Lisa Toh

Students whom do not have personal motivation to study tend to lose their focus in classrooms easily. Hence, it's very important for us, as teachers to engage them and make them feel they're a vital part of the lesson.

'Engaged' to me means having them involved in the lessons and through their participation, is able to learn and take home something. It will take alot of effort to draft out such a lesson as compared to just one-way directional flow of knowledge from the textbook to the students.. however, it'll be very beneficial if they could have hands on experiences, etc. Afterall, some may learn better through other senses such as touch and sight, as compared to just hearing.

There are 4 dimensions to engaged learning:

1. Real world learning contexts
2. Meaning making with scaffolds
3. Collaboration with others
4. Evaluating on-going performance

In every dimension, there is the role of ICT to enhance learning. I've learnt that ICT may or may not facilitate learning; it all depends. In engaged learning, the teacher is merely a facilitator that starts the ball rolling and provide guidance through the course. To motivate students to be independent workers would be a challenge as some come to class with the perception of "I sit back, relax and listen to the teacher talk"... at least, my generation of students is used to that! Guilty. haha

I hope to be able to integrate these dimensions into my career (I must!) as not only will it impart subject knowledge, it also encourages lifeskills such as teamwork, self and peer evaluation, etc which are essential tools in life! Looking forward to learning more about this and putting into practice. :D