Category: OTL201

Two Concepts Related to Engagement/Retention:

1. Equivalence Principle (Muller) – The notion of accepting that learning can happen equally well from multiple mediums was reassuring. The ‘equivalency’ of video to text learning was an excellent reminder for teachers to be aware of.
2. Pre-teaching vocabulary and concepts – I had used this technique routinely in f2f teaching and need to re-examine this for online. I have found that I revisit vocabulary and concepts in my weekly emails, but now, knowing the areas that can be problematic, in a course, I can apply proactive pre-teaching for certain words and/or concepts.

Rationale – Weekly emails:

Establishing communication, and more importantly, sustaining the level of interaction has always worked well for me over the years. This, along with timely responses to questions, has been well received by students. This strategy reduces stress and builds trust between student and teacher, establishing a joint ownership for success.

Future Goals:

1. To access further articles on the effect of increasing social presence, through embedding video aids in online content. (Search for appropriate articles to clarify what Mandernach stated as only having a ‘slight increase in engagement’.)
2. Clarify key vocabulary prior to, or simultaneously with, exposure within the course content. (Proactively introduce key vocabulary in weekly email newsletters to cohort.)