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LDHEN  September 2009

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Subject:

Re: interactivity is not necessarily engaging

From:

Peter Stanners <[log in to unmask]>

Reply-To:

Peter Stanners <[log in to unmask]>

Date:

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 12:38:12 +0100

Content-Type:

text/plain

Parts/Attachments:

Parts/Attachments

text/plain (118 lines)

Joseph Heller in Catch 22 stated that the only way to prolong life was
by boredom.Leaving that to one side boredom is very subjective and will
vary from individual to individual  and from day to day.Is it the role
of the tutor to 'entertain'?
Peter Stanners UCS
-----Original Message-----
From: learning development in higher education network
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Frances Bell
Sent: 21 September 2009 21:27
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: interactivity is not necessarily engaging

I agree with what you say about student responses to small group classes
and misuse of Powerpoint and as you have suggested there are (at least)
two issues here:
1. Student responses to 'interaction' and their engagement Interactivity
is quite a flat word for the very uneven distribution of communication
that can take place between students and teachers:
* Lots of students mailing teacher with little response
* teacher broadcasting exhortations/ information/ etc. to students with
little response
* teacher interacting with very small subset of student group It's a
challenge to make small group interactions 'count'  - and very relevant
to me about to commence a Y1 module for 450 students with limited f2f
interaction - all suggestions welcome!!
2. Powerpoint
This always puzzles me as Powerpoint is no more a deterministic tool for
communication than the telephone is.  Would you compare a phone call
from your loved one with one from someone trying to sell you double
glazing?
Powerpoint can be bullet points read by the presenter, or a wrap around
for multimedia jewels and a departure point for the eloquence of the
presenter.

Lastly - let's deconstruct 'boredom' - how do students self-report it ?
Does it mean (possibly productive) discomfort? A response to an
uninspiring event? Or a response to a shallow learning activity?

Frances Bell, Salford



On 21/09/2009 20:38, "John Hilsdon" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Thanks, David
> 
> I enjoyed your blog (David's post - below - was back in June and I 
> have been waiting for a moment to reply to it). I think it's a really 
> good point to make that "'interactivity' is not necessarily engaging" 
> ... because, of course, it suggests we question what 'interactivity'
might 'really' mean for students.
> It's one of the words that often gets thrown around as an unquestioned
'good'
> - but key issues in relation to how engaged/committed/bored students 
> feel (since the social and affective dimensions are always there in 
> the
> 'classroom') are to do with power in the 'interactivity' and in the 
> context, the lab or lecture theatre ... engagement does require 
> commitment and I guess some struggle is inevitable in how that is 
> developed ... the overused phrase 'hearts and minds' comes to mind! 
> What do students really mean when they say they are bored?
> 
> I guess teachers sometimes feel like parents where they need to 
> persuade/encourage/cajole their students to do things which are 
> challenging/tedious/scary at the time, but which we 'know' once 
> slogged through will yield learning, in the form of knowledge and 
> or/skills ... and allow advancement/progress.
> 
> I'm sure plenty of lectures in HE do get tedious through misuse of 
> PowerPoint .. in such cases it's the quality of the interaction that
needs to change ...
> my hope is that ongoingly (ughghg, sorry!) getting the power issues 
> out in the open and sharing them as much as possible with students, 
> will build motivation towards learning, and help render the 
> potentially challenging/tedious/scary, as inviting/exciting as 
> possible. We won't ever banish 'boredom' though will we? What do 
> students 'really' mean when they say they are bored? Another highly
complex notion to explore!
> 
> John
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: learning development in higher education network 
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of David Hardman
> Sent: 19 June 2009 13:05
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: interactivity is not necessarily engaging
> 
> A new study by Sandi Mann and Andrew Robinson has found that certain 
> types of interactive class (labs and computer classes) were top of
students'
> boredom ratings - ahead of lectures.
> 
> For lectures specifically, use of PowerPoint was correlated with level

> of boredom.
> 
> In relation to the recent discussion here about doodling, this was 
> most frequently adopted by the most boredom prone students who, in 
> turn, were most likely to skip class.
> 
> The full reference is: Mann, S., and Robinson, A. (2009). Boredom in 
> the lecture theatre: an investigation into the contributors, 
> moderators and outcomes of boredom amongst university students. 
> British Educational Research Journal, 35 (2), 243-258.
> 
> There is a summary on my blog at: http://tinyurl.com/l8paoz
> 
> David
> 


University Campus Suffolk is one the UK’s newest higher education institutions and officially opened on 1 August 2007. The main campus is located in Ipswich with centres in Bury St Edmunds, Great Yarmouth, Lowestoft and Otley. The new Waterfront building in Ipswich opened in September 2008.  Visit www.ucs.ac.uk for further details.

University Campus Suffolk (UCS) is the trading name of University Campus Suffolk Ltd, a company registered in England & Wales, registered number 5078498, registered office Waterfront Building, Neptune Quay, Ipswich, IP4 1QJ

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