eBook Engaging the Online Learner: Activities and Resources for Creative Instruction (Jossey-Bass Guides to Online Teaching and Learning) download

This book is a good introduction to engaging online learners/ students/ participants. The content below includes my interpretation of the book's chapters and key ideas. It is my intent that the review kindles your interest and spurs you on to buy the book.

1. Learning in an Online Environment
This chapter provides an overview of the framework for engaging learners, with the intent of creating an establishing a partnership between instructor and learner. The framework includes four phases, or levels, of engagement with different roles for learner and instructor:
-Phase 1. Learner as newcomer; Instructor as social negotiator. In this phase, the instructor provides icebreakers and other activities so learners can get to know one another (see chapter 5).
-Phase 2. Learner as cooperator; Instructor as structural engineer. In this phase, the instructor pairs up learners to emphasize critical thinking and reflection (see chapter 7).
-Phase 3. Learner as collaborator; Instructor as facilitator. In this phase, the instructor forms groups to learn by solving problems (see chapter 6).
-Phase 4. Learner as initiator; Instructor as community member. In this phase, the instructor simply provides guidance to learner projects (see chapter 10).

2. Designing Online Engagement
This chapter discusses how to convert classroom activities to an online environment. This rather frustrating chapter brings up many potential problems, such as how to engage with online learners who live in different time zones, but fails to deliver any effective, usable solutions to those problems.

3. Measuring Online Engaged Learning
This chapter addresses how to assess learning in online environments. The chapter mentions that essay questions are useful for assessing critical thinking, and that rubrics can be used to grade the essays. I agree that rubrics can be useful, but the overall essay grading process can still be interpreted as highly subjective by learners. Again, I wish the book would provide successful specific solutions/ examples used in industry.

4. Learning to Use Online Tools
This chapter focuses on how to help learners learn to use online tools. Learners often state they know how to operate search engines, and yet fail when given simple topics to search. This chapter gives a useful exercise on testing Boolean search skills to find the eye color
of former United States politician and statesman Benjamin Franklin. Another good exercise was the "ten question scavenger hunt" where students search for answers.

5. Online Icebreakers
This chapter provides examples of icebreakers to use online, such as students introducing themselves by telling others what type of animal represents them, or why they are taking the class. Icebreakers I have used in the past include exercises where students group themselves
in terms of their key skills, industries, or other interests.

6. Peer Partnership and Team Activities
The book recommends that the instructor form groups of two students (dyads) and have them work together before moving to the next phase of interaction within larger groups. A typical exercise for a dyad would be for each to comment on a given news article
and to have the other learner provide three observations they liked about the others' work and three things they didn't. To advance student engagement from dyads to larger groups, the authors recommend having each group draft a Group Contract, where the group declares who will lead the group, the type of communications they will use, a conflict resolution plan, and each member's roles/ duties.

7. Reflective Activites
This chapter covers the use of reflective activities. One interesting example is the "Bumper Sticker" activity, where learners are asked to reduce key concepts to a short phrase one could print on an automotive bumper sticker.

8. Authentic Activities
This chapter provides examples of activities similar to those found in industry. One interesting example is the Case Study activity, where one group answers the questions on an instructor-provided case study, and the other groups comment. The book suggests repeating the exercise between groups that have different characteristics, such as groups from different industries or geographic regions.

9. Games and Simulations
This chapter discusses activities using games and simulations. One example could be the familiar Survival Simulation, where groups compete to decide the ranking of 12 different items to take from a sinking/burning aircraft that has just crash landed. The group with answers closest to a given survival expert wins. Remarkably, the chapter does not mention motivation of learning through gamification.

10. Learner-Led Activities
This chapter discusses activities led by individuals instead of by teams. For example, one could assign presentation to be created and presented by each learner, along with a 10 question multiple choice quiz covering the key intended takeaways of the presentation. The other learners would then watch the presentation and take the quiz afterwards.

Overall, I found the book interesting with useful elements I can use in my instructional roles. The book would be much improved, in my opinion, with industry examples of how different organizations are applying the different techniques and their specific lessons learned. As the book is now, the concepts are interesting, but it is left to the reader to determine how to apply the information. Recommended for instructors who are researching different techniques for online engagement.

For $19 I was expecting more. The book is mostly a collection of activities and icebreakers that could be done in an online environment. I can find many of these activities online for free. I was hoping that the resources part of this book would include teaching strategies that have worked for online teachers.

This book is ideal for the professor or instructor who is providing instruction through distance learning. For online instruction to be successful, students cannot just sit and absorb content passively. The online professor/instructor must encourage an engaged learning environment, which is described by the authors as an environment based on constructivist principles and problems-based learning.

One early challenge is to get the students to feel comfortable participating in discussions. The students' level of engagement can be measured partly by looking at the frequency and the quality of the students' interactions. Another challenge is to get students to feel comfortable with the online tools. The book provides at least a dozen 'ice breaker' activities to help students feel confident with discussions and tools. It also recommends that nongraded assignments be used during this initial orientation period.

Different categories of activities are described, including team and peer, reflective, authentic, and learner-led activities. Over a dozen examples of activities are provided for each category. (The authors define reflective activities as those that require the student to share a synthesis of the learning experience and they define authentic activities as those which stimulate an actual situation.) The section on learner-led activities explains how to help learners become successful in preparing and delivering instructional activities, especially with the tasks of defining objectives, defining the type of activity, and planning. Games and simulations are also addressed (but briefly).

Overall, it's a useful book for getting started when you suddenly find yourself having to teach a distance learning course. My only gripe is that I would've liked to have seen a larger section on assessments.

Great practical guide. It not only guides you through instructional design for distance education, but also includes activities that can be adapted to most ages and most classrooms.

Good textbook for online teaching class.

A very good book, if a little "light" in research. I would suggest it for any novice instructor needing pointers for classroom and online engagement.

I used this book to refresh my online teaching skills via a university graduate course.
I had taken a course about 12 years ago, but this was so much better due to the changes in technology.

Came on time. Great condition. The material is very helpful as an instructor. I thoroughly enjoy reading this even if it is a requirement!