Ubiquitous Learning and Instructional Technologies MOOC’s Updates
Engaging more students in class
I could not view the videos on Scholar as they have been marked "unavailable," but I'm very intrigued by the idea of the "wrong" people speaking in class and getting more people involved. This semester, in a class I've taught many times, I'm down to maybe three people who will answer or engage in discussion, which is really just between me and that student no matter how I try to pull in other people. From students' written work, however, I know several other students have been keeping up with the reading and have some really great, sometimes quirky interpretations or points to make but they don't do it in class. I'm going to try to figure out how to make my school's somewhat clunky LMS allow for that more "social media" streaming conversation to get more people engaged.
Our school used Google Classroom for a time, which could become quite interactive. LMS are important, as they can excite or, if the UX is bleak, bore students. Who knew technology and education would become / return to becoming so interconnected?
I have just begun to use Scholar as I am taking a MOOC course. In this setting there are also limitations to engage the participants. Coursera learners are not required to use Scholar. If you are normal student at the Univ of Illinois, it may be different.
It may be an idea to assign group works among MOOC learners to engage them more.
Some years ago I took a MOOC course of Stanford where we got group assignments. I was so astonished to find how easy and motivating to form a group and work together.