1. The Underlying
Engagement: Engine of
WebQuests
Bernie Dodge, PhD
San Diego State University
http://webquest.org/workshops/engagement9/

8. My Questions to the Twitterverse:
 What is engagement? What does it
look like?
 What looks like engagement but really
isn’t?

9. What does engagement mean to
YOU?

10. What IS Engagement?
 unklar @berniedodge I think "engagement" sometimes
has to be taking notes, listening to the teacher, doing
homework alone; oh, yeah, and STUDYING!

11. What IS Engagement?
 mmuir@berniedodge Eye contact w Head nodding w a
smile while the teacher presents looks like engagement
but often isn't...
 mmuir@berniedodge Kids asking their own questions and
finding answers and being excited and teaching others
about it is engagement

12. What IS Engagement?
 thecleversheep@berniedodge Engagement: utterly tuned
in, focused and undistractable; and they don't realize
they're learning.

13. Informal Study
 N = 265
 Describe a learning experience you had that was boring
 And one that was fun

14.  The subject was the Civil War
and we were discussing the
tools, weapons, and clothing
used during that era. We worked
in small teams and moved from
one artifact table to another.
 We had to figure out what the
artifact was, what it was used
for, and why it was invented.
 We then presented our findings
to the class.

15.  In my junior American
Literature class, we were
expected to write a narrative
based upon a selected piece of
famous art.
 We were to study every aspect
of the painting and then create
a story around it. We were
allowed to pick the painting we
wanted from a selection and
we were allowed to work with
a partner.

16.  This is gross, but we were
learning what causes
finger/toenails to become
discolored or misshaped.
 We looked at slides, read out
loud, took notes and then took
our shoes off and identified the
things we had learned on each
other.

17.  We constructed hurricane proof houses that we tested
using a fan and then a leaf blower. you were given little
materials, expected to come up with your own design
structure and to explain your selections to a group.

18. Expectations
Think Critically
Think Creatively
Remember
Perform or Present
Move around
Sit still Fun
Interact with an Artifact
Boring
Interact with Instructor
Interact with Other Learners
Watch
Listen
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

19. Second Study
http://edweb2.net/lmf/index.php

20. http://edweb2.net/lmf/index.php

22. http://edweb2.net/lmf/index.php

23. Challenge
high
moderate
easy
0 20 40 60 80
# Stories

24. Teacher Enthusiasm
high
medium
low
0 20 40 60 80 100 120

25. Interaction with other learners
high
medium
low
0 20 40 60 80

26. Other Common Attributes
 Instructor warmth
 Human interest
 More concrete than abstract
 Sensory rich
 Hands on
 Physical activity

27. Out of 160 stories
only 2 were about a lecture

28. Out of 160 stories
only 2 were about a lecture

29. Engagement & Technology
They’re all digital natives… so all we need is more hardware, right?

34. Caught up in the moment, I actually bought things like this.
(Well, not quite like this.)

35. Every day we hear about new
tools
especially at conferences like this.

36. Each day is like a visit to a new
country
We get excited and a part of our brain shuts down.

37. You’ve got to remember where
you came from
Don’t forget what you already knew as a teacher

38. An ad I recently received

39. Reminded me of this…

40. And came with claims that make my BS detector light up.

41. Magazines are adopting new technologies in the name of engagement
and so will textbooks.
Be skeptical. And excited.

42. OK, so what IS engagement?

44. Conrad & Donaldson Engaged Learning Model
Collaboration
Problem-
Constructivist
Based
Principles
Learning
Engaged Learning

45. Engagement Research
 STROBE
 Used in medical education
 Cycle of observing teacher and students
 Validated against self-reports
O’Malley, K. et al, (2003). Validation of an observational instrument for
measuring student engagement in health professions settings.
Evaluation & the health professions, 2003, 26; 86.

46. Observation protocol

47. Interactions

48. Interactions

49. Interactions

50. Interactions

51. Interactions

52. To sum it up: Engagement…
 is about lots of interaction,
 about the thing you’re trying to
teach,
 using as much of the brain as
possible.

53. WebQuest.org

54. It’s not easy to get this across to
novice teachers
They’ve been damaged

55. If only we had a visual language
for talking about this…

56. SDSU Playbook

57. Rhumba

58. Figure Skating

59. Teaching is at least as
complicated as football
Or rhumba

60. Interactions Thick lines = intense
interaction requiring
deep processing

61. Interactions Thin lines = weak
interaction requiring
shallow processing

62. News Dots
http://slatest.slate.com/features/news_dots/default.htm

63. Teacher
Engagement = low
Interactions demonstrates the
site. Learners watch

64. Teacher gives URL.
Engagement = low
to medium
Interactions Learners explore.

65. Teacher gives URL and a
task: What is in the news
Engagement =
medium
Interactions that interests you least?
Learners explore and
reflect.

66. Teacher gives URL and a
task: Within
Engagement =
high
Interactions groups, become an expert
on one aspect of the news.
Then work together and
decide on a prediction
about what the top five
topics will be tomorrow.

67. The SAME tool leads to
DIFFERENT engagement
It’s all about teaching, not technology

68. 360 Cities
http://www.360cities.net/image/sanaa-sunset

69. How could you maximize
engaged, powerful learning with
the 360 cities site?

70. Working in groups of three,
decide how to maximize
this, Interactions
this,
and this.

71. What did you come up with?

72. So how can we measure
engagement in our own teaching?

73. EOP

74. EOP
Put a number from 1 to 10 to
indicate the amount of
interaction of each type.

75. EOP
Put a number from 1 to 6
to indicate the kind of
thinking required by the
interaction:
1 = Remembering
2 = Understanding
3 = Applying
4 = Analyzing
5 = Evaluating
6 = Creating

76. EOP

77. MEOP
Testing now in Oklahoma
Will be used in San Diego in our
Qualcomm project
Quantified feedback
Immediate results
Learning by focused observation

78. Pre-Class
Setup

79. Random
Student
Generation

80. 3-Minute Cycles
0:00 – 0:59 Observe Teacher & Class
1:00 – 1:29 Observe Student A
1:30 – 1:59 Observe Student B
2:00 – 2:29 Observe Student C
2:30 – 2:59 Observe Student D

81. Teacher
Observation

82. Student
Observation

83. Interactions Thick lines = intense
interaction requiring
deep processing

84. The Ebb & Flow of Teaching
Student-Teacher
Student-Student
Student-Data
Student-Self
0 10 20 30 40 50 60

85. Homework:
Get a friend to watch you teach
And watch the interactions.
Why? Because you’re too caught up in the moment to catch it all,
no matter how experienced you are.

86. So… What About WebQuests and
Engagement?

88. WebQuest 1.0

91. Kosovo Crisis

92. WebQuest 2.0
Incorporating blogs and wikis

94. Travel Account

95. Historical Story

96. Caste System

97. Compilation

98. Election 2004

99. Recommendation

100. Example WebQuest: India &
Pakistan

101. WebQuest 3.0
Incorporating handheld devices

103. Interactions

104. Interactions

105. Interactions

106. WebQuest 3.0 Tasks
 Creating a field guide to a local park
 Making recommendations about historical
preservation
 Analyzing the healthfulness of local grocery
stores
 Gathering oral history for a compilation
 Creating a documentary about energy use

108. The Underlying
Engagement: Engine of
WebQuests
Bernie Dodge, PhD
San Diego State University
http://webquest.org/workshops/engagement9/