Last week when I asked Copilot to generate blog topics, it gave the suggestion of "effective asynchronous learning activities", but as I prepared to write this entry today I thought about the difference between effective and engaging - which is better? or is there a better one? are they the same? Good questions.
Effectiveness leads us to activities where learners are gaining knowledge that educators intend for them to gain; "producing a decided, decisive, or desired effect" (Merriam-Webster).
Engaging on the other hand means that learners want to do the activity and probably complete it in high numbers due to that fact; "tending to draw favorable attention or interest" (Merriam-Webster).
So, are they same? Yes and no. It depends on the activity because it can be effective and engaging at the same time. Educators can also produce effective activities that no one wants to engage with, or vice versa.
What are some effective and engaging activities for asynchronous learners?
- Discussion boards.
- Individual or group research projects.
- Video demonstrations, by the learner or the educator.
- Interactive activities.
- plus many others that maybe we'll talk about some other day...
Discussion boards
In a classroom, discussions are a great way to see what learners know and what knowledge they have gained. It's also an opportunity for others to listen and absorb more information. The National Council for Teachers of Mathematics have research to show the effectiveness of discussions and have included it as a
mathematical practice, "construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others." The content can be a reflection or discussion about the current topic, or it can provide open-ended, critical discussions about hot topics or ways to problem solve.
Research Projects
Learners can work in groups or individually to research and present on a topics of their choosing (within the realm of the content). Not only does this provide choice for learners but it also gives them a chance to focus on a topic of interest.
Video Demonstrations
When I was in trigonometry in high school, the teacher assigned each student a topic to learn about and then teach the class. Since my goal was to be a teacher anyway I loved this project. In an asynchronous environment an educator can assign much the same thing, then learners can present their topic through a video demonstration. This is just one example of how this might be used, as an educator or learner you may be able to think up other ways to utilize videos (e.g. assessments or end-of-term portfolios, etc.).
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| A video I made showing students how to graph a system of equations. |
Interactive Activities
In math and science there are websites like
Desmos or
PhET that offer activities students can interact with and discover a new topic. Many of the activities contain critical thinking questions and guidance to encourage the learner to explore. In many instances, these are a great way to connect the content to the real-world. For finance/social studies there is
Next Gen Personal Finance and
The Stock Market Game. If you have others you would like to share, please put them in the comments below!
This blog could probably go on and on about all the activities for each of these topics, as well as other was to engage learners and be an effective educator, but I'm going to stop here. There will be plenty of chances to expand this, so please let me know what I missed or what I can write more about in the comments!!
Resources:
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