Part 2 of 4 Group Personalized Learning Engaging Screenagers
Part 2 of 4 Group Personalized Learning Engaging Screenagers
Yesterday I was asked, “How can we personalize learning for group work?”
Thinking about it, isn’t that what group work is based on?
Don’t group mates take tasks or activities that suit their own strengths and interests?
What if students could learn to focus their own group tasks for finding information to personalize their learning?
When I was in graduate school, I had a professor tell me, “When ever you are in class and you have an option to select (personalize) the topic for your assignments, chose a topic that is related to your thesis or dissertation.”
Basically he taught me to personalize my learning, and as a bonus I was getting ongoing feedback from my instructors.
Basically he taught me to personalize my learning, and as a bonus I was getting ongoing feedback from my instructors.
Having tried many different techniques to improve engagement in my courses, I’ve found learning with eWorkbooks is one of the more effective engagement methods because we encouraged students to personalize their learning.
Although including games in learning can temporarily raise the energy and excitement in the classroom, that intensity quickly turns to stress if too much gaming goes past what Malcolm Gladwell calls The Tipping Point.
Paper worksheets:
Back in 2010, I was teaching Mass Communication and I would frequently ask students about their media usage and my observations were correct that they were personalizing their curating (for entertainment) on Facebook, etc., for several hours every day.
Back then I started asking my Engaging Screenagers to search for (now we call it curating) evidence to support their own while group work using their mobile devices.
Group personalized learning:
Each group would answer questions on what they found on one group paper worksheet, give them to me, and wait until the following class to get my feedback.
Each group member would curate their based on personal interests and then write her or his details on a single piece of paper and then I would check them after class. Again, this wasn’t exactly efficient. (junk engagement)
eWorkbooks:
As I started using Google Forms as eWorkbooks, this process was suddenly much more efficient, as they could curate their evidence as well as their source URLs, so I could see (in 1 or 2 columns in the real-time responses spreadsheet) their work (Moments of Growth) when they were still in the classroom. (optimal engagement)
Another benefit from group personalization is the students learn to collaborate as they negotiate to assign tasks, and we keep hearing how these are necessary skills for success in the 21st century.
How I started teaching with eWorkbooks.
As a trainer and university lecturer in the USA, I had great success in my training and classrooms by engaging my learners in ways I had learned from my Dale Carnegie Instructor Training.
After earning my Doctoral Degree researching engaging instruction in adult education and training and development, I started a training business in Hong Kong.
But something was wrong, I was struggling in this new culture (I’ve a cattle rancher’s son from Colorado, USA) to find ways to inspire and motivate my students in Hong Kong.
In the classroom, I preferred having students engage in learning activities instead of lecturing.
I struggled through trying several paper worksheets and workbooks to guide students, but I wasn’t getting the results I wanted. (junk engagement)
When the smart phone with the ability to search the internet came along, I could see my students were curating (searching, finding, collecting, commenting, changing, and sharing.)
I thought, “Why not do that for learning?”, so I started asking them to answer questions, interact with information and classmates, and go find examples of the learning content using their mobile devices.
I began searching for possibilities and I struggled testing several apps, until I found eWorkbooks , and after testing them, 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) as they were learning interactively.
Students used eWorkbooks to while I lead the discussion and guided them, 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)
Because the students’ responses from eWorkbooks go right into a spreadsheet in real-time, as the teacher I can monitor what students are doing to give them guidance in the moment, as well as track their learning develop over time.
Again, as I always say, I believe human beings have a natural curiosity, and when guided in a positive way, they can flourish beyond their own self limiting beliefs.
As Dale Carnegie wrote, “look for and expect the best from others,” and I firmly believe those others will do great things.
Most every day Engaging Screenagers are already using their devices to share what they have learned with their groups of friends aren’t they?
Isn’t it natural to let Engaging Screenagers collaborate with friends to learn?
Can’t you imagine how not letting them work in groups will hold them back?
Encourage group collaboration for deeper learning.
Remember, come join tomorrow to see more Improving Your Engagement with Screenagers and others inspirationalexperiences and ideas for Optimal Engagement in the ScreenAge.
Remember to engage tomorrow.
Following with you.
Keep it simple.
All the Best, Warren
SOCIAL
- TWITTER: @DrWarrenLINGER
- FACEBOOK: Dr Warren LINGER
- GOOGLE+: +WarrenLINGER
- LINKEDIN: www.linkedin.com/in/DrWarrenLINGER
- INSTAGRAM: www.instagram.com/warrenlinger/
- TUBE SUBSCRIBE: gg.gg/YouTubeDrWarren
Dr Warren LINGER © 2017
Comments
Post a Comment