Blended synchronous learning (BSL) is an instructional approach that enables online students to participate in classroom activities from geographically separated sites using video conferencing technologies. Despite its educational benefits, maintaining and increasing the engagement of online students is challenging. In this study, some strategies were adopted in two classes (N=22 & 23) to investigate how online students could be effectively engaged and their perceptions of the strategies. Surveys and focus group discussions were administered. Results showed that leading group discussions was helpful for online students to be engaged. However, it had challenges for online students as they did not know who was talking and not every member could be observed in the video. Having a teaching assistant was highly rated. It enabled the instructor to pay close attention to the questions posted to the chat box promptly and helped online students know what was happening in the class when the connection was unstable. Giving peer feedback was another useful strategy. However, it only worked when everyone was familiar with the assignment topics of others. Using an interactive tool like Pear Deck did not noticeably increase student engagement. It seemed the design of learning content and activities was more important than the tools used. In addition, the students commonly indicated that they were highly engaged, and they did not think that their engagement level was lower when they were online. This finding was inconsistent with existing literature, which requires further investigation in the future.

Authors:
Qiyun Wang, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

About the Presenter(s)
Dr Qiyun Wang is a University Associate Professor/Senior Lecturer at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore

See this presentation on the full schedule – Saturday Schedule

Bookmark