What does engagement look like?
Is it the number of times that students contribute to the discussion? The depth of the contribution? The amount of times an idea is revisited and revised? Or is it something altogether more holistic, such as a reflective thinking portfolio? (Lee, Chan and Aalst, 2006)
Knowledge building teachers, if we think knowledge building enhances engagement in classes, how can identify it.
I would love to hear your ideas and experiences.
Hey hey Phillippa...great start....engagement ...what are the rules ...-go to the article Mindlab week 25 -Etoinne Wenner (spelling)
ReplyDeleteThe gist for me was ..no boundaries ..shared stories (repertoires!!)...nil judgement ...find our connection....see if it works...share our experience...
heres a starter -how do you use humour ...lol
Great work on the Blog -bestests of stories coming your way!
Thanks Kevin, This really resonated with me "Communities of practice are formed by people who engage in a process of collective learning in a shared domain of human endeavor: a tribe learning to survive, a band of artists seeking new forms of expression, a group of engineers working on similar problems" (Wenger-Trayner 2015 http://wenger-trayner.com/introduction-to-communities-of-practice/)
ReplyDelete'What is our common purpose?' For me in my context of teaching an online class, this is simultaneously incredibly tricky and incredibly important. My students are incredibly diverse. Rural, urban, north, south, haves and have nots. My classes are anything but homogenous. It takes a bit to cut through the distance (physical and mental). The key ingredient for engagement is establishing the trust and connections. " ... having a strong sense of trust
was a key reason accounting for students’ willingness to actively contribute. The importance of creating a
collaborative learning culture should not be underestimated even in on-site classes." (Kwok-Wing Lai, 2014 http://www.tlri.org.nz/sites/default/files/projects/TLRI_WingLai_Summary%28v2%29.pdf)
Hey Philippa, what a fantastic reading I stumbled on (reflective thinking portfolio), which definitely prompts many questions and also generates multiple points of engagements with the community. The significant part being the idea of knowledge building and how student engagement depends on a continuous ongoing discourse with the communities to construct knowledge. i think one of the ways to measure of student engagement is by regular feedback and the way the knowledge is recorded. Assessments that could prompt metacognitive streams of enquiry could also be essential in both engaging students interest and promote community collaboration. It makes sense to relate how assessment can to be scaffolded to foster learning that are integral to instructions (Black & Wiliam, Gipps and Shepard). I also think that when community is part of the knowledge construction then assessments could also be assessed by the experts in the community to approve and collaborate in the students engagement.
ReplyDeletehowever, it is very interesting to note about your diverse learners and how it is such a good opportunity for you to work on this inquiry. If I may remind you when we were in the College of Education (2010 dunedin) we were asked what kind of education system we could be having in future....and most of us have envisioned exactly what we are progressing towards......ie the communities of learning centers and not schools.
All the best for your research and study next year.