Teaching & Learning Strategies
To Begin: Maintaining engagement
Four ways to keep students engaged
Maintaining student engagement through the course requires four strategies
Consistent layout and structure: a simple and intuitive design allows students to focus their attention on understanding the information, not the interface. Consistent use of outlines and structures in the design of a course communicates information learning and assessment activities effectively. When these designs are reinforced by regular use, a design pattern emerges that allows for maintained engagement.
Print media such as a books, chapters or journal articles have headings, abstracts, footnotes and summaries. These are familiar design patterns. Digital media do not automatically follow print design patterns and this inconsistent structure can impair communication. Designers should look for a course shell or template that can offer common design patterns. These patterns become authentic when they are customised, adapted or authentic
Clear, but friendly, instructions and guidelines: there is a tendency among teachers to communicate important information with gravitas. But this authoritarian tone can provoke anxiety and might impair understanding or cause withdrawal. An appeal to students’ logic, emotions or character offers another way to communicate
Finding the right tone, especially when online, can be difficult. An authoritative voice when transcribed into text, might seem authoritarian. Choosing and finding the correct tone can be difficult. First person works better third person. Action orientated words prompt student to respond to instructions
Challenging and authentic tasks: learning requires the combination of application and effort to set tasks. If assigned tasks are to be engaging and lead to new understanding and insights, they need to be structured in a manner that allows the students to experience a sense of achievement
It is important to consider whether mastering the “tasks” and / or the “tool” is the focus of the activity. Cumbersome and unintuitive user interfaces can restrict the student’s satisfaction in completing a challenging task. Or a focus on learning a particular tool, and not explaining a concept, could lead to misplaced effort
Timely, elaborated feedback: the evidence strongly suggests that when feedback is immediate and specific, it results in better learning
Prompt feedback is important, as is understanding the way the feedback is received and understood. Sometimes feedback does not need to be personal and different media offer different means to provide feedback in the form of examples and non-examples, scoring guides or models