3.1.1. Students' engagement in VLEs
Engagement
is defined by Bond and Bedenlier (2019:2) as “the energy and effort that students employ within their learning
community, observable via any number of behavioural,
cognitive or affective indicators across a continuum. It is shaped by a range of
structural and internal influences, including the complex interplay of
relationships, learning activities and the learning environment .”
Table 1. Dimensions of student engagement (Adapted from Bond et al., 2020)
|
Cognitive engagement |
Affective engagement |
Behavioural engagement |
|
Deep learning strategies, self-regulation and understanding (e.g. critical thinking, operational reasoning, self-regulation, preference for challenging tasks). |
Positive reactions to the learning environment, peers and teachers, as well as their sense of belonging and interest (e.g. enthusiasm, sense of belonging, satisfaction, curiosity). |
Participation, persistence and positive conduct (e.g. Attendance, Homework completion, Participation/involvement, Interaction, Study habits/accessing course material). |
In line with this definition, Bond and Bedenlier (2019) propose a “student engagement framework” that conceptualises how educational technology, in addition to having an impact on students’ social engagement, also influences short-term and long-term academic outcomes (see fig. 1). The former refers to discipline-specific knowledge and higher-order thinking skills, motivation, sense of belonging and well-being, improved relationships through peer learning and collaboration, etc. The latter relates to lifelong learning, personal development and greater involvement in the wider educational community.
Figure 1. Student engagement framework Bond and Bedenlier (2019, p. 8)
The close
interplay between technology-enhanced learning, engagement and outcomes require
teachers to periodically reflect on their ability and confidence in the use of
technology, their role as facilitators and the impact of their practices in
student achievement.
Do you want to know more? The following document will show you visually the student engagement framework, a list of indicators of student engagement, learner engagement data, possible ways to measure engagement and techniques and examples to promote engagement. Click here.
The role of teachers, therefore, is crucial in fostering learners’ engagement. To achieve this goal, they shall be able to:
● Promote active learning (Prince, 2004) and a sense of belonging to a community of learners.
● Put learners at the centre and make them responsible for their learning.
● Focus both on what and how learners learn.
● Challenge learners to foster learners' metacognition, and develop their critical skills but also their SRL skills.
● Pursue meaningful learning connecting to real-world issues.
● Require learner commitment to oneself and to others.
● Promote reflection for learner self-awareness of what and how they learn (see 1.1).
As the table below shows, instructors have to acquire different roles depending on the context and the type of learners and they have to adapt the learning process accordingly.
Table 2. Adapted from: Conrad, R. M., & Donaldson, J. A. (2011). Engaging the online learner: Activities and resources for creative instruction (Vol. 38). John Wiley & Sons. (p. 9)
|
Learner role |
Teacher role |
Process |
|
Newcomer |
Social negotiator |
Instructor provides activities that are interactive and that help learners get to know one another. Instructor expresses expectations for engagement in the course, provides orientation to the course, and keeps learners on track. Examples: icebreakers, individual introductions, discussions concerning community issues such as Netiquette rules in a virtual lounge. |
|
Cooperator |
Structural engineer |
Instructor forms dyads of learners and provides activities that require critical thinking, reflection, and sharing of ideas. Examples: Peer reviews, activity critiques. |
|
Collaborator |
Facilitator |
Instructor provides activities that require small groups to collaborate, solve problems, reflect on experiences. Examples: content discussions, role-playing, debates, jigsaws. |
|
Initiator / partner |
Community member / challenger |
Activities are learner-designed or learner-led. Discussions begin to go not only where the instructor intends but also where the learners direct them to go. Examples: Group presentations and projects, learner-facilitated discussions. |
In a VLE, it is important to engage students
in content creation through learning by teaching activities, peer-based
activities and collaborative learning in a hyflex environment.
This can be done through:
(1) Moodle or other VLEs combined with a synchronous tool (Zoom or MS Teams for instance). While a VLE requires an ongoing engagement at any time according to students’ availability, instead a videoconference tool represents a one-time engagement at a specific time. The combination of the two has to occur synergically. For instance, during a one-time session in Zoom, the teacher explains the basic theoretical notions related to the class and explains the activity that students have to carry out. During this session, students express their doubts and ask questions. After the synchronous session, students are required to deliver their activity in the forum and to answer each other’s contributions suggesting ways to improve it.
(2) Learner autonomy-supportive teachers. This means that thanks to their teachers, students feel responsible for their own learning, suggest further learning materials uploaded in the VLE, suggest possible changes in the syllabus and “criticise” constructively the didactic content proposing improvements. This also implies that students are able to search for learning content outside of the VLE and share it with peers and teachers to nurture the discussion.
(3) Collaboration among peers. There are tools that work successfully when combined with a VLE and that allow teamwork. Among them, there are wikis and Google docs but also text-annotation tools such as Amanote and Hypothesis. Amanote allows students to annotate a wide range of course materials through slides, videos and text to boost their productivity. Hypothesis allows students to annotate the web and to engage them with social annotation. Students can select texts, reply and share annotations and collaborate privately with peers. Similarly, there are video tools for social engagement such as Annoto, VideoAnt, and Edpuzzle, which turn passive video consumption into an active, social and collaborative experience and allow you to add annotations, comments and images to videos. Annoto allows students to share their ideas and write comments while watching a video, turning their learning experience into a social one. VideoAnt has very similar features and was created by the University of Minnesota, Edpuzzle is specifically designed for schools and makes lessons interactive allowing students and teachers to add notes, images and questions during the video lesson.
In addition, here below there is a list of tools that can be used to engage students in online education, meaningful learning and gamification.
Quizziz. It is designed for assessment, instruction and practice and it allows the creation of quiz games that students can play in class and/or at home.
Kahoot. It is a multifaceted service that can be used in schools, at work, at home and in academic contexts, it allows you to create quiz games students can play alone or in teams.
Plickers. It is designed for formative assessment and it works through cards for multiple choice quizzes. Students can play alone or in teams.
ClassCraft. It contributes to students’ motivation, behaviour improvement and teamwork because it turns every class into a role-play, like a videogame.
Genia.ly. It creates eye-catching presentations, visually attractive infographics and conceptual maps to foster students’ engagement and metacognitive skills.
Match The Memory. It creates flashcard memory games for free using videos, pictures, events and links.
(4) Peer-based learning (learning by teaching). When learners are trained on how to use the aforementioned tools and then share their artefacts with the group, they become co-creators, they teach each other and the teachers themselves learn from them. Learning becomes a bi-directional process.
To explore these topics further click here