As part of the National Distance Learning Week (NDLW), I had the privilege of giving a presentation at the 2015 NDLW conference organized by the University of South Carolina, Aiken.

The Actual Presentation

• You can watch my presentation here. The sound is very faint in the first minute and a half (turn up the volume for that part).
• I am also attaching the PowerPoint presentation that I used in my presentation.

The Idea Behind the Presentation

Roughly speaking, I went over three types of eLearner engagement:

Self-Paced

• content focused
• the learner studies alone
• 1 level of engagement: student-content

Correspondence

• content focused
• content goes back and forth between the instructor and the learner via mail/email
• 2 levels of engagement: student-content, teacher-content (or perhaps you could say student-teacher)

“True” Distance Learning

• learner focused
• a group is studying at the same time and an instructor is facilitating/teaching
• can be syncronous (same time) or, more typically, asynchronous
• 3 levels of engagement: student-content, student-teacher, and student-student.

Enagagement Levels in Distance Learning

When it comes to the “true” distance learning, I looked at each level of engagement, as follows:

Student-Content (S-C)

• key points of S-C engagement:
  • orientation at the beginning of the course such as an interactive syllabus and a scavenger hunt that gets students to locate key logistical aspects of the course
  • learning activities taking place throughout the course, including motivating outcomes, clear instructions, and grading criteria
• I showed some implementation examples and highlighted some of the literature
• I ended by recommending Design for How People Learn, a book I found very useful in putting together quality S-C interaction

Student-Teacher (S-T)

• key points of S-T engagement:
  • orientation at the beginning of the course, to answer questions and begin to establish teaching presence and form a learning community
  • assistance (especially offered at peak times in the course), including a variety of methods of ad-hoc or planned contact/communication
  • meaningful and timely feedback
• I showed some implementation examples and highlighted some of the literature
• I ended by recommending Excellent Online Teaching: Effective Strategies for a Successful First Semester Online, a book I found very useful in putting together quality S-T interaction

Student-Student (S-S)

• key points of S-S engagement:
  • forming a learning community at the beginning of the course
  • working in teams throughout the course
    • the role of faculty and students in creating effective team learning experiences
• I highlighted some of the literature
• I ended by recommending 75 e-Learning Activities, a book I found very useful in putting together quality S-S interaction.

Sparks Worth Sharing

If this presentation brought any sparks of inspiration (or questions), please leave me a comment. I’d love to hear from you!