Enhancing Your Lesson for Student Engagement

Taken from http://nussl.ukmsl.net/campaigns/highereducation/archived/student-engagement/resources/studentengagementquarterly/

Enhancing Your Lesson for Student Engagement

By Prof. Jonathan Acuña-Solano, M. Ed.

School of English

Faculty of Social Sciences

Universidad Latina de Costa Rica

Saturday, April 30, 2016

Post 261

          Laureate Faculty courses for those of us working as faculty members for one of the Laureate Family’s universities are always thought-provoking. Definitely their idea is to make us teaching professionals consider student engagement from various angles. And here we have a scenario for us to consider. No doubt this situation can be happening across this planet, no matter where one is teaching or in what culture learning is taking place.

An instructor is teaching a lesson on a specific topic that the instructor knows is very important for the students to learn. At one point in the lesson, a student asks, “Why do we have to learn this topic?” The instructor is surprised by the question because the instructor believes the answer is obvious. The instructor responds, “Because it is very important,” but does not provide any additional explanation or detail.

On my Post 256 I came to identify a lesson I was teaching that did not seem to engage students. It was rather possible that one of the reasons learners were not engaged was linked to the fact that they were unaware of or unclear about the relevance or importance of the lesson for the course, the program they were studying, or the kind of competence that was needed to have developed as part of their exit profile.

Focusing on the same lesson I explained on my Post 256 I am now proposing some strategies that could be used to help students understand the relevance or importance of the lesson. As mentioned before, my Introduction to Drama class is a bit sidetracked and students are not getting at a very realistic deep learning of the concepts being studied in the course: from Classical Greek Theater to Contemporary Theater. So to help them see the importance of this knowledge, I am making some changes to my initial proposal.

Lessons to focus on	Summarizing the evolution of theater
Learning goal	After providing Ss with the tools to produce their presentations, Drama Ss will produce a graphic summary for the class with good visuals and design.
Additional Element based on Kolb’s Model	Class time inhibits students at times. Consequently, it is necessary to provide them with some room for them to become thinkers and then feelers, or vice versa. The same applies for doers or watchers.
Lack of engagement	Ss are a bit down in terms of energy at this point of the term and they need to be reenergized somehow and this could be the chance
Additional Element based on Kolb’s Model	The reenergizing needed by students at this point of the term may also be provided by electronic means, like in this case. Some learners who do not feel confident while speaking to class can regain their voice doing an alternative kind of work.
Reasons for lack of engagement	Length of the course and amount of critical reviews they have to produce
Additional Element based on Kolb’s Model	Most of the time, critical reviews are done in writing or by giving a presentation. The question is, why can’t we include a virtual element to help students achieve their learning goals? And the answer is that there is no reason that impedes this.
Additional strategies	Have them work on http://www.powtoons.com to produce more engaging critical reviews that they can eventually use in their courses
Stages of learning	1.    Students enrolled in this class with pre-reflective thinking skills, and that needs to be modified.
	2.    Students start moving into quasi-reflecting thinking skills by understanding how this class connects to the overall ELT program and how they will use this knowledge in their future or current teaching.
	3.    Students towards the end of the course become reflective thinkers when they have learned the basics and start creating their own arguments and building their long-lasting knowledge.
Additional Element based on Kolb’s Model	Kolb’s Learning Model will prompt students to become reflective thinkers, not just mere spectators. Furthermore, by applying this learning model, students can become feelers, deep thinkers, doers, and watchers (more analytical). This can be a great change in their way of learning.

          The proposed changes are just ways of dealing with this specific scenario of mine. They may or may not work, and only time will tell me whether they were appropriate or not.