Presentation given at the Conference on Inquiry, Guangzhou, China on August 25, 2010.

1. Measuring and Maximizing Learner Engagement Bernie Dodge, PhD San Diego State University : http://webquest.org/workshops/engagement8

2. As children, we are engaged by everything. As children get older, engagement isn’t automatic.

3. Engagement is like a valve. It controls how much of the information we show students actually gets into their minds.

4. Engagement is like a valve. It controls how much of the information we show students actually gets into their minds.

5. If the valve is closed, not much information comes through for students to process further.

6. The ISTE conference held last June is one of the largest conferences in the world about the use of technology in schools.

7. Searching the program you could see that over 119 sessions mentioned “Engagement’.

8. But what does “engagement” really mean?

9. Whenever I have a question like that, I consult my friends online using Twitter.

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

11. What does engagement mean to YOU?

12. 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!

13. 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

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

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

16. 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.

17. 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.

18. 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.

19. 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.

20. Expectations

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

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

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

25. Challenge # Stories

26. Teacher Enthusiasm

27. Interaction with other learners

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

29. Out of 160 storiesonly 2 were about a lecture

30. Out of 160 storiesonly 2 were about a lecture

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

32. When I first moved to California, I was excited by the fact that I could drive for half an hour and be in a different country.

33. I would walk into the market and be overwhelmed by the colors and smells.

34. It all seemed complex and interesting. I would buy things that I would never buy at home.

35. For example, there were pictures of Jesus painted on black velvet. There were pictures of Elvis Presley, too.

36. Sometimes you could find a painting with both of them.

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

38. The same thing happens to people in educational technology especially at conferences like this.

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

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

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

42. This is from an advertisement I recently received for a 3-D projector

43. It reminded me of this…

44. And came with claims that make myliedetector light up.

45. Magazines are adopting new technologies in the name of engagement and so will textbooks.

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

47. OK, so what IS engagement?

49. Conrad & Donaldson Engaged Learning Model Engaged Learning

50. 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.

51. Observation protocol

52. Interactions

53. Interactions

54. Interactions

55. Interactions

56. Interactions

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

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

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

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

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

63. SDSU Playbook

64. Rhumba

65. Figure Skating

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

67. Interactions Thick lines = intense interaction requiring deep processing

68. Interactions Thin lines = weak interaction requiring shallow processing

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

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

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

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

73. Teacher gives URL and a task: Within 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. Interactions Engagement = high

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

75. 360 Cities http://www.360cities.net/image/sanaa-sunset

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

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

78. What did you come up with?

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

80. EOPEngagement Observation Protocol

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

82. 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

83. EOP By adding up the weighted sums you can give a lesson an overall score.

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

85. Pre-Class Setup

86. Random Student Generation

87. 3-Minute Cycles

88. TeacherObservation

89. Student Observation

90. Interactions Thick lines = intense interaction requiring deep processing

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

92. Homework: Get a friend to watch you teach And watch the interactions.

93. Homework: Get a friend to watch you teach And watch the interactions. Why? Because when you’re teaching you’re too busy to see everything that‘s going on, no matter how experienced you are.

94. Measuring and Maximizing Learner Engagement Bernie Dodge, PhD San Diego State University : http://webquest.org/workshops/engagement8