Student Engagement in a Changing World (Presentation)

I presented the following presentation at Southeast Community College in Lincoln, NE this week. My slides and notes are posted below.

Title: Student Engagement in a Changing World * Overall Theme: Student Engagement

I. Introduction: This presentation was designed to demonstrate different ways to engage students using a few technology tools along the way. (Animoto video) + Storytelling: Used to be a track coach, busy all the time, quit, realized I was bored with teaching, students were bored and unmotivated, started using tech to mix it up, went back to school, learned how to do it right, better engage students in their own learning. Student engagement is important in what we as teachers do.

“Students learn more when they are actively involved in their education and have opportunities to think about and apply what they are learning in different settings. Through collaborating with others to solve problems or master challenging content, students develop valuable skills that prepare them to deal with the kinds of situations and problems they will encounter in the workplace, the community, and their personal lives.”

Introduce CCSSE study – purpose.

II. CCSSE Data (Poll Everywhere)

2012 CCSSE Executive Summary (PDF) focuses on the importance of relationships among students, faculty, and staff, and with institutions themselves: how they evolve, the value they add, and the importance of building and sustaining these critical connections. The report offers data about the quality of community college students’ educational experiences and describes how colleges across the country are intentionally making connections with students online, in the classroom, on campus, and beyond.

“Personal connections are the unanticipated success factor — a critical variable that improves the odds of persistence.”

The five benchmarks of effective educational practice in community colleges are active and collaborative learning, student effort, academic challenge, student-faculty interaction, and support for learners.

Show key results from active and collaborative learning – Open a poll (“…79% of entering students report that they plan to earn an associate degree, but just _____ of full-time students meet that goal within six years. What percentage met this goal?) Answers:  35%, 45%, 55%, 75% <–PollEverywhere/ View our results and then the CCSSE results for A and C learning.

One more area possibly – Student/Faculty Interaction – another poll question – Transition -relate to student engagement

III. Student Engagement– occurs when “students make a psychological investment in learning. They try hard to learn what school offers. They take pride not simply in learning the formal indicators of success (grades), but in understanding the material and incorporating or internalizing it in their lives.” It is increasingly seen as an indicator of successful classroom instruction, and as a valued outcome of school reform. The phrase has been identified as “the latest buzzword in education circles.” Students are engaged when they are involved in their work, persist despite challenges and obstacles, and take visible delight in accomplishing their work.Student engagement also refers to a “student’s willingness, need, desire and compulsion to participate in, and be successful in, the learning process promoting higher level thinking for enduring understanding” (Wikipedia).

How do we engage students? Go back to Active and Collaborative learning from CCSSE. Introduce 7 Principles. Explain

I started teaching in 1990. Arthur W. Chickering and Zelda F. Gamson published these 7 principles in The American Association for Higher Education Bulletin in March 1987. Been around for a while.

IV. Seven Principles of Good Practice (Diigo)  “http://honolulu.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/FacDevCom/guidebk/teachtip/7princip.htm”  – Use Diigo to discuss

VoiceThread Discussion

• encourages contact between students and faculty,
• develops reciprocity and cooperation among students,
• encourages active learning,
• gives prompt feedback,
• emphasizes time on task,
• communicates high expectations,
• respects diverse talents and ways of learning.

V. Where are we now? (YouTube) The end of 2009. Faced with some of the same criticism that Chickering and Gamson addressed in their 1987 article, we also have to contend with a changing world. I could tell you how the world is changing, but why when I can show you: YouTube video

Transition to 21st Century Literacies-

“As we move forward into the 21st century, it is up to us to identify the essential elements of current multi-literacies and promote them, to address the special characteristics of each of today’s media and technology, and to create the personal and institutional flexibility to change and learn as the world does.” (http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/21stcent/framework.htm)

Slides: Engaging Students in a Changing World (PDF)