Engaging Students in an Age of Disengagement

Ken Ronkowitz

Dis/Engagement Research

Social Media Engagement

Design Tools

Student Expectations

MOOC

en·gage /enˈgāj/ verb

To occupy, attract, or involve (someone's interest or attention); Cause someone to become involved (in a conversation or discussion)

Gallup: As students age, they disengage

Explanations for the burn out:- focus on standardized testing- standardized curricula - lack of experiential and project-based learning- lack of pathways for students who do not want to go on to college

Gallup’s research suggests that America’s current public system of education & workforce preparation falls short of college and career readiness targets. Only 3% of Americans “strongly agree” that today’s high school dropout is ready for the working world.With a high school diploma, that number only increases to 4%. And in colleges…

Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll : Public Attitudes Toward the Public Schools

Beginning College Survey of Student Engagement and the Faculty Survey of Student Engagement 2012

• First-year college students spent an average of 15 hours per week preparing for class; seniors averaged 15.5 hours. – Those earning grades of A or A- studied about 4 hours more

per week compared to their first-year peers with grades of C+ or lower.

• In most fields, full-time seniors devoted about one to two hours less to class preparation than faculty expected.

• When asked how much they believe students actually study, faculty estimates in all fields fell short of student accounts by five to eight hours per week.

• On average, distance education students spent about one hour more per week preparing for class than their on-campus counterparts.

• Attitudes toward seeing benefits from college were comparable regardless of how engaged students had been in high school.

• Job opportunities were cited by the majority of seniors among the factors motivating their choice of major, but this varied by racial/ethnic background and field of study. – Seniors majoring in science, technology, engineering,

and math were more likely than others to cite job opportunities as a motivating factor.

And at work…

Gallup Daily tracking series conducted since 2010 to explore American workers' engagement levels shows majority of American workers not engaged in their jobs

• Highly educated and middle-aged employees among the least likely to be engaged

• 71% of American workers are "not engaged" or "actively disengaged" in their work

Faculty are employees too, so…

And yet…

?

The Social Media Funnel

Action

TrustEngage

Social Media Engagement Inequality

Source: Jakob Nielsen http://www.useit.com/alertbox/participation_inequality.html

MOOC?

MASSIVE

http://www.flickr.com/photos/neosnaps/2596044654/sizes/o/in/photostream/

OPEN

ONLINE

COURSE

www.canvas.net

MOOC Engagement Inequality

90% read content but complete < 2 assignments/tests

10-15% complete coursework & are engaged in discussions

Do we need to redefine “lurkers” and engagement in the MOOC environment?

Disruption: MOOC Massive Open Online Courses have been getting substantial recent

attention. But future histories of education will likely only note them as a harbinger of change or transitional step into an educational model that is organized around learning.

In most cases, MOOCs operate on a grand scale but use a traditional format in which a faculty member (or two) is responsible for most aspects of course design, delivery, and assessment. (known as xMOOC)

The real threat to traditional higher education embraces a more radical vision that removes faculty from the organizational center and uses cognitive science to organize the learning around the learner. And such models exist now.

www.insidehighered.com/views/2013/04/15/essay-how-technology-and-new-ways-teaching-could-upend-colleges-traditional-models

design tools

for ENGAGEMENT

What knowledge and

content is shareable

and/or open to input?

1

Determine appropriate

online spaces and channels

Assess unique attributes and culture of each social media

space

2

Develop participation opportunities

3

Designing Online Engagement – Social Media

Create an engagement

calendarAdaptable to education?

6 learning designs that encourage engagement

Begin with objectives, goals, desired results (more under TOOLS)

Beginning with the end - backwards design

1

backwards design can be helpful for technology adoption

project-based learningproblem-based learning

team-based learning

2

real-world assignments

challenges

http://flickr.com/photos/ilker/2493908947/

3

A focus on problem solving

http://flickr.com/photos/nataliejohnson/237529176/

4

inquiry

5

a studio environment

6

National Programs

NGTM.net Since 1969, faculty seminars for a rational analysis of instructional problems and to develop realistic, creative approaches and solutions that address those specific problems.For example:

moving F2F classes hybrid online MOOC

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

• Completion by Design works with community colleges in 5 states to increase completion and graduation rates for low-income students under 26 years old.

• The Next Generation Learning Challenges provides investment capital to technologists, institutions, educators, and entrepreneurs to bring promising technology solutions to pre-college students for college and career readiness through college and secondary school partnerships.

www.20mm.org

To grow access and success by eliminating unnecessary hurdles to affordability in higher education and positively disrupt a system that hasn't seen significant evolution for decades, a system that has yet to fully leverage the efficiency, interactivity, or scalability of the digital age.Example: Open textbooks

tools tech & teacher

At its best, curriculum drives technology use

Not curriculum driven by technology

Embedded technology

Wikis for collaborationBlogs for real audiencesClickers for interactionGoogle (Apps, Plus, Hangouts) and Social Networks for all of the above

Teachers embracing digital toolsIn (and out) of the classroom

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Less C More NIn curriculum design by teachers…

Teachers providing a global audience

And connected (networked) learning

teachers as facilitators of learning

providing authentic (real world) assessments

and, when possible, a customized learning experience (not out of the publisher’s box)

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mobile As tool of engagement rather than method of disengagement

F2F , Online, HybridHow do the tools vary?

Student [employer?]

Expectations

based on a technology rich lifestyle

http://flickr.com/photos/paulm/1584418819/

always on

http://flickr.com/photos/stuckincustoms/497814516/

And these expectations tend to overlap others

alwaysconnected

http://flickr.com/photos/crash-candy/2347430057/

global collaboration and

http://flickr.com/photos/pingnews/491430005/in/photostream/

an authentic audience (beyond faculty & classmates)

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interaction is expectedfaculty:student student:student student:world

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cwalker71/2637125074

Social learning elements

http://flickr.com/photos/nattu/895220635/

customizable learning experiences

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Individualized instruction versus learning options

Continual feedback

versus instant feedback

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http://flickr.com/photos/oberazzi/318946369/

And so…• Can educators hijack social media

engagement design and tools for academic engagement?

• Can we meet studentexpectations within academic objectives?

• Can we (re)design curriculum using pedagogy that encourages engagement?

• How does engagement differ F2F, online, in hybridand MOOC settings.

Ken Ronkowitz

ronkowitz.com@ronkowitz on Twitter