I don’t always have the best imagination and it is sometimes difficult to come up with enough ways to keep all learning styles engaged. Using different forms of presenting the material helps with that important part of the learning process.
I feel a students learning experiance can be more self directed when using dynamic and multidirectional communication. This will also provide for enhanced intereaction for the learner, while also improving face to face outcomes. These results will allow the student to be more engaged and motivated to particpate in the learning enviorment of the class.
By blending the hands on after online and instructor led the student should have more than enough information to stay engaged in their learning.
I think that useing dynamic communitions along with multidirectional instruction gives the student a more exicting learning poetentional making the exeperiance of the lesson and lab alot more engauged. I feel this will be more active for the student.
DANIEL,
Great! Demonstrations are a wonderful way to find out what is understood - what technology do you use to share those demos? Can you capture them for later access?
Dr. Ruth Reynard
You are giving students other methods of learning since not everyone learns the same way. The students are also interacting with computers.
Both dynamic and multidirectional learning helps the students keep on task.By useing tools needed for repairs and diagnostics with visual/hands on demos is very helpful in helping students learn differant tasks.Some times during lecture I will take the class out to lab for demos to help them understand things better.
I think this will keep the students more engaged in the class. It keeps them more interested in what the lesson is, more of an attention span.
I think the advent of multidirectional communication will improve the learning and advance of our students. Interlacing the computer into our way of teaching has been a long time coming and needed. I think our students in this age will take to it well, having time to self pace and have some more resposibility to complete task on there own. This will bring the student closer to thier own work and develop a sense of pride to complete the work. Then blending with instructor led, hands on portion should complete the process.
ANEURIN,
Good points - so the combination of teaching methods, use of technology, and instructional design helps to address the various learner needs. This, in turn, keeps students engaged and less likely to becoma "bored" or distant.
Dr. Ruth Reynard
By using these techniques you can in power the student to achieve their goal of their career choice, compelling them to want to obtain even more information. And by using these techniques there are less chances of the student becoming bored with the information being taught.
Adam,
Good ideas - how can the Internet become more integrated into the actual instructional design so that the entire learning process is imporved?
Dr. Ruth Reynard
Louis,
I agree - do you hahve any specific examples of how this was happened for your students? What kinds of communication methods have you used to achieve this?
Dr. Ruth Reynard
I think it should keep the student more engaged in the class. The other bonus to this it will the students learn how the internet can be used as a reference to help them do their job better.
Dynamic communication in its self keeps the students engaged by using multidirection communication,Keeps them interested in material instead of one style only.
kenneth,
How can new technology and a blended delivery specifically benefit learner diversity?
Dr. Ruth Reynard
Using different teaching technics will enhance the learning process of the students because each student learns differently and at different pace.
allen,
Can you be more specific regarding the value you see? Do you mean value to the students or instructor? Please expand your respond to explain more thoroughly what you mean. Thanks!
Dr. Ruth Reynard
Dynamic communication allows the student greater latitude to utilize other students in the class as well as the internet and other course materials this gives the student the ability to self direct and pace themselves. This allows the student to learn at their own pace and the instructor to reach each student in the way they need.
It may give the more motivated students the opportunity to investigate new concepts more thoroughly, and help them to come up with questions taht can help them to improve and learn at a faster rate. Ease in learning can translate into more excitement which can make learning more self sustaining.
However, it is not an end all, fix all. Students who want to stay engaged, will stay engaged. Those who are looking for someone to engage them will not engage, no matter what you do. I have found that personal contact with my professors to be more beneficial to my learning than online/blended learning. Often times I find that people will say things online that they cannot/will not say in a traditional classrom setting that can sideline a discussion and spin it into something less educational.
It can be a double edged sword.
