Engagement in the Virtual Village
By analysing the dynamics of interaction during Escola Concept 's Grade 2 & 3 Virtual Village, can we identify what were the points of greatest student involvement?
General topic of interest
Students engagement in the online environment.
Find some of our sources by clicking HERE and HERE.
For a better understanding about our research, please CLICK HERE to check results.
Participants
Grades 2 & 3 learners;
Grades 2 & 3 educators (homeroom and specialists)
Data collecting approach
Through interviews, surveys and drawings we collected and compared teachers and students perceptions on student engagement and virtual classes.
Google forms: the interveiw we sent to educator.
Emerging results
INTERVIEWS:
Our results regarding attention were the following:
- 67% of the interviewed educators mentioned that games (virtual and physical) kept the learner's attention.
-1 out of 4,5 of the educators mentioned that morning proposals for learners were more effective.
-78% of the interviewed educators also mentioned more attention from the group during collective interaction.
Our results regarding the delivery of activities were the following:
-45% of the interviewed educators mentioned they had more handed in activities in phase 3.
-45% of the educators noticed that learners handed in less activities in phase 4.
Our results regarding participation were the following:
- 33% of the interviewed educators mentioned that when they exposed the learners to new tools they were more engaging.
-33% of the interviewed educators also mentioned that when learners see themselves in the proposal they participate more.
Our results regarding dedication were the following:
- 55% of the interviewed educators mentioned more dedication from learners when they had personal interest in proposals.
- 44 % of the interviewed educators also mentioned that learners dedicate more to the proposals when they are connected to the project.
DRAWINGS:
The learner's drawings connect to the interview responses, they show that it took a while for students to adapt to the new routine. As the time passed they had the chance to gain confidence to the tools.
Some examples of students responses to our inquires
Some examples of students responses to our inquires
Some examples of students responses to our inquires
Some examples of students responses to our inquires
Some examples of students responses to our inquires
Some examples of students responses to our inquires
Reflections
Even though the transition to remote learning was unexpected and had required significant adaptations from parents, teachers and students, it has also opened the door to revisit what is most important for learners.
After our entire research process, our group came to some interesting conclusions. Collecting data from different educators was also very enriching to our outcomes. We were able to focus on the common items we saw in the majority.
Along with the educators’ team we noticed some common factors that made the difference in the very beginning of our online experience such as, establishing agreements for the new virtual interface, keeping the culture of thinking, scaffolding learner's responsibility and building group respect.
Regarding the learning process, we realized that when teachers give students meaningful and engaging tasks as collective work, for instance, and when they use different online tools, students learn more and value that learning. Plus, they develop valuable life skills and productive habits of mind that will serve them well in any situation.
To a better understanding about our research, please CLICK HERE to check results.
Next steps
As a group, we agree that the next steps for us should be to raise the faculty awareness about the conclusions we had. We'd also like to listen to more peers and have some feedback so we can have more data to ensure our researched conclusions.
We believe that bringing awareness can make our community stronger and most consistent towards the learning commitment we had.
