14 Trials: Engaging Screenagers Massive Reflections Success
14 Trials: Engaging Screenagers Massive Reflections Success
Have you ever known a system could help improve a process and tried over and over to implement the system with little improvement, but when you finally did it you had that feeling of success that no one can take away?
Teaching for Dale Carnegie we would end every class session by having class members reflect on what they learned, where they could apply it, and how their application of what they learned would benefit them.
Whenever I have spoken, lectured, taught, or trained throughout the world I would end every session I could with similar reflection questions.
When I started teaching in Hong Kong though, I found trainees and students (Engaging Screenagers) resisted that exercise.
Not being one who gave up easily, I tried several different methods to engage learners in reflection at the end of sessions.
Because I had the end in mind when I began, as Stephen Covey says, I knew where I wanted to go.
Trial 1: I tried logic and that didn’t work.
Trial 2: I tried to make it fun and that didn’t work.
Trial 3: I tried group reflections and that just turned into a party.
Trial 4: I tried including reflection questions on the in-class worksheets, but learners put little effort into them.
Although all of these Trials showed some success in Hong Kong and China, they didn’t get the impact I had experienced in other cultures.
I wasn’t able to show them the value, so they didn’t find the exercise important and take it seriously here in HK and CN.
I could see however, that learners were reflecting and sharing their learning all day when they were using apps like Facebook or chat, so I wondered to myself how class reflections were different from social sharing.
It came to me, maybe I could have my Engaging Screenagers use their devices to record their reflections because they were more comfortable using devices.
Now I had a new challenge, and after some more trials I was determined to find a system that could work effectively.
Trial 5: I tried using Facebook, and that turned into an even bigger party.
Trial 6: I tried using WhatsApp, and although their reflections were getting more deep, the process was too much work, so I looked for something better.
Trial 7: I tried adding a reflection into our University ‘moodle’ Learning Management System (LMS,) but back then (and now still) however, many Learning Management Systems were not mobile device friendly, making the experience un-engaging for learners.
Trial 8: I tried adding reflection questions to the Google Forms I had trialed in class to make class more learner centered, interactive, and collaborative, but they could only reflect the first 1 hour out of 3 class hours.
Trial 9: I tried using QR codes and found many students didn’t have QR code readers so it took a great deal of time to get them installed and to teach students how to use them.
Trial 10: I figured the next class QR codes would be easier but the students still had troubles, so I continued to look for a better way.
Trial 11: I tried emailing the reflection Form to students and found they got quite distracted when they went to their in-boxes to find the email. (junk engagement)
Trial 12: My next trial was to put the Reflection Form on a class (Google Sites) website and that was a great success for the first class.
Trial 13: Although it worked for the first week, by the second week the students began to complete the Reflection Form, again, after the first hour of class.
As I mentioned before, I taught during the first hour using an Google Form to make the learning interactive, and in the 2nd and 3rd hours the students would work on group collaborative-shared (that I could monitor on my device) worksheets.
When I could see the value learners were getting from the collaborative, group work, I wanted them to reflect after the group work as they may see value in that exercise too. (optimal engagement)
Trial 14: I found that I could set the Reflection Form to “Not accepting responses” when I created the Reflection Form before class and then click the switch to “Accepting responses” near the end of class.
Although I continue to make minor improvements, that was the last major Trial before experiencing quite highly engaging learning reflections with my learners.
Were all these trials worth the effort?
When you ask the students and see their work, Yes, it was worth the effort.
When it was convenient for them to reflect in a way that is comfortable for their preferences (using mobile devices,) they blossomed in their learning reflections.
Now in my company, I have scaled this system to use Reflection Forms in all my face-to-face and on-line training and much of my coaching.
Next time I will share a sample of their reflections and how their impact was beyond my imagination.
How many times would you trail your improvement system before you stopped?
Would you stop even if you knew your improvement would provide great value to your Engaging Screenagers?
In the end how would your improvement ultimately improve the lives of your Engaging Screenagers?
Keep your trials going you’ll experience massive success.
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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