Student Engagement and Learning Needs

Student Engagement and Learning NeedsDr Emma KennedyEmma.kennedy@qmul.ac.uk

Learning OutcomesThis session will look at some of the problems we encounter as teachers in trying to inspire and maintain students engagement with our discipline. We will look at issues of teaching & learning style and also of session planning, asking how to identify and respond to student needs. By the end of this session, you should be able to Identify likely student needs in a given learning situation Analyse how teachers can respond to those needs in order to maintain engagementEvaluate the utility of different learning styles and teaching theories in responding to identified student needs

Learning Needs:what students need in order to learn.

Learning Styles - VARK

Learning Styles refers to the idea that different people learn better when they receive information in particular ways. For a good review see Kozhevnikov et al. (2014) PDF on QMPlus.

VARK Visual, Auditory, Read/Write, Kinetic.Neil Fleming (Fleming, Neil D.(2014)."The VARK modalities".vark-learn.com). Claims that people who are visual learners, kinaesthetic learners etc. learn better when information is presented in their preferred way.

What is the best way to present your information?

Learning styles Experiential Learning

Kolb, D. A. (1984).Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development(Vol. 1). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall

Can learning styles help us meet learning needs?

Tools to meet learning needs

Student EngagementIn education,student engagementrefers to the degree of attention, curiosity, interest, optimism, and passion that students show when they are learning or being taught, which extends to the level of motivation they have to learn and progress in their education. Generally speaking, the concept of student engagement is predicated on the belief that learning improves when students are inquisitive, interested, or inspired, and that learning tends to suffer when students are bored, dispassionate, disaffected, or otherwise disengaged. From http://edglossary.org/student-engagement/

Two possible meanings: We engage studentsStudents engage (themselves)Students engage themselves but we can encourage & help them

Types of engagement and signs that students are engaged3 dimensions of engagement taken from Trowler (2010) literature review see QM+.

Are your students engaged?Take a minute to write down some possible signs that students are engaged. It could be examples of behaviour that you have observed in your own students, or just what you think an engaged student would look like to a teacher.

Now think about what a disengaged student would look like. Have you experienced any of those? Write down some examples of behaviour that you might expect, or have seen, from disengaged students.

Lesson Planning

Teaching Methods

Interaction with students

Thanks for your time!Now please look at the rest of the resources on QM+ and reflect on the questions to get ready for the Blackboard Collaborate discussion.