Augmenting Engagement
Asynchronous Session
Maximizing Student Engagement in an Online Setting : New Perspectives View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Sean Preston
Maximizing online student engagement is an aspect of learning that is esoteric to virtual learning platforms. This study illustrates the benefits of student engagement in a virtual setting. Instructors must replicate in-person engagement among students who live in separate geographic regions. Without proper engagement strategies, virtual learning can become nothing more than an independent study course as students work in silos and fail to connect with one another. Furthermore, learner to learner engagement is a highly valued component of virtual learning that is sometimes not achieved. The study contributes to the body of knowledge surrounding virtual learning pedagogy. It relies on an exhaustive literature review. A plethora of new literature has been produced in the area of virtual and online education. This study analyzes student engagement as a result of this recent paradigm shift and concludes with several action items to achieve a higher level of student engagement.
Multimodal Literacy as a Pedagogical Shift for English for Specific Purposes View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Maria Christoforou
Student multimodal literacy practices within the field of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) is an under-researched area since the teaching of ESP focuses more on the development of traditional skills like speaking, writing, reading, and listening to respond to the students’ language needs for their future employment. Even though multimodal texts are abundantly implemented in ESP courses, for example, YouTube videos, website articles, and content-related books, they are mostly aiming to enhance students’ skills, for example, writing and rote-learning of vocabulary lists, and to extend linguistic knowledge in the subject of their studies. This accentuates ESP students’ passive role in the classroom and deprives them of the opportunity to gain more control over their own learning. Given the multimodal affordances of digital productivity tools, it is deemed necessary for a pedagogical shift to take place in the ESP classroom to increase the students’ agency. This case study explores ESP students’ semiotic awareness through the creation of their multimodal artefacts, and to enable them to actively participate in designing aspects of their ESP course as a way of fostering more meaningful learning opportunities and supplementing traditional literacy models in the teaching and learning of ESP. The study implements the framework of Multiliteracies, focusing on multiform meaning, and the concept of Design to analyse the multimodal artefacts of 33 ESP students in a tertiary education institution. Sources of data include the students’ multimodal artefacts, open-ended questionnaires, and the instructor’s field notes of the students’ class presentations of artefacts.
Digital Pedagogies: Jeopardy, a Grammar Game View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Michael Lapointe
Gamification in educational settings has been shown to increase engagement and motivation in students. The researcher has been exploring the use of games to enhance learning in both the classroom and in online environments through the development of a grammar game for an introductory course in professional communication. This game helps students improve upon basic writing and compositional skills, focusing on the most common weaknesses such as errors in sentence structure, punctuation, and word choice. Imitating the American quiz show Jeopardy and using enriched PowerPoint slides, the game is divided into several categories with four levels of increasing challenge and complexity. Divided into teams, students are shown one sentence at time with a varying number of mistakes, and they then have 90 seconds to correct the error/s and explain the problem in their own words. Through the use of hyperlinks embedded in the PowerPoint slides, students have access to correct answers, straightforward explanations of grammar, challenge exercises, and links for further information. The game is made available online after class to provide students the opportunity for further engagement. Instructors assess students’ general knowledge of writing mechanics while providing a lively activity within a low-stakes environment. Writing skills are part of all course assessments in this introductory communication course. The game, in conjunction with instructor feedback, improves the overall average writing competency. A game demonstration is included.
Effects of Project-based Learning on Students' Learning Performance and Engagement in Computer Science View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Xue Wang
Attention has been drawn to the benefits of integrating project-based learning (PjBL) into educational curricula to enhance student engagement. This study investigates how well project-based learning fosters student engagement and achievements in computer science courses. Qualitative and quantitative research methods were used for this experiment. A total of 60 first year undergraduate students included in the study were divided into the two following groups: experimental group (n=30) and control group (n= 30). National Survey of Student Engagement' (NSSE) based on Coates' five-dimensional framework theory of student engagement was used to collect the data. The results showed that there was no significant difference in the pretest scores between the experimental group and the control group (p >0.05) before the intervention. However, after the experiment, the post test scores of the experimental group were significantly higher than those of the control group (p <0.01), indicating an improvement in engagement. The mean grades and mean engagement of the experimental group were also higher compared to the control group. The difference in engagement between the experimental group before and after the intervention was statistically significant (Z=-3.522, p <0.05), with the median data after intervention being higher than before. Specifically, students engaged in project-based learning (PjBL) were more actively involved in self-perception and self-worth compared to students in traditional learning settings. These findings suggest that highly contextualized project-based learning has a positive impact on student engagement and achievements.
