Sharon Fratta-Hill, Improving Engagement Through

Improving Engagement Through the Use of Rich Media

Sharon Fratta-Hill, PhDVice President of Distance Education,

Graduate School USA

2(888) 744-GRAD(888) 744-GRAD www.graduateschool.eduwww.graduateschool.edu

Accessible Collaborative Compelling

Easy to Use Personalized Responsive

What Makes an Experience Engaging?


Engaging the Distance Learner

• We wanted to create a high end distance education training platform.

• We wanted to move away from the text-based point and click experience that was so familiar to the government employee.

• We wanted to find out how to change skill levels and hold the interest of the federal employee.

• We wanted to measure what engagement really was.


Capture and keep your learners’ attention

Simulate a face-to-face experience

Create interactive content that keeps them engaged

Focus on learning,not the technology

Bridging the Engagement Gap


How Could We Make the Course Interactive?

• Choose a platform that allows students to chat or interact with the teacher in a real time collaborative manner.

• We needed:


What Were We Thinking?

• How could we create courses that meet the needs of federal agencies?

• What worked for adult students who are federal employees?– It must be either very flexible so that he/she can move

at their own pace or• The course must be short enough to complete

within a period where an employee could be excused from their office duties.

– Exact skill outcomes must be obtained on completion of the course.


• Page turner format may be able to produce Bloom’s Taxonomy Knowledge (rote) level learning, but student engagement is needed for Application (or higher) level knowledge acquisition.

• What kinds of activities are being used in the face to face classroom to achieve the desired outcomes?– Outcomes for each course

should be evaluated and media should be chosen that best replicates the experience the student would have in a face to face classroom environment.

Choosing the Right Media


Rich Media

The Graduate School USA uses a variety of media types to replicate the classroom experience.


Blackboard• Adopted v. 6 of

Blackboard to create initial online classes– Federal Clients wanted

more interaction with faculty and fewer independent activities

• Blackboard version 9.1.4 was adopted with an Adobe Connect Building Block

Adobe Connect• Use Adobe Connect to

create asynchronous and synchronous online classes– Asynchronous classes

lacked structure – Students could not

determine the sequence in which learning events should be completed

The Journey


Asynchronous Training


Interactive Features• Presenter files with

recorded lectures synched with Powerpoints

• Wikis and Blogs• Journals and Discussion

Boards• Video and iTunes links

Mobile Support• Access to online content

available for students with iPads and iPods

• Bb also provides access for android devices (wifi-only*)

• http://wbt3.graduateschool.edu/

What Does Asynchronous Engagement Look Like?


Synchronous Training


Blackboard Integration• Wimba and Elluminate

may be used in the same manner as Adobe Connect

Interactive Features• Captivate Simulations• Quizzes• Flash Content• Videos• Polling• Breakout Rooms

What Does Synchronous Engagement Look Like?


Pedagogy + Instructional Design = Learning…or does it?

LearningInstructionalDesign

Pedagogy

Epistemologies

Methodologies

EffectivePractices

Learning analysis

Audience analysis

Media design

Media development

Evaluation

Achievement

Completion

Retention


It’s Also About the Experience

• Starbucks is more than a cup of coffee• Amazon is more than shopping• iTunes is more than music• Why shouldn’t your elearning programs be more than

good pedagogy and effective instructional design?


Questions?

Dr. Sharon [email protected]

202-314-3600

Sharon Fratta-Hill, Improving Engagement Through

Education

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