Jade Chang's Portfolio Page

About Me

Hi, my name is Jade Chang and I am a former teacher in the Long Island and New York City area hoping to be an instructional designer. My undergraduate studies at SUNY Geneseo focused on history and adolescent education.

Although I enjoyed teaching, I found myself wanting to create more than teach. At first I did not see much resemblance between teaching and instructional design but soon realized there were plenty of overlap between the two disciplines such creating engaging and effective learning experiences. Now, instead of delivering content, I would like to focus on creating.

My Topic and Purpose

Increasing student engagement has been a challenge for many educators, especially with the rise of social media dwindling attention spans and reducing abilities to concentrate among upperclassmen. These facets all impact learner engagement, especially grades 8-12 and put into perspective the importance of educators working with learners to make educational content more engaging so that learners show genuine interest in material and better retain information. With high school students exponentially struggling to keep up with their classes in the burgeoning social media world, many can lose motivation and feel hopeless as they fall further behind with their classwork.

This mini-course is crucial for all educators as it aims to ameliorate some of those issues by helping learners in grades 8-12 build confidence in their learning, improve engagement with course material, and increase motivation. This mini-course is formatted as follows:

1. Why Pacing is Important
2. Ideal Design Qualities
3. Using Student Voice to Guide Instruction
4. Engaging Ways to Check for Understanding

Scope of Learning Outcomes and Content

This unit focuses on understanding and enhancing learner engagement. Initially, learners will delve into the fundamental concept of learner engagement, and explore what it means to create engaging classrooms while recognizing its crucial role in fostering learning. This exploration extends to identifying the key elements of effective learner engagement and investigating its benefits. The module will then move on to investigate why pacing is important to learner engagement and recognize some common obstacles to learner engagement. Moreover, the module delves into the diverse types and levels of learner engagement, ranging from passive participation to deep, immersive involvement. It highlights the importance of inclusivity and diversity in nurturing learner engagement and guides learners in accommodating various learning styles, needs, and backgrounds. The unit finishes with a focus on the assessment of learner engagement, underscoring the importance of instructors creating meaningful assessments that promotes engagement and enjoyment for both instructor and student. 

Needs Assessment

The educational problem or opportunity

One of the prevailing issues faced by both instructors and learners is engagement in which instructors struggle with creating attractive and exciting lessons and learners struggle with paying attention and remaining engaged. Various factors impact learner engagement such as instructors sticking with conventional teaching methods (rigid, lecture-based lessons where learners are not active participants in their learning), lack of personalization (students do not get a say in what they interact with or do not resonate with the instructional content so they tend to be stuck feeling detached from the lessons), and assessment pressure (the overreliance on high-stakes testing that focuses on rote memorization instead of project-based assignments that allow students more opportunities to practice their critical thinking and creativity) all can contribute to overall student disengagement.

The learners/participants involved

Participants of this mini-course might be teachers, educational training programs, professional development workshops, or anyone who would like to explore new teaching techniques and educational theories. Since teachers are typically at the forefront of creating lessons, they may benefit from this mini-course where they will learn new techniques and strategies for enhancing engagement in their classrooms. Professional development workshops can use these courses to introduce new pedagogical methods, classroom engagement strategies, and instructional design to create engaging lessons. While this mini-course can be applied to all age groups, it may be more effective for middle-school to high-school learners.

What will be learned?

This mini-course focuses on the significance and elements of learner engagement, emphasizing its benefits for both students and educators. Participants of this mini-course will explore various levels of engagement, promote inclusive learning environments, and identify common barriers. It also delves into strategies fostering student involvement through activities, discussions, and reflection, while also emphasizing the importance of diverse engagement opportunities. The unit culminates in assessing and evaluating learner engagement through project-based assessments instead of high-stakes testing, offering a comprehensive framework for designing engaging lessons and maintaining active student participation.

Performance-Based Objectives

After completing this mini-course, learners will be able to:

• Unit 1:
  • Define learner engagement and its significance in the educational context.
  • Identify the key elements and factors that contribute to learner engagement.
  • Explain the advantages of active learner engagement for both students and educators.
• Unit 2:
  • Recognize common obstacles to learner engagement, such as distractions, disinterest, and external pressures, and develop strategies to overcome these barriers and rekindle engagement.
• Unit 3
  • Address the importance of inclusivity and diversity in promoting learner engagement
  • Explore strategies for accommodating various learning styles, needs, and backgrounds
• Unit 4:
  • Learn methods and strategies for assessing and measuring learner engagement.
  • Discuss the use of surveys, feedback, and observational techniques to evaluate engagement.

Task and Content Analysis

Unit 1: What is Learner Engagement and Why is it Important?

1. Understanding the Concept of Learner Engagement
2. Benefits of Learner Engagement
3. Types and Levels of Learner Engagement

Unit 2: Why Pacing is Important

1. Recognize common obstacles to learner engagement, such as distractions, disinterest, and external pressures, and develop strategies to overcome these barriers and rekindle engagement.

Unit 3: Using Student Voice to Guide Instruction

1. Inclusive Learning Environments
2. Overcoming Barriers to Engagement

Unit 4: Engaging Ways to Check for Understanding

1. Assessment of Learner Engagement:

References and Resources

For an extensive list of reference and resources, click here.