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Case Study
Hybrid Learning: Maximizing Student Engagement
5/23/2007
Maximizing Student Engagement
Throughout my research, I use the term "dynamic" in reference to learning contexts that heighten interaction at all levels and keep students engaged in the process through self-direction and response (Reynard, 2003). Although most courses of study require students to interact with the content of the course, and with the instructor, when the course design is linear and conventional, there are preset expectations about content, interaction, learning products (e.g. assignments, quizzes, essays), and evaluation. The learning outcomes of such a course, therefore, are also predictable and pre-defined.
Within a dynamic learning environment, while specific content may be presented by the instructor, students are free to explore, interact with, comment on, modify, and apply the set content and additional content they discover or create through the learning process, and all of this leads to the outcome for each individual student, which therefore, customizes the learning process for each student. That is, while there may be preset learning outcomes based on the study discipline and/or industry standards, in a dynamic learning environment, students can work with those outcomes, integrate them with their own learning needs and outcomes, and emerge with a more holistic and relevant body of knowledge that can be applied directly to real life. Therefore, students themselves drive the process and support their own learning outcomes.
In order to make this level of interactivity possible, however, dynamic learning environments should make good use of new technology. Technology itself does not produce dynamic learning environments, but it can effectively support the requirements of such a course. Dwight and Garrison (2003) suggest that hypertext has the potential to completely change teaching and learning by providing students with the ability to explore and retrieve texts for courses and maximize their customized choices in the process. The authors do acknowledge that there is also the potential for chaos and suggest that such freedom must be supported by what they call "scaffolding" (Dwight & Garrison, 2003).
By scaffolding, we mean something like Rosenshine and Stevens' (1992) method for preparing learners for higher-level cognitive strategies in loosely structured learning environments. They stipulate that learners' individual readiness levels for the intended learning needs to be assessed, that the instruction needs to be modeled, that students' agency needs to be promoted by removing well-defined structures, and that "just-in-time" interventions should occur when learners become stuck or frustrated (p.723)Scaffolding, in this sense, refers to various learning supports, including relevant and immediate instructor intervention. Other supports could be additional links, synchronous chat sessions, self-reflection opportunities, asynchronous discussion, and collaborative knowledge building opportunities. In other words, a course of study progressing in an ongoing dynamic process of learning relies upon a variety of inputs, learning supports (scaffolds), and interaction.
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