Improving Engagement Through the Use of Rich Media Sharon Fratta-Hill, PhD Vice President of Distance Education, Graduate School USA
Improving Engagement Through the Use of Rich Media
Sharon Fratta-Hill, PhDVice President of Distance Education,
Graduate School USA
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Accessible Collaborative Compelling
Easy to Use Personalized Responsive
What Makes an Experience Engaging?
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Engaging the Distance Learner
• We wanted to create a high end distance education training platform.
• We wanted to move away from the text-based point and click experience that was so familiar to the government employee.
• We wanted to find out how to change skill levels and hold the interest of the federal employee.
• We wanted to measure what engagement really was.
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Capture and keep your learners’ attention
Simulate a face-to-face experience
Create interactive content that keeps them engaged
Focus on learning,not the technology
Bridging the Engagement Gap
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How Could We Make the Course Interactive?
• Choose a platform that allows students to chat or interact with the teacher in a real time collaborative manner.
• We needed:
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What Were We Thinking?
• How could we create courses that meet the needs of federal agencies?
• What worked for adult students who are federal employees?– It must be either very flexible so that he/she can move
at their own pace or• The course must be short enough to complete
within a period where an employee could be excused from their office duties.
– Exact skill outcomes must be obtained on completion of the course.
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• Page turner format may be able to produce Bloom’s Taxonomy Knowledge (rote) level learning, but student engagement is needed for Application (or higher) level knowledge acquisition.
• What kinds of activities are being used in the face to face classroom to achieve the desired outcomes?– Outcomes for each course
should be evaluated and media should be chosen that best replicates the experience the student would have in a face to face classroom environment.
Choosing the Right Media
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Rich Media
The Graduate School USA uses a variety of media types to replicate the classroom experience.
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Blackboard• Adopted v. 6 of
Blackboard to create initial online classes– Federal Clients wanted
more interaction with faculty and fewer independent activities
• Blackboard version 9.1.4 was adopted with an Adobe Connect Building Block
Adobe Connect• Use Adobe Connect to
create asynchronous and synchronous online classes– Asynchronous classes
lacked structure – Students could not
determine the sequence in which learning events should be completed
The Journey
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Asynchronous Training
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Interactive Features• Presenter files with
recorded lectures synched with Powerpoints
• Wikis and Blogs• Journals and Discussion
Boards• Video and iTunes links
Mobile Support• Access to online content
available for students with iPads and iPods
• Bb also provides access for android devices (wifi-only*)
• http://wbt3.graduateschool.edu/
What Does Asynchronous Engagement Look Like?
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Synchronous Training
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Blackboard Integration• Wimba and Elluminate
may be used in the same manner as Adobe Connect
Interactive Features• Captivate Simulations• Quizzes• Flash Content• Videos• Polling• Breakout Rooms
What Does Synchronous Engagement Look Like?
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Pedagogy + Instructional Design = Learning…or does it?
LearningInstructionalDesign
Pedagogy
Epistemologies
Methodologies
EffectivePractices
Learning analysis
Audience analysis
Media design
Media development
Evaluation
Achievement
Completion
Retention
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It’s Also About the Experience
• Starbucks is more than a cup of coffee• Amazon is more than shopping• iTunes is more than music• Why shouldn’t your elearning programs be more than
good pedagogy and effective instructional design?
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Questions?
Dr. Sharon [email protected]
202-314-3600