1. Lamar University
College of Education
Educational Leadership
Beaumont, TX
Promising Practices
for Engaging Learners
Dr. L. Kay Abernathy
Dr. Cynthia D. Cummings
Dr. Sheryl R. Abshire
Dr. Diane Mason
2. How Do We Engage PK-20
Learners? Who are they?
Uniqueness
for Faculty: First generation of digital
learners.
Use digital media, games,
and communication tools.
Diverse backgrounds,
experiences, and learning
needs.
3. Digital Savvy Students:
Tapscott (1998, 2008) =
Prensky (2001a,
Net Generation &
2001b, 2009) =
Generation Next or
Digital Natives
Generation Z
Helsper (2008 &
Enyon (2009) =
Oblinger & Oblinger
Second Generation
(2005) =
Using Online Gaming,
Millenials
Social Media, and Web
2.0 Tools
4. Guiding Question:
What do I need to keep
in mind when planning
for engaging tools and
resources to enhance the
learning environment for
Digital Natives and
Second Generation
Digital Natives?
6. Teaching Considerations for the Digital Student:
Daniel Pink’s Drive tells us that autonomy,
mastery, and purpose are most important for
motivation.
Develop Partnerships for learning.
Wired for higher level thinking, exploration,
collaboration, and interaction.
Use of project-based, problem-based, case-based
studies with inquiry.
Desire for fast-paced, interactive learning
activities including constructivism co-constructing
principles and learning by doing.
Flipped classrooms
8. Example: Collaborative Team Google
Document
Discussion focused on week’s
assignment to ensure sharing of Google
Docs with each other. Upcoming Web
2.0 tools assignment was also
discussed.
Document created by the Fantastic Five
(graduate students) as part of Week 3
assignments for EDLD 5362.
Team Google Document
9. Flipped Classrooms
Desire for fast-paced,
interactive learning activities
including constructivism co-
constructing principles and
learning by doing.
http://www.flippedlearning.org/
12. Students Wired for What They Love
Wired for higher level thinking, exploration,
collaboration, and interaction.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1R-
jKKp3NA
Personal Learning Network
http://edupln.com
Allow your students to find what they love.
Love what they do. They are the new; we are
the old! Live their inner voice. Follow
their hearts. Stay hungry. Stay foolish.
(Steve Jobs 2005)
14. Use of Project and Problem-Based, Case Based
Studies, and Inquiry.
An Introduction to Project-Based Learning
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFySmS9_
y_0
Project-Based Learning from Start to Finish
http://www.edutopia.org/stw-project-based-
learning-best-practices-new-tech-video
Project-Based Learning for the 21st Centruy
www.bie.org
16. Authentic Assessment
Demonstrate understanding by performing a more
complex task
Analyze, synthesize and apply learning and students
create new meaning in the process as well.
Direct evidence of application and construction of
knowledge
Traditional Authentic
Selecting a Response Performing a Task
Contrived Real-life
Recall/Recognition Construction/Application
Teacher-structured Student-structured
Indirect Evidence Direct Evidence
21. Digital Medium
Web 2.0 Resources
Online learning management systems
Podcast
Twitter
Facebook
iTunes U
Youtube
Customized learning using gaming
Web conferencing
Cell phones
iPads
Bring your own devices
Open Education Resources (OER)
22. How to become a better teacher in the
digital age?
Tapscott’s 7 Strategies
Don’t throw technology into the classroom and
hope for good things.
Focus on the change in pedagogy, not
technology
Learning 2.0 is about dramatically changing
the relationship between a teacher and
students in the learning process.
Use technology for a student-focused,
customized, collaborative learning
environment.
23. Tapscott’s 7 Strategies (Cont.)
Cut back on lecturing.
You don’t have all the answers.
Broadcast learning doesn’t work for this
generation.
Start asking students questions and listen to
their answers.
Listen to the questions students ask, too. Let
them discover the answer.
Let them co-create a learning experience
with you.
24. Tapscott’s 7 Strategies (Cont.)
Empower students to collaborate.
Encourage them to work with each other and
show them how to access the world of
subject-matter experts available on the Web.
25. Tapscott’s 7 Strategies (Cont.)
Focus on lifelong learning, not teaching to
the test.
It’s not what they know when they
graduate that counts; it’s their capacity
and love for lifelong learning that’s
important.
Focus on teaching them how to learn –
not what to know.
26. Tapscott’s 7 Strategies (Cont.)
Design educational programs according to the eight
norms.
-should be choice
-customization
-transparency
-integrity
-collaboration
-fun
-speed
-innovation in their learning experiences
-leverage strengths of Net Gen culture and
behaviors in project-based learning
27. Tapscott’s 7 Strategies (Cont.)
Use technology to get to know each student and build
self-paced, customized learning programs for them.
Reinvent yourself as a teacher, professor, or educator
28. Blast Off for the Connected Educator
Promising Practices for Engaging Learners
Web 2.0 Tools to Support Engaged
Learning
Project-Based Learning (PBL) in Higher
Education
http://connectededucator.org
29. Contact Information
Presentation URL
http://tinyurl.com/8jgovgn
Dr. L. Kay Abernathy Dr. Cynthia Cummings
lkabernathy@lamar.edu cdcummings@lamar.edu
Dr. Sheryl Abshire Dr. Diane Mason
sheryl.abshire@lamar.edu diane.mason@lamar.edu
