Engaging Students in Learning: Adapting Traditional Methods in the Digital Era

1. Week 21 Ponderings… Erica Duran

2. “Perhaps the notion is that knowledge-as-co-created by students is superior to knowledge-as-passed-along-by-teachers-and-books, regardless of quality. Perhaps the accuracy of the information co-created by students does not matter, because as shared information it enjoys a social validity that dusty old volumes and teachers speaking from authority cannot” (Sanger). = = Source: Larry Sanger’s article, Individual Knowledge in the Internet Age”

3. I am an English instructor who still requires students to read “dusty old volumes”, so… If there is a large number of people who believe that “large amounts of knowledge” are no longer necessary due to the availability of the Internet…how does one argue against that trend in a way that effectively helps to keep older modes of learning knowledge in place?

4. …”historically (way back when) museums were thought of as “cabinets of curiosities”, cabinets being the containers objects were displayed in. Disparate collections of seemingly unrelated objects in a (dusty) space. Interestingly (I think anyway), the web is also a “cabinet of curiosities”, albeit cleaner (less dusty).” (Laurie Burdon blog post in response to “Networks, Ecologies and Curatorial Teaching” by George Siemens) Once museums were thought of, and to many still are, as dusty old relics. Much effort has been made to connect visitors with their contents and make them relevant. This, also, is the job of the English instructor. I must make books relevant and appear to be more than simply those dusty volumes…

5. I use Instructivism/Behaviorismand Connectivism in my English courses. I find the following: • Instructivism/Behaviorism works very well for English courses for non-English majors. Often these students are completely unfamiliar with the content, are reading something entirely new, and grasp on to any interpretation the instructor will provide. The down side? Often times students fail to connect individually with a text, therefore not asking deeper questions that get them to deeper analysis. • Connectivism works very well in English courses for both non-English majors and English majors alike. For non-English majors it helps them to find an individual angle that interests them and pursue it with greater ease using tools they are used to. For English majors they feel less “led by the nose” and enjoy the greater freedom to explore ideas they perhaps already developed prior to the course.

6. What Connectivism looks like in my F2F English courses  =

7. I did not know the terminology for the types of instruction I was using prior to this class…or perhaps I did and had forgotten?! I’m happy now to see the pedagogical approaches I’m already employing and using effectively…in person. Now..how do I continue this success online?

8. What Connectivism could look like in my online English courses  Lectures given via video Paper book OR eBook Online student = Online discussion boards and group activities about the text Substantive, individual connection with the text/concepts