Modification of Traditional Classroom Activities | Origin: EL113
This is a general discussion forum for the following learning topic:
Active Learning in an Online Environment --> Modification of Traditional Classroom Activities
Post what you've learned about this topic and how you intend to apply it. Feel free to post questions and comments too.
It's important to keep discussions structured and clear, but to also fit in 3-5 activities per week if possible to keep the learners engaged. Don't be afraid to try new things to help everyone get out of their comfort zones.
I was pleased to see that I already use all of the suggested 'low-risk' engagement strategies in my online course. However, I do not often get feedback from the students on how these strategies are received. This may be because of the current culture we are experiencing; texts go unanswered, thank you notes are a thing of the past, etc. Perhaps the student feedback on instructor evaluations may be the only way to get feedback of this nature.
Keep things real and relevant when selecting active learning activities. Not every student learns the same and you need to vary what you have your class do. Be willing to try new things. Everyone will benefit.
Incorporating 3-5 active learning techniques into a course is a good starting point for implementation and classroom engagement.
In the course of this module, we learned that traditional teaching methods require a redesign in order to be useful in an online environment. Though such a redesign requires both time and effort on the part of the instructors, it helps students develop critical thinking skills. Clear communication between the instructor and the learner at the beginning of the course should stress on both the effort involved and expectations. In this context, rubrics help instructors to constantly monitor the students learning.
Traditional classroom activities can be modified to incorporate active learning activities and assignments. This should be carefully planned and engineered for maximum accessibility. Technology limitations and a lack of instructor feedback/engagement can discourage student engagement and degrade the quality of learning.
Active learning might look different than teacher-centered learning, but it is still composed of the same parts- like content, learning, and assessments. It might just look slightly different. For example, in an active learning environment, you might give students a project rather than a multiple-choice test, but they might cover the same topics.
Active learning can be labor-intensive, so letting the students know ahead of time to bring balance is key. Determining the technology tools the online instructor may use to enhance active learning can take some effort and thought about the course. Tools that support collaboration and project learning include wikis, blogs, discussion boards, and audio/video tools.
I like the perspective that active learning techniques should not be an experiment; however, you have to be brave and try something new and then analyze how it went and if it can be executed again
Rubrics are very convenient and helpful for grading. Reverse teaching is quite effective
It's important to remember that not every student learns the same.
Rubrics give clear expectations
Using rubrics help student know what is expected. This also gives real time feed back on something they turned in so they know what to improve on. It is not helpful to say, "Try harder for an A", there is no actionable items the student can work on. Even saying nice job or good point on their contributions to conversations can help them with their confidence in the class.
Traditional classroom activities can be effective by adapting to different learning style of the student and also grading by the rubric can help instructors very much!
The module encourages us to introduce active learning opportunities and to use rubrics for grading consistency and clarity.
Rubrics play a huge role in making active learning assessments meaningful because they give students a clear picture of what quality looks like before they ever begin the task. When students know exactly how their reasoning, collaboration, problem‑solving, or application of concepts will be evaluated, they participate with more confidence and purpose. A rubric also keeps the focus on higher‑order thinking rather than just task completion, which aligns perfectly with the goals of active learning. For instructors, rubrics create consistency and make feedback more targeted and actionable. They help turn active learning activities into transparent, fair, and growth‑oriented assessments that support deeper understanding.
I really liked Elizabeth's Inspirational Quotes!
I think Rubrics standardize the expectations and attempt to take the subjectivity out of the grading. Students can follow clear guidelines, even though, in my experience, the instructor will have to review the Rubric in class.
Flipped Classrooms have research that intimates that its approach may yield the best results as far as student success and competency with the material. The concept does require more out of the box thinking from instructors, but it is worth the effort and time as the students seem to connect with the process better.
Rubrics are important because they give clear expectations, guide grading, ensure fairness, improve feedback, and help students understand how to succeed and meet learning goals.
This was helpful as I have heard the terms thrown around: flipped classroom, rubric, etc. Finally an explanation and justification. I much more readily accept it now since I have to understand the 'why' of what I am doing, not just told to do it that way.
