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Engaging Students

The pressure is on.  The buzz words are flying.  The challenge for educators is to deliver quality material to enlighten students.  Students need a way to connect to the information and the educator presenting it; the educator needs to connect with students where they are.  This two-way street of engaging students is called active learning – actively teaching students in a way that stimulates their ability to learn.

The information on this site presents several successful teaching strategies and ideas used by veteran educators to engage students.  The information presented here is merely the tip of the iceberg and put forth as suggestions to start.

Suggested strategies and resources to engage students:

 

Tell us how you engage students...

How do you successfully engage students to stimulate learning here at UW-Eau Claire?  What are your techniques that work?  We'd love to hear your thoughts, see you in action, and have you share your successful active learning ideas with other educators.  CETL will schedule and interview with you, even video you in action, and post your idea on CETL's website.

  • Don Gaber, Information Systems, shows and discusses how he engages students in a large lecture hall.
  • Mitra Sadeghpour, Music & Theatre Arts, shows and discusses the benefits of giving students power in the classroom. 
  • Jan Larson, Communication & Journalism, shows and discusses the impact of in class group work on student learning.
  • Matt Evans, Physics & Astronomy, shows and discusses how he uses i>clickers for a review session and the advantages the students have when they talk with each other about the questions.
  • Angie Stombaugh, Nursing, discusses how she incorporates PowerPoints, worksheets, and on-line resources in the Nursing Concepts of Practice class activities.
  • Joe Hupy, Geography and Anthropology, engages geography students with practical hand-on activities and lecture and finds a positive response by students.
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Patricia Vincent Roehling, et al. "Engaging the Millennial Generation in Class Discussions." College Teaching, Vol. 59 (Winter 2011), 1 – 6.

Overview: This short article illustrated that the millennial generation (ages 18 – mid-20s) are easily bored, expect variety, self-directed, possess high levels of self-esteem, collaborative, diverse, crave interaction, but also do not take criticism well, fear being embarrassed, and believe all opinions should be heard. Thus, traditional lectures may not be as effective as they were for teaching previous generations and classroom discussions are desirable to facilitate learning for the millennial generation. They compiled a list of 6 dos and 4 don'ts to promote in-class discussions.

Do

  • Work to develop a comfortable classroom atmosphere at the very beginning of the semester while norms for participation are being established.
  • Engaged in exercises in which students get to know each other, increasing their level of comfort with their classmates.
  • Show respect for all opinions, even those that diverge from [the professors] own.
  • Set ground rules for civil discussions.
  • Moderate difficult discussions.
  • Show enthusiasm for the subject matter.

Don't Do

  • Let a student feel isolated or unsupported in a class discussion.
  • Argue or openly disagree with a student during a discussion.
  • Ask questions or engage in discussions in which there is only one correct answer.
  • Create an authoritarian classroom atmosphere. >pdfBack to top

Ezzedeen, Souha R. "Facilitating Class Discussions Around Current and Controversial Issues: Ten Recommendations for Teachers." College Teaching, Vol. 56 No. 4 (Fall 2008), 230-236.

Overview: The article gave ten recommendations for initiating and promoting in-class discussions regarding controversial issues. These recommendations are applicable to conversations across subjects and are meant to encourage college instructors to experiment with conversational learning in their own classrooms.

  • Set the Physical Stage for Controversial Learning
  • Recognize and strive to overcome initial student resistance.
  • Use the grading system to support discussion.
  • Recognize student differences.
  • Adopt a modularized approach to course organization.
  • Choose relevant and interesting controversial topics.
  • Adopt current and accessible reading materials.
  • Find creative and provocative ways of launching conversations.
  • Recognize that successful conversations can be unpredictable and emotionally charged experiences.
  • Carefully balance the roles of teacher and conversational participant. >pdfBack to top
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