Increase Student Engagement using D2L
D2L provides a robust learning platform and when used effectively can help increase student engagement in your classes. The following information came from a panel discussion held at the 12th Annual Learning Technology Showcase, May 3, 2007. Panel participants were UA faculty Dr. Katie Hirschboeck, Dr. Kevin Kemper, Dr. Jennifer Roth-Gordon and Keith Rocci. LTC's Gretchen Gibbs acted as facilitator.
Ten Ways a Teacher can Increase Student Engagement using D2L:
1. Use Content and electronic files.
• Better organize yourself, your course, your students.
• Make information and required materials available at any time, from anywhere.
• Help instructors meet ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) section 508 requirements (facilitator note: Rather than upload .doc files, copy & paste Word. doc content to create a new (html) files.)
2. Create multiple small group Discussions where students prepare for in-class discussion by writing and commenting among themselves on assigned readings before coming to class.
• Facilitate students learning from each other.
• Prepare students to come to class ready for discussion.
• Create a small, safe environment to discuss difficult topics.
• Stimulate summary and synthesis skills.
3. Create a Discussion Forum for students to ask the instructor questions.
• Encourage “talking” with instructor outside of class time.
• Create a space for communication that is less public than a large lecture hall and less intimidating than a face-to-face conversation with an instructor.
4. Use Classlist > View Progress and Discussions > Statistics to check who is reading, posting, visiting course materials.
• Let students know that you know—and care—what they are doing.
• Monitor and assess student participation in course activities.
• See if students are online.
• D2L email links are an easy way to contact students who either deserve recognition for work well-done or need extra attention, a wake-up call, a helping hand.
5. Use Self-Assessments and Quizzes.
• Encourage students to read material in advance.
• Give students immediate and detailed feedback about their understanding of the reading.
• Get inside students’ heads to identify common misconceptions and correct them before class.
• Free-up class time for hands-on activities and application of concepts.
• Give students opportunities to gain knowledge and confidence.
Self-assessments are practice exercises in the form of quizzes. Students immediate feedback in the form of a prepared pop-up note when they choose an answer. The pop-up can tell students what is correct or incorrect in their answer choice, and it can direct the student to resources to improve their understanding or practice their problem-solving skills. Dr. Hirschboeck describes this as a way to “get into students’ heads, identify common misconceptions and head them off before class.” Student scores on self-assessments are not recorded.
Quizzes can be used to create readiness quizzes. These are low-stakes pre-class reading comprehension quizzes. Students know their score(s) immediately and may or may not be given feedback about individual answers. The teacher knows by the quiz scores how well students understood readings and can plan in-class activities to meet areas of need.
6. Create a Dropbox assignment where students submit potential quiz and exam questions and corresponding answer keys.
• Help students to learn how to learn.
• Have students actively participate in teaching/learning decisions.
Dr. Kemper asks his students: What questions would a prof’ ask to check that students understand or can apply what we have been studying? What would you consider a correct answer if you were grading an exam? What do you think I would consider a correct answer? Why?
7. Have students create Glossary entries.
• Help students to learn how to learn.
• Have students actively participate in teaching/learning decisions.
• Give students opportunities to share their work publicly.
Writing these entries, a student should consider:
What are the key and/or new ideas in this course? How would I explain these ideas? Dr. Kemper had students identify and edit terms in small groups. Finished entries were uploaded to a Dropbox folder to be reviewed by the instructor. A student technology preceptor assisted with adding the entries to the course Glossary. Each student contributor is given authorial credit.
8. Use Grades and Grades > Comments.
• Give timely and detailed feedback on student performance.
• Facilitate students monitoring of their own progress.
• Make the bureaucratic parts of teaching a course more efficient; allow teachers to spend instructional time with students and student work.
9. Use Checklists and/or Events/Schedule.
• Summarize weekly course requirements, possibly linking directly to readings, assignments, quizzes, info about events, etc.
• Help students stay organized and keep-up with course work.
• Bring campus events to the attention of students and encourage their involvement.
10. Make your course site pretty!
• Attract interest and direct attention using color, photographs, graphics and other types of multi-media.
• News items can be used to grab students’ attention.
• The HTML editor makes it easy to: increase font size, vary font color, insert images, create hyperlinks.
• The Learning Technologies Center (LTC) digitizes movies and creates graphics for instructional use.
Download a Word version of this list.
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