1. Department of Psychology Building Engagement: Practice and Theory Experiences and outcomes from fully-online Introduction to Psychology Novel extension and application Mastery learning Student-controlled repetition Cognitive views on engagement and learning Effects we can capitalize on Principles for building engaging activities

2. Department of Psychology Engagement Strategies Mastery learning 1 MC test per chapter (15 total; 3/week) Second Chance tests open for any chapter < 80% Fill-in-the blank and T/F Grading time? Student-controlled repetition Podcast-style MP3 “online lectures” Stylistically, very different than classroom lecture Portable format lends itself to multiple exposures, multi-tasking Novel extension/application: Discussion threads Application to current events, personal experience

3. Department of Psychology Outcomes: F2F versus Fully Online (25-item general psychology knowledge multiple-choice survey)

4. Department of Psychology Engagement that pays off: Views from cognitive psychology Tests enhance retention, even without feedback and/or additional study time (testing effect) Capitalize on this with technology Repeatable online quizzing SRS systems Dividing study time across more discrete study intervals yields better results (spacing effect) Divide large “capstone” assignments Maintain contact with students on “off” days

5. Department of Psychology What makes engaging activities…engaging? People are geared to retain information that is survival- relevant, emotionally affecting, rich in sensory qualities, easy to interpret Certain activities lend themselves to continued effort more than others Consider computer games: Qualities that make them so engaging? Games have certain core characteristics that build engagement; these transfer over into learning activities as well (Dickey, 2005) Example principles: Focused goals, optimal levels of challenge, clear standards, protection from initial failures, novelty & choice Consider also: Flow (Czikszhentmihalyi)