Engagement

Engagement

(In Online Learning)

Any learning involves engagement.  The extent to which you employ various online strategies in your flipping and blending will call for even more intentional engagement.  

EVEN if your students will be in your classroom engaged in a well designed Blended unit divided up into manageable module chunks you will need to actively  design engagement on various ways.  

Some Engagement Ideas: 

1) Build puzzles/mini web quests  into any screencast videos you make. 2) Include brief mini quizzes in those same type of videos. 

3) Plan a module where students collaborate analyzing content in some way so that the knowledge developed can be employed in some valid fashion. 

4) Allow students to self-select mini breaks (10-15 minutes in a 90 minute block)  from the normal lesson flow.  They can be assigned to use content from the regular modules to form a search for a website that has relevant information to their studies.  THEN they call you over and explain how it is relevant. 

5) Discussion Boards - Content: This will add back in some of the person to person interaction (discussion, polite argument) that would be missing in an individualized online based unit.  

6) Discussion Boards - “Water Cooler”: Let us be honest with each other, they live in the world of Facebook, Twitter, etc.  They may have ossues they can share and discuss in a discussion board dedicated to social interaction. Even YOU can participate in it.  Don’t be the leader, but a participant.  

We can come up with more ideas, but you would have more fun doing it for your specific needs.