KEEPING THEM ENGAGED...

In our classrooms we want our students to be engaged with the content, with their peers and certainly with us the teacher. In this regard, it is important that the university teacher provide activities that have a good potential of keeping learners engaged and actively learning. Traditionally, many teachers have resorted to using questions and answers to keep students engaged. For me the use of question and answers to make the lecture interactive is a strategy that is begging for reinvention. Too few students are engaged when we pose a question here and when we pose a question there. Oftentimes, students tune out when we pose questions and of course others pray that we do not call on them. Very few students are actively thinking about the question and developing a plausible response. We need to develop strategies that can get all students doing something in the classroom. Higher levels of learning involve active and purposeful engagement with complex abstracted phenomena hence case studies, role plays, think, pair and share, demonstrations, exercises, games, video clips, short writing exercises and other strategies are all helpful in getting students thinking about the issues and of course keeping their minds engaged.