“Interactivity and Learning Styles”

Handout (pdf)

Lisa M. Lane
History Instructor
MiraCosta College

Brief Description:
This presentation will focus on how to incorporate current interactive technology to create a meaningful online class environment. Creating effective online classes is challenging, and awareness of the learning styles of students can help instructors create an online environment that facilitates student engagement in the class.

Students have various learning styles, and many of them (especially the "Net Generation") learn best when they can access information in a number of ways. Their active learning can be enhanced when instructors access their individual learning preferences and stretch their abilities using interactive technology.

The key to creating an environment which is both informative and fun is to use a variety of techniques that enable students to interact with the instructor (such as Instant Messaging), with other students (forums and chat) and with the material (self-assessments and branched lessons). Such tools encourage the students to become greater participants in the learning process.

What three specific things will attendees learn from your session?

From participating in this session, attendees will learn about:

• the varied learning styles of students.
• technologies that students find most engaging.
• ways to incorporate these technologies into an online environment.