What do their responses tell you about creating motivating and engaging learning

environments in both face to face and online contexts?  Please cite at least two
sources from your course readings from this week. Post your response in a
Google Doc, with a link to your survey to Canvas.

Through the results of my survey, I found some commonalities among many of the students. The first
thing that stuck out to me was the fact that so many of them mentioned that the hardest part of online
classes is the lack of social interaction. This barrier can hinder motivation, as one student in the survey
said that they did not like the fact that they could not have side conversations with other students about
the topics at hand. Obviously, this is quite an issue as motivation is fundamental to getting proper
engagement as pointed out in the Student Motivation, Engagement, and Achievement article. To mitigate
this breakout rooms could be utilized with the instructor floating room to room on Zoom so that the
students feel more comfortable talking with each other. When conducting in-person classes a teacher
could have the students desked arranged in such a manner that they are in small groups so that they can
talk with classmates when appropriate. Using small groups could also help students feel more “accepted”
in the classroom if less eyes are on them. This social aspect also has slight crossover with encouraging
an adolescent to find their “voice” which is one of the conditions needed to get students involved in the
academic literacy process. Teachers need to create an environment where they can use their
metacognitive skills, expand their vocabulary, and possibly the most important for a history class would be
to generate good questions. This could be done both in person and in the virtual space through inquiry-
based lessons where students are taking ownership of their own learning and to expand their vocabulary
a teacher could ensure that they are having students doing annotated reading so students can identify
and learn what words they need to know.

When using technology in the classroom or virtual space this survey revealed that if I were to play a video
in the classroom then I need to keep it at ten to 15 minutes as after that the students lose interest. If there
was to be a benefit of COVID it seems like schools are being fairer in the distribution of technology. From
what I have heard school districts are ensuring that any student that needs a laptop will have a laptop, I
have not heard about how they solve the potential issue of lack of internet in some homes, but I am
confident (and hoping) that there is some sort of assistance for those families. This is good as even the
low-income schools are getting access to technology and this is closing the “digital divide” mentioned in
Teaching Our Way to Digital Equity - Educational Leadership that has been occurring in America.
Second, the teachers who do develop innovative uses of technology are more commonly in learning
environments that serve affluent and advantaged students. Most educators are familiar with the "digital
divide" as the gap in access to new technologies found between more and less affluent students, families,
or school communities
If students aren't encouraged to engage with a challenging curriculum, it doesn't matter whether they
learn from that curriculum on paper or on a computer

Irvin, Judith L, et al. “Chapter 1. Student Motivation, Engagement, and Achievement.” Student

Motivation, Engagement, and Achievement, ASCD.org,
www.ascd.org/publications/books/107034/chapters/Student-Motivation,-Engagement,-and-
Achievement.aspx. 

Reich, Justin. “Teaching Our Way to Digital Equity.” Teaching Our Way to Digital Equity -
Educational Leadership, Educational Leadership, Feb. 2019,
www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/feb19/vol76/num05/Teaching-Our-
Way-to-Digital-Equity.aspx.