February 2021 Tuesday Tips

Beginning this week, and continuing up to Spring Break, we will be issuing a small weekly challenge that you can do in your next class to help improve connection and engagement with your students. Each challenge will take just a few minutes to prepare for and about five minutes of class time to implement. Don’t feel locked into our instructions or time frames. Making each task your own will only improve your results. We will also give you a short explanation of why this strategy enhances engagement. 

In the next three weeks, keep an eye out for the Tuesday Tip to access the easy-to-implement task or activity for each week. FDEV Faculty Fellow Dustin Bakkie, from the Kinesiology Department, is going to be our guide and facilitator throughout this challenge. 

We will wrap this all up in Episode 4 of the Rise, Teach, Learn Podcast (released on March 25^th) and in a Friday Forum on March 26th from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. so, stay tuned! 

We are going to ask you to step out of your comfort zone a little bit. There will need to be some vulnerability on your part. Engagement is a two-way street. You will have your colleagues and the FDEV team with you the whole way to support you.

So are you in? Are you ready? 

Let’s just dive into Week 1 - The 3 Pillars of Engagement.

This week, we’re going to have you try the subtle Power of Names challenge in your class. It's SUPER SIMPLE and involves building the personal foundation needed for high-quality engagement.

Framework: In 2014 the Gallup-Purdue Index Report(opens in new window) surveyed 32,000 college-level students determined 3 Pillars of Engagement were necessary to foster a sense of engagement and wellbeing. 

• Pillar 1 - Instructors need to care about students as people first * Most Important
• Pillar 2 - Instructors need to make students excited about learning
• Pillar 3 - Instructors need to encourage students to pursue their goals.

Challenge 1: Pillar 1 - The Power of Name

Synchronous Class: Use student’s names as often and granularly as possible. “Great question Tom”, “Good morning Halima”. 

• Being as intentional as possible about acknowledging students and USING THEIR NAMES. You might be like, "DUH", but I mean REALLY GRANULAR. Every student who says "hi" in the chat gets named, and I say good morning. Research shows that better social presence from instructors improves student learning and satisfaction. We can do that by using names more often and expressing gratitude. (Ladyshewsky, Richard K. (2013) "Instructor Presence in Online Courses and Student Satisfaction," International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning: Vol. 7: No. 1, Article 13. Available at: https://doi.org/10.20429/ijsotl.2013.070113(opens in new window))

Asynchronous Class: You can use students’ names in feedback. If you are leaving video or audio feedback in the Blackboard or Turnitin Suite be sure to use their name. If you are responding to discussion posts or emails include their name. 

That’s it, you’ve now taken the first step to improve engagement in your course! Engagement comes with connections and using someone’s name is a powerful way to do that!

We look forward to hearing your experiences in the classroom, so let us know how it goes!

Dustin Bakkie
FDEV Faculty Fellow
Lecturer, Department of Kinesiology

If you’d like to comment on this or any other Tuesday Tip, visit the FDEV Blog(opens in new window). 

23 February 2021:

Welcome back to Week 2 of the 4-week FDEV Student Engagement Challenge!

So, how did the first challenge go? Did using names more granularly feel a bit weird or out of your comfort zone? If so, good. Keep doing it! It will feel more natural, and your students will feel connected, which leads to engagement.

This week we are doubling-down on that first pillar of engagement - because it is just that important. Below you will find two planned activities designed to help you and your students connect even more. 

We encourage you to choose one to implement this week and see how it goes. Take 5-10 minutes to plan these out to ensure they go well. However, we need to encourage students to engage by letting them do it safely. This means no points attached and anonymity. 

Challenge 2: Pillar 1 (care about students as people)

OPTION 1 - The Two Word Check-In 

Synchronous - Ask your students: “I would like everyone to describe how they are feeling today in just two words.”

• I encourage this to be an anonymous response and not have any point value attached.
• Remember, we are playing the long game here. These strategies and tactics may boost engagement a bit at first, but HOW YOU RESPOND is critical to promoting FUTURE engagement. Students see you respond to others with kindness, care, and value, and then they will decide to engage as well. 
• Students need to know engaging is SAFE and VALUABLE - Your actions prove this.
• Share your own, too - Be sure the class response is visible to everyone. You can do this by using: 

• A Poll-Everywhere Word Cloud(opens in new window)
  • Google Doc / Jamboard
  • Your Response: Respond & Empathize - Let students know you hear them, and recognize their feelings. Empathize and encourage or affirm.

Asynchronous: Two Word Check-In & Response Use this Google Slides Template. (Google Slide)

• Create a copy and add enough slides so that each student has their own.
• Be sure to change the “Share” settings to “Anyone with link can edit”
• To ensure anonymity, encourage students to log out of Google before they edit
• Each student will put their two words in the title box
• Each student will then spend a few minutes anonymously offering encouragement and thoughtful responses to classmates’ two words in the text box on the slide.
• If you notice any slides not getting responses, give some encouragement there yourself.

Challenge 2: Pillar 1 (care about students as people)

OPTION 2 - The  Entry Ticket 

Works for synchronous or asynchronous classes - Entry Ticket Template(opens in new window)

• Create a copy of the Entry Ticket Google Form above. Edit as you see fit.
• At the start of class, share the link to the form and ask students to fill it out, letting them know you hope to quickly get a sense of where everyone is today, both personally and academically. 

The key to the entry ticket is to view class results as a whole and discuss them afterward. You can screen share the results as you discuss (just be sure to skip the section where they put their names). 

One of Entry Tickets’ great things is that it allows students to ask CONTENT and ADMINISTRATIVE questions safely. You can devote some time in the class to answer them, as they are directly relevant to the course. I encourage you to try it out more than once.  

Asynchronous Version: Do a weekly check-in ticket. Use the template above, but make some edits to apply to a week rather than asynchronous classes. 

Take it up a notch: Add a specific question you want to ask your students before sharing the form with them. Making it personal to you and what you care about improves authenticity.

I can’t wait to hear how it goes!

Cheers,

Dustin Bakkie
FDEV Faculty Fellow
Lecturer, Kinesiology
EVENTS AND RESOURCES

If you’d like to comment on this or any other Tuesday Tip, visit the FDEV Blog(opens in new window).