Tag Archives: Active Learning

Effectively Integrating Instructor-Generated Learning Materials in a Distance Education Environment

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Session Description
In an online classroom environment, learning materials are often publisher-generated and instructor visibility can be perceived as low by students. A strong instructor presence is important because it improves student affective learning, cognition, and motivation (Baker, 2010). This presentation will discuss how online faculty can integrate instructor-generated materials, strengthening their presence while increasing student engagement and understanding.

A study conducted by Jennifer S. Hegeman found that integrating instructor-generated learning aids “not only placed a greater emphasis on conceptual understanding, but also positioned the course instructor prominently in the role of content provider, enhancing the course instructor’s teaching presence in the online environment” (Hegeman, 2015, p. 84 ). Therefore, best practices will be identified, such as chunking information, providing assignment support, providing an opportunity for students to ask questions, and being a part of the dialogue throughout the course. The use of tools such as Blackboard Collaborate, Screencastify, Flipgrid, Perusall, and podcasting will also be addressed.

Presenter(s)
Marsha Morgenstern
Marsha Morgenstern, University of Phoenix, AZ

  • M.A. Adult Education and Training, University of Phoenix
  • M.A. Business Communication, Jones International University
  • 11+ years experience in higher education
  • Associate Faculty, University of Phoenix, Pittsburgh Technical College
  • Communication and Marketing Administrator, Women In Bio
Jennifer Waldo
Jennifer Waldo, Pittsburgh Technical College, PA

  • DBA (ABD) Grand Canyon University
  • MEd. Innovative Instruction, Seton Hill University
  • MBA University of Pittsburgh
  • B. A. Westminster College
  • 25+ years within industry and higher education
  • Faculty member Pittsburgh Technical College
Marisa Haney
Marisa Haney, Pittsburgh Technical College, PA

  • M.S. Business Education, Robert Morris University
  • B.S. Business Management with a concentration in Tourism Management
  • 12+ years experience in higher education
  • Hospitality/Business Instructor, Pittsburgh Technical College
Session Type
45-Minute Interactive Session
Audience
All Audiences

A recording of this presentation is available.
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Online Course Design for Active Learning within the UDL Framework

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Session Description
What does active learning look like online? How can we provide it while addressing the needs and preferences of learners in a flexible learning environment? This presentation provides the definition, purpose, and examples of active learning within the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework from setting the stage, selecting instructional strategies and technologies, student selection of learner strategies, and designing feedback loops. A typology of instructional strategies and their examples are addressed to provide variety (i.e., activity-centered, content-centered, experience-centered, and learner-centered activity. Active learning aligns with the UDL framework when lessons provide multimodal representation and various pathways for action, expression, and engagement. CAST’s checkpoints for UDL will be woven throughout, as well as active learning and UDL’s intersection with the Online Community of Inquiry Framework (i.e., social, cognitive, and teaching presences). For active learning, students need the following in a UDL environment:

  • Preparation for learning events,
  • Situated learning environments for near transfer,
  • Planned multimodal interactions that are cognitively challenging,
  • Alternative and formative assessments,
  • Cognitive strategies to build comprehension and increase retention,
  • Feedback loops, and
  • Metacognitive strategies to monitor their learning.
Presenter(s)
Sandra Rogers
Sandra Rogers, University of California – Los Angeles, CA
Sandra Annette Rogers (aka Teacherrogers) has taught in a variety of K-16 educational settings from a rural hut in Honduras as a Peace Corps Volunteer to the University of California-Los Angeles Lab School as a Demonstration Teacher to elearning worldwide. She has taught bilingual elementary education, developmental reading, Spanish, and English for speakers of other languages (ESOL). She holds a K-12 bilingual (Spanish/English) teaching certificate from the California Commission on Teaching. She is a Quality Matters certified peer reviewer for online courses. She is also a Google Certified Educator. She is a content developer, instructional designer, researcher, and trainer. She has a doctorate in instructional design and a master’s in teaching ESOL. Her research interests include gaming, second language acquisition, and distance education. She currently serves as an instructional designer for UCLA’s Online Teaching and Learning Initiative. She will present on her recent publication, Curation of your online persona through self-care and responsible citizenship: Participatory digital citizenship for secondary education (2020).
Session Type
20-Minute Session
Audience
Intermediate, Advanced

A recording of this presentation is available.
Click the button to the right to access the session archive.

Active Learning: Getting Students to Work and Think in the Classroom

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Session Description
This paper addresses the question of how to incorporate active learning into your curriculum and transform your classroom into an exciting, dynamic learning environment. The study involves building of websites in a business course in the Business and Information Systems Department at the Bronx Community College/City University of NY, New York. (1) Online discussion forum using Piazza to encourage effective collaboration; (2) course management online tool – Blackboard; (3) Starfish, a CUNY-wide online early alert and communication system to connect students with professors and advisors; (4) website project-based learning to increase student investment, motivation, and performance; & (5) online publishing will be discussed. At the end of the website project, feedback from students was collected to bring out the students’ opinion on the implementation of their projects to help develop their technical (HTML, CSS, & JavaScript) and writing skills. After the analyses of both the quantitative data and the feedback of the students it was found that the websites fulfilled most of the criteria for a good website.
Presenter(s)
Kwi Park-Kim
Kwi Park-Kim, Bronx Community College/The City University of New York (CUNY), NY
Kwi Park-Kim is Associate Professor of Business & Information Systems Department at
Bronx Community College/The City University of New York
Session Type
20-Minute Session
Audience
All Audiences

A recording of this presentation is available.
Click the button to the right to access the session archive.