Presenter
Rick Walker, STARLINK
Session Abstract
Research shows engagement is a key predictor of student success. Connective Instruction methodology has proven to be seven times more effective than Academic Rigor and Lively Teaching methods of engagement. Join STARLINK Director Rick Walker for this fast-paced, interactive workshop that includes online engagement tips from faculty. This session will equip you with new ideas and strategies to better engage your students.Engagement tips:
- Be relevant, be concise, implement entertaining dynamic
- Be visible, be current
- Increase your personal presence
My Thoughts
It’s interesting to hear about how others at our table engage with students. It sounds like most of the engagement techniques from those I was sitting near include students in small groups and students working with each other. It also sounds like the methods that I currently employ are the norm compared to others around me.I have to say, I was hoping for more examples of things that can be done to engage with students, but after 1/3 of the class, we haven’t gotten into any tips/tricks/tools/examples on how to best engage with students. The presenter had some videos to show, but none of them worked because the ITC staff transferred the presentations to laptops for the meeting rooms and he didn’t do any testing of his presentation ahead of time. In the end, the videos worked (after hotel/conference staff came to help), but it was definitely a distraction to the session.It turns out that the videos that didn’t work early in the session were about the engagement tips and with the videos not working, we weren’t going into much detail on the tips. The videos did end up working, so we went back and covered them, but it was a pretty surface level. I had a hard time following the different engagement tips that he presented. I thought that each of the tips (included above) could be broken out to make a much longer list with examples and ideas for how to implement them.Overall it was a very high-level session. I completely understand the desire to engage with the session attendees and to get audience participation, but when that’s all the session is, I feel like the session isn’t what I hope it’d be.
Matthew Evins 