. (Ed.), The theory and practice of online learning (2^nd ed.) (p. 343-365). Edmonton, AB: Athabasca University Press.

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

Shea, P., Li, C. S., Swan, K., & Pickett, A. (2005, December). Developing learning community in online asynchronous college courses: The role of teaching presence. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, 9(4). Retrieved from http://sloanconsortium.org/jaln/v9n4/developing-learning-community-online-asynchronous-college-courses-role-teaching-presence

Siemens, G. (2008, January). Learning and knowing in networks: Changing roles for educators and designers. ITForum.

Swan, K., & Shih, L. F. (2005). On the nature and development of social presence in online couse discussions. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, 9(3). Retrieved from http://sloanconsortium.org/jaln/v9n3/nature-and-development-social-presence-online-course-discussions