Curate + Feedback = Optimal Engagement: Engaging Screenagers
Curate + Feedback = Optimal Engagement: Engaging Screenagers
Years ago, after a ski weekend in the Swiss Alps, I was wandering through Geneva, Switzerland while I was waiting to catch my flight back to London to begin leading a public seminar tour through England.
That day, I remember turning a corner and finding myself in this magical antique furniture district there in Geneva.
I found so many shops with these rare antique treasures and I lost track of time and almost missed my flight.
Living in San Francisco, I had owned a Victorian Cottage home full of beautiful Redwood finishings, and I loved spending much of my time wandering around Napa Valley, in California wine country, searching for antiques.
But this street in Geneva was blowing my mind because I had found so many beautiful pieces that were beyond my imagination.
It happened when I found Diane Christophel’s work on Teacher Immediate Communication (engaging communication) that can enhance learner motivation.
Her work was a gold mine on teaching skills for optimal engagement, as her work supported what I had learned in Dale Carnegie Instructor Training.
It was that time when I actually started to believe my mentor (soon to become my graduate advisor) when he told me I could actually have the abilities to go on and earn my Doctorate Degree.
Many years later as I was struggling in a new culture (for a cattle rancher’s son from Colorado, USA) to find ways to inspire and motivate my students, I asked them to go find supporting materials for their speeches.
Guess what happened to those students?
Yes, most all of them came back with excitement as they were sharing their findings.
When the smart phone with the ability to search the internet came along, I started asking them to go find supporting material for their speeches using their devices.
Again, most all students were able to go beyond the classroom walls and curate new and different supporting material for their assignments.
But some students did not find material and I wanted to know what was happening as maybe I could guide them like my graduate advisors had guided me in graduate school.
Again, I struggled through trying several paper worksheets and workbooks to guide students, but I wasn’t getting the results I wanted. (junk engagement)
I began to search for alternatives and I struggled testing new apps, etc., until I found eWorkbooks, and after testing, began to use them full time in class.
Then we used eWorkbooks (Google Forms with the training slides as well as interactive questions, curating links and tasks, example images and videos, etc. which students [Engaging Screenagers] completed using their mobile devices) for interactive learning.
Students used eWorkbooks to answer questions, interact, etc. while I lead the discussion, and after they submitted their answers, they would get their responses sent to their inbox so they could review their learning Moments of Growth. (optimal engagement)
Curating +
Along with finding examples for our classroom discussions as we covered the learning material, I included some curating exercises so students could go find supporting material for their papers, projects, etc.
There were several times when students would get so focused and involved in the searching and curating that they would easily lose track of time in the classroom, and I even saw them curating during the breaks and after class as they didn’t want to leave the room.
As I watched the students curate in class they showed similar behaviors to those they showed in when they were surfing Facebook, and they engaged with it for the fun of being in Facebook (psychologists call this intrinsic value.)
After a few weeks of using eWorkbooks I began to realize how valuable eWorkbooks could be a guiding students to curate examples because I could monitor what they were curating.
This monitoring really turned curating into a much more valuable activity because in the past the paper worksheets guide students, but as the teacher, I struggled with ways monitor their curating.
Feedback =
Once I was able to monitor their curating I was able to give them feedback because as they submitted their findings (or links to their findings,) the information would instantly go into a responses Google Sheet.
Right away I could tell if their skills were developed well enough to overcome each curating challenge I had given to them, and as they developed their behavior also showed their mastery.
I was able to follow what they submitted in real time, and then I could give them feedback individually or show the whole class on the big screen.
Also, there were times I asked students to show their group mates to get peer feedback because the information was on their mobile devices or heir submissions automatically went into their email inboxes.
The feedback from me and their group mates made it easier for the students to know if they were going in the right direction or if they had strayed off the track.
Also, the feedback helped them test the boundaries of creativity as they knew what was expected and trusted themselves to make a habit of using their mobile devices to curate new and more creative ideas.
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change
Optimal Engagement
My students were doing authentic investigating, arguing, applying, synthesizing, creating, solving, etc. without me pushing them to do these things, and you could say they were “turned on to learning” in a state of optimal engagement.
Optimal engagement or the purposes of this blog, is the state of being I have adapted from characteristics of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, theory.
In a state of optimal engagement as they were curating, the students:
- were happy and excited doing the activity
- engaged in curating for the love of it (the intrinsic value)
- were involved in an activity with clear goals and feedback on their progress
- got clear and immediate feedback
- had the skills to handle the challenges
- lost track of time when they were in the activity
As eWorkbooks gave me the ability to include a few extra questions (the students are already answering questions) at the end of the eWorkbooks, I included my questions from my doctoral research on Flow.
The findings supported the experiences I observed, as the students reported they had experienced ‘optimal engagement’ when they were curating.
Epilogue
Before I went to graduate school, I had never been exposed to learning by curating, and that may be because I simply had never had the opportunity to learn how.
Nowadays, thanks to the internet, most everyone can practice curating and building the critical thinking skills that co along with the practice of curating.
Aren’t Engaging Screenagers learning skills that will be useful for them when throughout life?
Aren’t Engaging Screenagers learning skills that will be useful for them when throughout life?
Don’t we want our next generation to grow up and take over running the world with much better skills than we have?
Don’t we doom learners to maintain the status quo of struggling with just sitting and listening instead of exploring and arguing for more clarification and a better future?
Give curating and feedback for optimal learning experiences.
Remember, come join tomorrow to see more Improving Your Engagement with Screenagers and others inspirational experiences and ideas for Optimal Engagement in the ScreenAge.
Remember to engage tomorrow.
Following with you.
Keep it simple.
All the Best, Warren
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