Abstract
Blended synchronous learning (BSL) is an instructional approach that enables online students to participate in classroom activities from geographically separated sites using video conferencing technologies. Despite its educational benefits, maintaining and increasing the engagement of online students is challenging. In this study, some strategies were adopted in two classes (N=22 & 23) to investigate how online students could be effectively engaged and their perceptions of the strategies applied. Surveys and focus group discussions were administered. Results showed that leading group discussions was helpful for online students to be engaged. However, it had challenges for online students as they did not know who was talking and not every member could be observed in the video. Having a teaching assistant (TA) was highly rated. It enabled the instructor to pay close attention to the questions posted to the chat box promptly and helped online students know what was happening in class when the connection was unstable. Giving peer feedback was another useful strategy. However, it only worked when everyone was familiar with the assignment topics of others. Using an interactive tool like Pear Deck did not noticeably increase student engagement. It seemed the design of learning content and activities was more important than the tool itself. In addition, the students commonly indicated that they were highly engaged, and they did not think that their engagement level was lower when they were online. This finding was inconsistent with existing literature, which requires further investigation in the future. Implications for practitioners and researchers are discussed.
Author Information
Qiyun Wang, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Paper Information
Conference: PCE2024
Stream: Design
This paper is part of the PCE2024 Conference Proceedings (View)
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To cite this article:
Wang Q. (2024) Engaging Online Students in Blended Synchronous Learning: An Exploratory Study ISSN: 2758-0962 The Paris Conference on Education 2024: Official Conference Proceedings (pp. 217-225) https://doi.org/10.22492/issn.2758-0962.2024.18
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.22492/issn.2758-0962.2024.18
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