Teaching Tuesdays@CSU
NEW articles, links, tips and how-tos in higher education
Issue #7 - Active Engagement
Student engagement in their own learning can be challenging to ensure. So what strategies do you use to engage your students? This week’s bulletin is the first in a series that will focus on teaching strategies that support the nine Dimensions of Teaching (Crisp et al., 2009 – see below).
Dimension 1: Students are actively engaged in learning.
Steven Meyers highlights three tested ways to keep students engaged.
Three Strategies for Creating Meaningful Learning Experiences
By Steven A. Meyers, PhD
Quote: Students are more likely to pay attention and be excited about your course when they view the class as relevant to themselves and connected to their interests.
In this short 820-word article, Dr Meyers highlights strategies that have stood the test of time, supported by references to the literature.
... Strategy 1: Assess early, assess often.
Build from what students know, build in what they need and want.
... Strategy 2: Let students get their feet wet.
Incorporate problem-based learning, authentic learning activities, service-learning and workplace learning, followed by reflection.
... Strategy 3: Welcome student input for your content and assignments.
Provide students with choice about what to learn and how to demonstrate achievement of subject learning outcomes.
This article is in the Faculty Focus archives. You can search the archives for other short articles to support your interests and sign up for the weekly newsletter.
CSU Professional Learning Calendar: Engagement vs Mark: Do Minutes Matter?
Interactive Strategies for Engaging Large and Small Classes
Last week’s Faculty Focus email links to another short article published last week, that also supports Dimension 1: Students are actively engaged in learning.
By Professor Toni Weiss
Source: http://bit.ly/2qmjfHt
This article is framed around answering three questions, with the main focus on question 3:
1. What is the purpose of making a class interactive?
2. What does an interactive class look like?
3. What gets in the way of you creating a more interactive space in your classroom?
Targeting the face-to-face learning environment, one simple strategy is to move around the classroom and use technology to support interactions with screens and whiteboards from anywhere in the room.
An interesting idea is “Pass the iPad” used for on-the-spot student interaction across a range of disciplines and classroom scenarios.
These actions can be supported with a range of techonology tools.
The app Doceri for Apple and Windows devices is the recommended option in this article.
Dimensions of Teaching
Dimension 1: Students are actively engaged in learning
Indicative teaching strategies for demonstrating this dimension may include:
- fostering a supportive, non-threatening teaching/learning environment
- encouraging students to express views, ask and answer questions, and allow time and opportunity for this to occur
- using questioning skills which encourage student engagement
- providing immediate and constructive feedback where appropriate
- demonstrating enthusiasm for teaching and learning
- (for smaller groups) fostering extensive interaction
- (for very large groups) presenting in such a manner as to achieve maximum engagement
Adapted from: Crisp, G. et al (2009) Peer Review of Teaching for Promotion Purposes: a project to develop and implement a pilot program of external Peer Review of Teaching at four Australian universities, University of Adelaide, an ALTC-funded project, 2007-8. Final Project Report June 2009. Thanks to RMIT and UNSW.
The nine Dimensions of Teaching are the key focus areas that underpin the main elements in the Peer Review of Teaching Practice templates used at CSU for both formative teaching development or to evidence your teaching in, for example, your promotion application.
(See Peer Review of Educational Practice at CSU).
Active Engagement support resources at CSU
You have access to a range of quality CSU resources to help ensure that students are actively engaged in learning. Check out the following:
Professional Learning for New Academic and Sessional Staff - searchable CSU database
Technologies in Context: CSU Learning Exchange - a searchable database to promote online learning and teaching strategies
The CSU wiki - a faculty-based source of learning and teaching information and strategies
Further Reading on authentic assessment - prompts to further your own researchRegular seminars on teaching-related topics are listed on the
CSU Professional Learning Calendar - accessed directly here
or from the Division of Learning and Teaching front page - accessed here
CSU Professional Learning Calendar: Engagement vs Mark: Do Minutes Matter?
Bonus CSU resource - Lynda.com for Learner Engagement
A search for 'learner engagement' with a filter for Higher Education returned 182 results ranging from general teaching tips, to keynote lectures, to the specifics of various tools and applications for promoting and supporting student engagement.
Magna Commons
All staff with a CSU email address have free access to our new
CSU subscription to the Magna Commons series of online seminars.
A Magna Commons search for the keywords 'engagement' produced a list of 49 seminars relevant to this theme. Other titles:
- Strategies for Making Lectures More Active, Engaging, and Meaningful (60 minutes, 2018)
- Online Discussion: Practices to Boost Learning & Engagement (40 minutes)
- Helping Introverts Thrive in an Active Learning Classroom (60 minutes)
- Online Learning that Lasts: How to Engage & Retain Students (60 minutes)
- Active Learning that Works: What Students Think (60 minutes)
Presentation handouts, full transcripts and supplementary resources are available for download if you don't have time to listen to the seminar.
How to subscribe
Staff with a CSU email address can obtain the Magna Commons CSU subscription code from Ellen McIntyre elmcintyre@csu.edu.au
Links to previous bulletins
Folder with all previous issues.
Issue#1 Group Work: Seven Strategies to Enhance Learning through Group Work
Issue#3 Engagement: Motivate, Engage, and Inspire: Tips for Teaching Modern Learners
Issue#4 Academic Integrity: Why Students Cheat and What We Can Do About It
Issue#5 Feedback: Efficient and Effective Feedback in the Online Classroom
Issue#6 Feedback: Leveraging Technology to Support Effective Assessment Feedback Practices
FoBJBS Newsletter: BOLD Issue#14
FoA&E Newsletter: NeXus Issue#1
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Follow Ellen McIntyre
Learning Academy, Division of Learning & Teaching, Charles Sturt University
Email: elmcintyre@csu.edu.au
Website: https://www.csu.edu.au/division/learning-and-teaching/about-us/learning-academy
Phone: +61 2 6933 4726