Some Activity Ideas…

Some Activity Ideas…

April 30, 2009, 10:58 pm
Filed under: Online Activity Ideas

Listed below are just some (of the millions) of interesting activities you can implement online or in a face-to-face classroom. During our session, I am hoping we can add to this list! 🙂

Learning Teams (Jigsaw Learning)

Jigsaw learning allows groups of individuals to become experts in a given subject over a short period of time and then provides them with the opportunity to teach others in the class about their newly acquired expertise. Learners can present material, facilitate a discussion, develop a group blog, wiki, quiz questions, etc.

Self-Assessment/Quick Quizzes

Embed short quick quizzes (5-10 questions) directly within your course material. Quiz quizzes can serve as a way for learners to capture the important elements of topics and automated feedback can be set up. Some faculty use this is a form of note taking for learners.

Idea Exchange

Create a forum for learners to build on relevant resources related to topics covered in your class. Encourage learners to contribute videos, articles, discussion papers, websites and other scholarly resources.  Another way to build on resources is to have learners collaboratively create an annotated bibliography.

Half-Life

Adapted from Salmon (2002), this simple activity requires groups to be assigned an article, chapter or website to review. Groups are then asked to summarize their article (or resource) in 32 words. They are then asked to summarize the resource in 16, down to 8 to 4 words(over a period of time). To add a creative twist — half way through the activity, let learners introduce videos, images, blogs, wikis to represent their resource.

The Chain Effect

In groups, learners are asked to tackle a specific aspect of a problem (could potentially be a case study) Groups are to approach the problem in a pre-defined sequence and must complete their portion in a specific amount of time. Each group will be asked to build on the previous groups work. An alternative way to approach this activity is to have learners actually build on a poem, report or story.

Websites about Myself

Learners are asked to share three websites that illustrate their interests with other learners. This is a fantastic online ice breaker (Watkins, 2005).

Scenario-based Learning & Online Role Plays

Divide learners into small groups and assign each member a specific role. Various roles may include idea proposer, disrupter, devil’s advocate, questioner, example giver, clarifier, tension reliever. Learners are then given a topic to discuss and are asked to participate in their assigned role.  This ‘spices up’ traditional asynchronous discussion activities!

 

Concept Mapping

Provide learners (individually or in groups) with a concept and have them map out related concepts, and ideas. The objective is to demonstrate how knowledge is inter-related and to encourage learners to connect prior knowledge with new knowledge. Having learners develop a graphical depiction of their concept map introduces a creative element to the activity. Free concept mapping software does exist, however you need to make sure your learners have the skills (and comfort level) to use it. Here at Camosun, we have a tool called LiveRoom (contains a Whiteboard) that may work well for this type of activity.

Online Debate

Divide learners into groups and have each group research and defend a side of an issue or controversial topic.

Fishbowl

This interesting activity requires the class, depending on the size to be divided into two (or more) groups. Select a group of learners to participate in a discussion on a particular topic. Another group will be assigned “observers” and are initially asked to watch, listen and evaluate as the discussion unfolds. The observers are then asked to engage in a discussion to promote reflection, summarize major ideas and present their feedback.

WebQuests

Based off inquiry model, learners (individually or in groups) are asked to explore various online resources (set up by their facilitator) on a particular topic.  Or depending on the topic and the skill level of the learners, have them develop the webquest for another group in the class! J Example: http://midsolutions.org/samples/MC72quest/gagne_and_boys_online.htm

Interactive Glossary

Learners are asked to add their own terms and definitions related to a topic within their course.

1 Comment

1 Comment so far
Leave a comment

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI