Web 2.0 Applications to Engage Online Students

Introduction

Student engagement, rooted in a combination of personality, affective, motivational and persistence factors, goes beyond simple emphasis on cognitive outcomes to highlight students’ active role in the educational processes. While student engagement is important in all learning environments, it is essential in the online classroom where students are navigating the typical challenges of the academic content in a physically isolated environment that is void of the entertainment/social aspects of the traditional classroom. The integration of Web 2.0 applications into the online course mix provides an opportunity uniquely suited to the virtual classroom to foster students’ cognitive engagement with course material. Educational Web 2.0 applications will be discussed with an emphasis on their pedagogical value for online teachers. This webquest will explore Web 2.0 applications that are particularly suited to facilitate cognitive engagement and learning in the online classroom.    

Task

What is your greatest challenge with engaging students in the online classroom? Think about this for a minute... 

  • Do you struggle with creating engaging multimedia content?
  • Would you like to enhance communication with your students?
  • Do you need to enhance the ease by which you share information?
  • Do you want to create custom learning content?
  • Are you interested in creating individualized learning opportunities?
  • Do you desire greater personalization in your one-to-one communication?
  • Do you need a more efficient and effective means of providing feedback?
  • Are you seeking ways to enhance instructor-student collaboration?

Reflecting on these questions, there may be several areas in which you would like to enhance the quality and efficiency of your online instruction. In this webquest, you will explore various Web 2.0 tools that have the potential to more effectively engage your online students. 

Your task in this webquest is to research various Web 2.0 applications and select ONE technology that has the potential to address one of your online teaching challenges. You will then investigate your selected technology in more detail and utilize the technology to create a learning object, resource or strategy for your online classroom. 

Process

Understand

Read the following article:

Mandernach, B. J. & Taylor, S. S. (2011).  Web 2.0 applications to foster student engagement. In R. L. Miller, E. Amsel, B. Kowalewski, B.Beins, K. Keith, & B. Peden, (Eds.). Promoting student engagement, volume 1: Programs, techniques and opportunities. Syracuse, NY: Society for the Teaching of Psychology. Available from the STP web site: http://teachpsych.org/ebooks/pse2011/vol1/index.php (also available at: https://cirt.gcu.edu/documents/mist/pedagogical-considerations-for-multimedia-inclusio/supplemental-information/mandernach-taylor-web-20-engagement) 

As you read the article, make a list of all the factors you should consider when integrating technology into your classroom. Reflecting on these factors, explore the follow technology applications. Which ones fair well in relation to the integration factors that are important to you?

Investigate

Investigate each of the following Web 2.0 technologies:

Pedagogical Goal

Tool

Functionality

Increase student engagement with course material

EdPuzzle

https://edpuzzle.com/

Customize videos with annotations and questions

Increase students’ interest or attention

Zunal

http://zunal.com/

Create interactive webquests to guide student activity

Enhance information sharing or presentation of information

Screencast-o-Matic

http://screencast-o-matic.com/home

Record screen captures with narration or video

Personalize learning experience

VoiceThread

http://voicethread.com/

Share content with narration; allows others to comment in audio, video or written format

Enhance student satisfaction with the learning experience

Video Mail

https://videomail.io/

Asynchronous video messages

Encourage students to review information

Quizizz

https://quizizz.com/

In-class quiz games for iPad or mobile device

Increase student motivation for learning

WordPress

https://wordpress.com

Build website, blog or app

Enhance the efficiency of instruction

Phrase Express

http://www.phraseexpress.com/

Text expander program to manage comment banks

Enhance instructor-student collaboration

Scrawlar

http://www.scrawlar.com/

Interactive white board

Enhance independent interaction with course material

Popplet

http://popplet.com/

Capture and diagram information from Internet; virtual bulletin board

Increase opportunities for individualized learning

Pindex

http://www.pindex.com/

Create online boards of information; allows for quizzing

Promote creativity

Powtoons

https://www.powtoon.com/

Create animated videos and presentations

Foster critical thinking

Adobe Spark

https://spark.adobe.com/

Turn information into social graphics, web stories or animated videos

 

 

Evaluation

Excellent Acceptable Needs Attention
The selected technology meets the instructional challenge. The selected technology has the potential to meet the instructional challenge, but the relationship is unclear. The selected technology doesn't effectively address the instructional challenge.
The learning objective, resource or strategy is an effective addition to the online classroom to engage students in a relevant learning activity. The learning objective, resource or strategy has the potential to engage students in the online classroom; resource needs additional revisions to effectively engage students.  The learning objective, resource or strategy is not engaging or not relevant to the online classroom. 
The technology has been utilized to its fullest potential to impact online learner engagement.  The technology is likely to impact online learner engagement; maximum potential of the technology has not be reached.  The technology is not likely to engage students in the online classroom.

 

Conclusion

Using Web 2.0 technology simply to use Web 2.0 technology is inefficient and ineffective; to maximize the benefits available via Web 2.0 applications, it is essential the faculty select the right tools to meet their specific pedagogical needs. Effectiveness relies on more than knowing how to utilize a specific application; instructors must be able to sift through the ever-growing number of options available to them to find the right technology for their particular instructional situation.