RSA#3 Engaging and Motivating Students

By Chris Bohula

Online Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvJuzE-g7OM

In the assigned reading text by R. Palloff & K. Pratt (2007) it is very thoroughly discussed the importance in creating a social environment in an online course.  This is done because “The key to the learning process is the interactions among the students themselves…” (R. Palloff & K. Pratt, 2007, p.4).  One of the key elements in creating this social environment is for each individual to create a social presence.  In addition to making the point that social presence should be established, the text also adds strategies and considerations for establishing social presences within the online PLC.

The online resource (COFAonlineUNSW, 2011) I have chosen was provided by the Australian Learning and Teaching Council.  This video and supporting material is designed to explore ways to actively engage and motivate students in an online learning environment.  The video is broken into several different topics focusing on importance of teacher presence, creating a learning community, strategies for motivating students and sustaining participation and engagement.

Both resources (R. Palloff & K. Pratt, 2007 and  COFAonlineUNSW, 2011) share similar views of needing the students and instructor to create a social presence within the online community.  In fact they both agree on the first two weeks to be critical for the instructor to establish their own social presence for the within the group.  They also share the idea the role of the teacher to be a “guide on the side” (COFAonlineUNSW, 2011) rather than the dominating force driving the discussions/community.  The responsiblity of the instructor is also to draw in participants that aren’t contributing as much as expected by both reinforcing positive behavior publicly within the forum and private messages encouraging individuals to participate more through offers of some sort of assistance.  The two differ in that Palloff and Pratt (2007) discuss in further detail concerns of such a group such as psychological and spiritual issues.

References

COFAonlineUNSW. (2011, January 19). Engaging and motivating students [Video]. YouTube. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvJuzE-g7OM

Palloff, Rena M. and Pratt, Keith. (2007). Building online learning communities: Effective strategies for the virtual classroom (pp. 3-65). San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.