The popular media tells us that we live in an age of disengagement. 21st century professors are told they need to design curriculum to support student success and create an engaging classroom whether it is face-to-face, online, or in a blended learning environment. Creating engaging learning environments with technology will be essential to embrace 21st century learners and their ever evolving learning styles. Information Technology is dedicated to this philosophy and embraces varying technologies and learning concepts with other institutions and with our own faculty to generate innovation with technology and learning engagement in tandem. Information Technology invites the Stevens community to explore how educators can use some of the tools such as apps, clickers, open education resources, mobile learning, collaborative learning platforms from Google Hangouts to Massive Open Online Courses, and embrace the engagement strategies of social media

1. Engaging Students
in an Age of Disengagement
Ken Ronkowitz

2. Dis/Engagement Research
Social Media Engagement
Design Tools
Student
Expectations
MOOC

3. en·gage /enˈgāj/ verb
To occupy, attract, or involve (someone's interest or
attention); Cause someone to become involved (in a
conversation or discussion)

4. Gallup: As students age, they disengage
Explanations for the
burn out:
- focus on standardized
testing
- standardized curricula
- lack of experiential
and project-based
learning
- lack of pathways for
students who do not
want to go on to college

5. Gallup’s research suggests that America’s current
public system of education & workforce preparation
falls short of college and career readiness targets.
Only 3% of Americans “strongly agree” that today’s
high school dropout is ready for the working world.
With a high school diploma, that number only
increases to 4%. And in colleges…
Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll : Public Attitudes Toward the Public Schools

6. Beginning College Survey of Student
Engagement and the Faculty Survey
of Student Engagement 2012

7. • First-year college students spent an average of 15 hours
per week preparing for class; seniors averaged 15.5 hours.
– Those earning grades of A or A- studied about 4 hours more
per week compared to their first-year peers with grades of C+
or lower.
• In most fields, full-time seniors devoted about one to two
hours less to class preparation than faculty expected.
• When asked how much they believe students actually
study, faculty estimates in all fields fell
short of student accounts by five to eight
hours per week.

8. • On average, distance education students spent about one
hour more per week preparing for class than their on-campus
counterparts.
• Attitudes toward seeing benefits from college were
comparable regardless of how engaged students had been in
high school.
• Job opportunities were cited by the majority of seniors
among the factors motivating their choice of major, but this
varied by racial/ethnic background and field of study.
– Seniors majoring in
science, technology, engineering, and math were more
likely than others to cite job opportunities as a motivating
factor.

9. And at work…

10. Gallup Daily tracking series
conducted since 2010 to explore
American workers' engagement levels
shows majority of American workers
not engaged in their jobs
• Highly educated and
middle-aged
employees among the
least likely to be
engaged
• 71% of American
workers are "not
engaged" or "actively
disengaged" in their
work
Faculty are employees too, so…

11. And yet…

15. The Social Media Funnel
Action
Trust
Engage

16. Social Media Engagement Inequality
Source: Jakob Nielsen http://www.useit.com/alertbox/participation_inequality.html

18. http://www.flickr.com/photos/neosnaps/2596044654/sizes/o/in/photostream/

21. www.canvas.net

22. MOOC Engagement Inequality
90% read content but complete < 2 assignments/tests
10-15% complete coursework & are engaged in discussions
Do we need to
redefine “lurkers” and
engagement in the
MOOC environment?

23. Disruption: MOOC
 Massive Open Online Courses have been getting substantial
recent attention. But future histories of education will likely
only note them as a harbinger of change or transitional step
into an educational model that is organized around learning.
 In most cases, MOOCs operate on a grand scale but use a
traditional format in which a faculty member (or two) is
responsible for most aspects of course design, delivery, and
assessment. (known as xMOOC)
 The real threat to traditional higher education embraces a
more radical vision that removes faculty from the
organizational center and uses cognitive science to organize
the learning around the learner.
 And such models exist now.
www.insidehighered.com/views/2013/04/15/essay-how-technology-and-
new-ways-teaching-could-upend-colleges-traditional-models

24. design tools
for ENGAGEMENT

25. What
knowledge and
content is
shareable
and/or open to
input?
1
Determine
appropriate
online spaces
and channels
Assess unique
attributes and
culture of each
social media
space
2
Develop
participation
opportunities
3
Designing Online Engagement – Social Media
Create an
engagement
calendar
Adaptable to
education?

26. 6 learning designs
that encourage engagement

27. Begin with objectives, goals, desired results (more under TOOLS)
Beginning with the end - backwards design

28. backwards
design
can be helpful
for technology
adoption

29. project-based learning
problem-based learning
team-based learning

30. real-world
assignments
challenges
http://flickr.com/photos/ilker/2493908947/

31. A focus on problem solving
http://flickr.com/photos/nataliejohnson/237529176/

32. inquiry

33. a studio environment

34. National Programs

35. NGTM.net
Since 1969, faculty seminars for a rational
analysis of instructional problems and to
develop realistic, creative approaches and
solutions that address those specific problems.
For example:
moving F2F classes  hybrid online  MOOC

36. Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
• Completion by Design works with community colleges
in 5 states to increase completion and graduation
rates for low-income students under 26 years old.
• The Next Generation Learning Challenges provides
investment capital to
technologists, institutions, educators, and
entrepreneurs to bring promising technology
solutions to pre-college students for college and
career readiness through college and secondary
school partnerships.

37. www.20mm.org

38. tools tech & teacher

39. At its best, curriculum drives technology use
Not curriculum driven by technology

40. Embedded technology

41. Wikis for collaboration
Blogs for real audiences
Clickers for interaction
Google (Apps, Plus, Hangouts) and
Social Networks for all of the above

42. Teachers embracing digital tools
In (and out) of the classroom
http://flickr.com/photos/slipstreamjc/748716731/

43. Less C More N
In curriculum design by teachers…

44. Teachers providing
a global audience
And connected
(networked) learning

45. teachers as facilitators of learning

46. providing authentic (real world) assessments

47. and, when possible, a customized
learning experience (not out of the publisher’s box)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jek-a-go-go/440119001/

48. mobileAs tool of engagement
rather than method of disengagement

49. F2F , Online, Hybrid
How do the tools vary?

50. Student
[employer?]
Expectations
based on a
technology
rich lifestyle
http://flickr.com/photos/paulm/1584418819/

51. always on
http://flickr.com/photos/stuckincustoms/497814516/
And these expectations tend to overlap others

52. always
connected
http://flickr.com/photos/crash-candy/2347430057/

53. global collaboration and
http://flickr.com/photos/pingnews/491430005/in/photostream/

54. an authentic audience (beyond faculty &
classmates)
http://flickr.com/photos/thomashawk/174586756/

55. interaction is expected
faculty:student student:student student:world
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cwalker71/2637125074

56. Social learning elements
http://flickr.com/photos/nattu/895220635/

57. customizable learning experiences
http://flickr.com/photos/blackbutterfly/3082335820/
Individualized instruction versus learning options

58. http://www.flickr.com/photos/shutter/105497713
/

59. http://flickr.com/photos/oberazzi/318946369/
And so…
• Can educators hijack social media
engagement design and tools for
academic engagement?
• Can we meet student
expectations within
academic objectives?
• Can we (re)design
curriculum using
pedagogy that
encourages engagement?
• How does engagement
differ F2F, online, in hybrid
and MOOC settings.

60. Ken Ronkowitz
ronkowitz.com
@ronkowitz on Twitter