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EDCI 335 Post #4 – Student Engagement and Interaction in Learning

Thank you for sharing. Before COVID-19, I had access to online courses. And, the only two classroom interactivity I had at that time were video conferencing over the internet and communication with classmates and the instructor on questions during classroom exercises. However, with the development of technology, more and more educational tools have been created. Teachers and educators can achieve classroom interactivity through these educational tools even when there is no way for them to meet face-to-face.

During COVID-19, I think the most familiar educational tools are Brightspace and Zoom, in which educators can arrange forums, videos and courseware according to their teaching situation. Forums are an important part of classroom interactivity in teaching. Students can answer questions posted by the teacher. These answers are visible to other students and can be discussed among students.

Zoom was also the educational tool I used the most during COVID-19. In Zoom, you can clearly see the teacher’s and classmates’ faces and hear what they are saying. I felt that it was no different from an offline face-to-face class. The teacher would also divide us into different groups for discussion and communication according to the needs of the course. This kind of classroom interaction promotes mutual understanding and motivation among students.
I personally like the classroom interaction. I believe that classroom interaction can help me deepen my understanding and memorization of the knowledge points, and it can also help me improve my motivation, build up my confidence in learning, and enhance my socialization with my classmates. This is a beneficial thing for me.

Overall, thank you for sharing your experience. The learning experience you shared has given me more knowledge and ideas about classroom interactivity.

In today’s blog I want to discuss about interactivity in learning. Interactivity in the learning environment refers to active interaction and communication between learners and teachers and classmates during the learning process. This interactivity can occur in a traditional classroom down the line or in online learning and can exist either synchronously or asynchronously.

The interactivity between the instructor and the learner in the offline traditional classroom is face-to-face communication. The instructor can ask questions of the learner, help the learner answer questions, and provide feedback. And in the classroom the instructor can guide the learners to explore specific topics and allow the learners to express their views while encouraging discussions and debates among the learners. These discussions can then become interactions between learners. Learners can explore issues with each other in the classroom and can share their views with each other.

In an asynchronous course online, although the instructor and the learners are involved in the course and discussions at different times. However, they can achieve interaction with the help of teaching tools. For example, online discussion forums, emails, and social media. Learners can all interact with the instructor and other learners on these platforms. For example, in the forum, the instructor can post some questions and then each learner can answer the questions. Other learners can see the answers to these questions from the forum and write their own opinions and views on these answers. This is asynchronous interaction with the help of instructional tools.

The interactivity of learning in a learning environment creates a positive learning atmosphere. It makes learners feel more engaged in the classroom and helps them to actively participate in the classroom. And, through interactivity, learners can have the opportunity to express themselves and share their knowledge with others. This can better help learners deepen their understanding and memorization of the learning content. In learning, interactivity can better stimulate learners’ thinking. This promotes deeper learning and improves the quality of learning.

Interactivity to a large extent creates a positive learning atmosphere for learners. And it makes learners become more confident in this atmosphere.

Blog Post #3

Thank you for sharing. I agree with your thoughts. I personally think that with the development of science and technology, there are more educational tools available in education. For example, video, audio, animation. Every learner can choose the learning method and learning tool that suits them. For example, some learners who are visually impaired can choose this type of educational tools like video, audio. This way they can learn what they want to learn even if they are visually impaired. For some learners who do not have the means to attend offline courses, these educational tools can help them learn better. Moreover, learners can use these educational tools anytime and anywhere. For example, when they are unsure of something, they can choose to watch a video about it. In this way learners are also proactive in education. They can plan and organize according to their own situation.

You have given me a better understanding of this idea and concept by using the concept of universal design in engineering and the example of the contact faucet. Thank you for sharing.

For this week’s blog, I would like to introduce about the special circumstances to run my Blueprint and the adjustments to the learning activities that have difficulty in the Blueprint.

The learning activities that I have designed require the use of tools that are educational websites, such as YouTube, Duolingo, Kahoot, which means that if something unexpected happens, such as COVID-19 in 2020, learners are able to complete these learning activities at home. Because these learning activities use some common educational software. Therefore, this will not affect the learners’ usage. Moreover, in the first lesson, the educator will also introduce the use of these learning software in detail. This ensures that every learner can use these learning programs smoothly. Moreover, learners can accomplish their learning activities better in these programs. And the communication between educators and learners can be realized through email, web conferencing.

Personally, I think that the learning activities of Kahoot and Duolingo in the Blueprint program may hinder the learners’ learning. The Kahoot game has a time limit, and the questions are not always multiple choice. This will reduce the learners’ rate of correctness. Moreover, if learners do not spend time on learning and practicing Chinese after class, the practice questions in Kahoot and Duolingo may be difficult. To make sure that learners get the questions correct, and to give learners a sense of fulfillment in learning Chinese, Kahoot and Duolingo are designed to help learners to learn Chinese correctly. We can make the time for each question in Kahoot longer, instead of 15 seconds for the first question. Also, Kahoot’s questions can be set in both English and Chinese. This way, Chinese beginners can also read the questions fluently. Secondly, before doing Duolingo practice questions, educators can assign some written practice questions. These practice questions can be similar to Duolingo’s practice questions, but without the same questions. This way learners can review and study based on their own work after doing the practice questions given by the educator. Then complete the Duolingo practice questions. The written practice questions assigned by the educator may not be a percentage of the total score.

In this blog I will describe the relationship between open education and my chosen topic “The Origin of Money”.

Open education refers to pedagogical approaches that promote openness, collaboration, and sharing of educational resources and knowledge. In open education, educators have access to freely available, publicly licensed educational resources on the Web. Moreover, educators can create their own educational resources for learners to study and watch through some educational platforms according to the needs of their courses. And learners usually need to be more autonomous and active in open education. This is because open education encourages students to acquire knowledge through co-creation of learning content and participation in discussions and sharing of learning content. The benefits of open teaching for people are that it increases their access to education and reduces the cost for learners. People will not be affected by money, time, and location as factors that prevent them from learning. Moreover, open education enhances collaboration and sharing among educators. This allows educators to choose educational methods that are more suitable for the learners.

Let’s take my chosen topic “The Origin of Money” as an example. In normal real-world education, it is difficult for an educator to create a PowerPoint presentation and then explain it to the learners in the classroom. However, in open education, the educator can choose more educational tools and methods. For example, educators can show students a video or animation about the “origin of money” or let learners read some related materials. Educators can use software such as “EDpuzzle” to teach this topic. In the EDpuzzle you can put videos from YouTube or TED that are related to the topic. Also, the EDpuzzle software can be used to add questions and topics to the video. The video not only teaches the learner about the topic, but the educator can also assess the learner’s answers to the questions. Moreover, the educator can put some interesting topics on the forum for the learners to discuss according to their level of discussion on the topics. In this way, learners can not only learn, but also deepen their impression of the knowledge points. And it makes the topic more interactive and interesting.

“Application Exercises” help learners build, reinforce, and maintain learning content. For example, a basketball class. The teacher teaches students only the basic movements and essentials of basketball in class. Learners need to spend more time on basketball practice if they want to fully master the game. These basketball practices can help learners deepen the impression of the basic movements, so that the knowledge of the basic basketball movements and the basketball behaviors in real life are established. Moreover, practicing basketball on the basketball court strengthens learners’ memory of this skill. In the cumulative basketball “application practice”, learners can better maintain the movements and knowledge of this skill. In this way, learners can become proficient in this skill through “application practice”.

In the article “Behaviorism, Cognitivism, Constructivism”, the author states that cognitivism, like behaviorism, emphasizes the role of environmental conditions in facilitating learning. However, I believe that cognitivism also emphasizes the role of the learner in learning. This is because the learner’s thoughts, beliefs, attitudes, and values are also believed to have an impact on the learning process. For example, if a learner has a positive attitude towards learning, he must be more likely to acquire a skill than someone who has a negative attitude towards learning. This reflects the fact that in cognitivism, the learner also has a vital role to play in learning.

In my life, I am learning skills every moment of my life. This summer, I learned to use four software programs, PS, AI, PR, and AE. At first, in the classroom because of the teacher’s step-by-step guide, I was able to use this software. However, when I needed to use this software independently to complete an ASSIGNMENT, I realized that there were many skills that I had forgotten. So, I started to ask my teacher for advice and looked for related videos on the internet to watch. As I began to use the software more often and was able to complete assignments on my own, I realized that I had mastered this skill. In fact, the mastery of many knowledge and skills requires the learner to “practice applying” them. This is because some knowledge and skills are easily forgotten when they are not used. However, when you start to use the skill or knowledge more frequently, you will start from the beginning to get comfortable with it.