Inspiring Sustained Student Learning
Engaged Learning Practices for In-person, Blended, and Online Courses
As an instructor at a public university, I’m always exploring the next thing that can motivate students to take greater responsibility for their learning.
As an engineering instructor, I’m always looking for case studies, videos, TED Talks, subject speakers, and hands-on project ideas that can help crystallize complex, technical concepts into meaningful takeaways that inspire learning and innovation.
Having spent a significant part of my initial career as an engineer in the public sector, my learning ideology is influenced by my experiences in the field. Consequently, my expectation of engineering graduates comprises the ability to learn, write effectively, and work in teams.
My learning ideology rests on a backdrop of critical thinking — an analytical skill central to all branches of engineering. Critical thinking involves learning through problem-solving and reflective practices. The skill subset includes observation, analysis, interpretation, and deliberation, as well as the synthesis, testing, and fine-tuning of solutions.
These skills roughly translate to the human qualities of curiosity, sincerity, vulnerability, determination, patience, and persistence, as also creativity, conviction, empathy, and passion.
The tedious, points-avarice assessments used at the institution level, while necessary, are limiting in that they inspire students to acquire points and receive grades. My foray into the academic space being relatively recent, the insights I have gleaned are insufficient to determine the degree to which institution-level assessments inspire long-term learning.
Within the framework of my engineering experience, I have reflected on how best to reconcile institution-level assessments with my learning ideology, in combination with student skillset and abilities.
Balancing extrinsic with intrinsic motivation, I have attempted to weave into the curriculum, a variety of practices that I believe promotes learning by inspiring students on a fundamental level — tapping into the human qualities.
While it’s impractical to personalize each practice, the inclusion of mixed learning approaches can be an effective driving force for all learner types.
Regardless of their use in blended, in-person, or online modes, these practices can motivate students to be involved, organized, and connected, enriching both their performance and confidence.
The love of learning is the gift of a lifetime. The use of engaged learning practices can help encourage greater student responsibility and involvement, leading to sustained learning.
On a side note, I’m currently exploring the use of specifications grading — a novel approach to grading based on student learning. Fitting and deploying the new system will be the subject of a future post.
Table of Contents
The premise behind a pre-class quiz is simple: Students complete all reading/video assignments and then take a quiz to check their readiness on the topic.
Especially in virtual laboratory courses, pre-class quizzes are the perfect mechanism for testing student lab readiness. When students are familiar with a topic/concept, it helps the instructor traverse the lecture or lab content smoothly and more effectively, and it helps students maintain sustained attention and present queries in real-time.
Quizzes are short — 6 to 8 questions, open-book, and set up in Canvas, as shown below, or an equivalent learning management system (LMS). Students receive 10 minutes and 2 attempts to complete a quiz.
Making quizzes worth a small percentage — usually 3 to 4 percent — of the total course or lab grade is an effective participation incentive.
The quiz implementation structure can be sequential, e.g., weekly, or per chapter. It can also be thematic, e.g., learning outcome. For lecture courses, I structure them by chapters. For lab courses, I use lab tests.
Quiz questions are a mix of multiple-choice, True/False, multiple drop downs, matching, or fill in multiple blanks. I usually set up a question bank of 12 or more questions and customize the setting such that each student receives 6–8 questions. The questions are scrambled, so no two students can receive the same questions, in the same order.
The benefits of pre-class quizzes are multifold and can offset the initial time investment of planning and set up. They do not add to the grading load because they are auto-graded. They promote learning by integrating with the course/lab learning objective. They spread the workload evenly over the semester for the students.
Perhaps, best of all, they can be reformatted/reused for subsequent semesters when set up in an LMS.
Discussions are a vital piece of my virtual lab curriculum. Discussions are especially useful in a virtual format because they make learning “visible.”
The primary objective of a discussion forum is to help students engage with each other and learn from each other. Another objective is for students to reflect on and build upon technical concepts learned in the course/lab.
The Canvas LMS, as shown below, works well for discussions. For lab courses, the organization is by lab tests and the extrinsic motivation comprises a small portion — 6 to 8 percent — of the overall grade.
A case study, simulation, or video relating to the lab concept forms the core of the discussion assignment. Students complete the reading or video, write and upload a 2–3 paragraph analysis within the context of the lab, and then read and comment on at least two classmates’ posts. Grammar is important, but the format is unstructured to encourage the broadest possible response.
An example rubric for a discussion forum is given below.
Optionally, students with a zest for learning have the extra credit option of recording a video or podcast of their analysis instead of a write-up.
Researching and writing on a topic is key to advancing the critical thinking process. Evaluating and providing feedback on teammates’ work is fundamental to expanding learning.
Yes, discussions can add to the prep load and grading. The benefit of student engagement, however, can outweigh the uptick in grading time.
Group projects offer opportunities to learn by doing. They foster engagement through teamwork and conflict resolution. They emphasize the use of effective technical writing and presentation skills. They demonstrate both time and project management. What’s not to like about group projects?
Regardless of whether the interface is in-person or non-face-to-face, a typical culminating activity for a group project is a report and/or presentation, with the completion of various milestone activities along the way.
An example list of project deliverables, set up as a Canvas module, is shown below.
Depending on the nature of the project, I generally assign it in the second third of the semester. Students are free to select their teammates, and teams must comprise 3–4 members. The group projects are worth approximately 10–20% of the course grade to incentivize participation.
From a grading perspective, success on a group project is usually viewed as a function of the group dynamics and the quality of the culminating activity.
But from a learning perspective, success on a group project is directly related to the clarity and granularity of instructions provided.
Motivating students on an intrinsic and granular level can ignite their minds, giving wings to imagination and creativity.
My general practice, as shown below, is to prepare and present a detailed guide — that serves as both a project guidance document and a prototype for students to emulate — clearly outlining the project premise, objectives, scope, a list of deliverables, templates for the deliverables, submission schedule, grading criteria and rubric, conflict resolution expectations, plagiarism policy, communication policy, project resources, writing resources, and report writing and presentation guidelines.
Regular communication, both in-person and/or by email/LMS, is imperative for keeping the proverbial finger on the project pulse, providing feedback, and responding to questions.
A group project, no matter the size, is a considerable front-end and back-end time investment for the instructor. Meaningful, enriching student takeaways, however, can compensate for the extra time spent.
One of the most immersive learning techniques is having guest speakers in the classroom. From breaking up the monotony of lectures to offering real-life perspectives, guest speakers can bring depth and detail to ancillary topics not otherwise covered in class.
Finding and recruiting qualified speakers, who are also engaging, eloquent, and spark dialog, is ideal but not always practical.
Depending on the nature of the class and the rigor of the topic, I have invited speakers that span the gamut from friends to colleagues to external referrals — professionals who work in industry, academia, regulatory bodies, consulting, and non-profit organizations.
Finding relevant speakers is followed by deciding the format of the visit, scheduling and hosting the speaker, and organizing discussion and follow-up.
When I offer a Speaker Forum, I usually make attendance mandatory*, with the extrinsic motivation factor hovering around 8–10% of the course grade. Participation consists of attending the event, being engaged in discussion, asking content-related questions, and submitting a speaker summary paper.
A sample speaker assignment document is shown here.
Speaker forums spread uniformly across the semester make them manageable for both instructors and students.
Despite the hassle of researching and booking speakers, if I could, I would host guest speakers for every class that I teach as it makes for a rewarding learning experience.
*The logic underlying the attendance mandate is to discourage non-attendees from submitting a summary paper for the missed event.
