Designing for Student Engagement: Creating Learning Activities with Interactive Multimedia

Tracy Penny Light

LT3 Centre, University of Waterloo

MERLOT International Conference

August 5, 2004

OverviewWe will consider:• the importance of student engagement in

learning• the importance of learning styles in activity

design• different types of learning activities• the importance of an integral approach to

learning activity designWe will work to:• design a “mock” interactive learning activity• design a learning activity for a MERLOT

learning object in your discipline

Student Engagement

What does the research say?• “Students learn by becoming

involved.”

• “Learning is not a spectator sport.”

• “Students learn what they care about and remember what they understand.”

Understanding Our Learners

Where do we start?• Form an hypothesis about your learners

based on your observations of them• Talk to your colleagues to see if your

assumptions are the same and catalog EVERYONE’S assumptions…even yours!

• Consider your own learning preferences and keep them in mind as you design your activity

How Do We Learn?

What are our own learning preferences?i.e. Solomon-Felder Index of Learning Styles Questionnaire

Reflective-----X---------------------Active

Sensing-----X---------------------Intuitive

Visual--------------X------------Verbal

Sequential---------------------X-----Global

Creating Learner Profiles (Personas)

How do your target learners like to

learn?Consider:

• Learner preferences

• Learners’ background

• Outside interests

• Knowledge of topic?

Types of Learning Activities

Examples of learning activities:

Designing Learning Activities

Bloom’s Taxonomy

Evaluation

Synthesis

Analysis

Application

Comprehension

Knowledge

Where does your activity fit?

Context

ContentAssessment

Methods

Goals

You and Your PhilosophyCourse Evaluation

Course Design Model

Designing a Learning Activity: The “Pizza Explorer” (30 min.)

1. In pairs, go to the Pizza Explorer http://www.accessexcellence.org/pizza

2. Using the current scenario and persona, design an activity to address the identified learning level.

Designing your own Learning Activity (45 min.)

1. Go to MERLOT www.merlot.org and choose a learning object in your own discipline that you think you could use in one of your own courses

2. Considering your own course design and learners design an activity to address your desired learning level.

Sharing our Activities (15 min.)

• In your pairs, share your idea for your learning activity and provide each other feedback on the design

Questions?

Thank You!

Tracy Penny Light

tracy@LT3.uwaterloo.ca