Objects of Interest

As an instructor, and an instructional designer, I am always looking for interesting activities that will engage my students. Here are some that have worked for me; can you add to the list?

First Time Experiences

• Have students choose a first time experience that they may have had as e-learners or users of technology. 
• Ask students include in their post a short description of what they remember about the example they chose.
• Some prompts for students in the course to use for a blog post or a discussion board entry:
  • First time in an online course
  • First time buying something online
  • First time sending an email
  • First time downloading music 

Common Interests

• Identify conversation starters that students can use to begin their exploration of what they have in common with others in the class. 
• Ask students to choose a topic and create a blog post using the chosen topic as the subject line of their blog entry. 
• Have students comment on other student’s blog posts.
• Some suggested topics:
  • My favorite website
  • I like to collect
  • My favorite course was
  • My favorite place to vacation
  • A great book is…
  • I am from…
  • My favorite sport to watch
  • On weekends I like to

Worth a Thousand Words

• Compose a blog post with 3 images or pictures that illustrate your interests, background, and/or experiences. 
• Include a short description as to why you chose those pictures. 
• Encourage students to respond to each other to get to know one another better.

Tour My Favorite Website

• Have students create a Virtual Tour of their favorite website on a wiki and then share it with the rest of the class. 
• Have each student identify a website (choose early to get the best site) and develop a tour of the website that describes what they like best about the site as well as highlights of any useful functions that the site offers. 
• This can also be done as a content-related activity by having students identify websites that are related to course topics. 
• These could be searchable databases, information sites, online tools, and other Web resources.

 25-15-5 Goal Development – A Great Blog Activity

• First Draft – Have students compost a 25-word personal goal statement for the course. This statement, identifying what they want to achieve in the course, should be PRECISELY 25 words long, which may take some time editing and refinement on the part of students.
• Second Draft – Have students revise their goal statement so that it is only 15 words and post their revised statement to their blog.
• Third Draft – Have students revise their goal again so that it is only 5 words. Have students post their goal statement to their blog.

 100 Words or Less

• Using a blog, have students reflect on topics, issues, and themes from the readings in the course.
• Encourage students to write brief (100 words or less) summaries of the interpretations and understandings of the course readings.
• Have students post a minimum number of summaries, for example, 4 or 5 during the course to be reviewed by the instructor and other classmates.
• The instructor should respond/comment on inaccurate interpretations, offering examples and expanding summaries that are useful for students as tools for reviewing course materials.
• Encourage students to review and comment on postings by classmates.
• Can also be done by assigning certain readings to individuals.

 Point Counterpoint

• Develops controversy and engages students by encouraging them to play the role of devil’s advocate.
• Select 3 – 5 topic statements to be discussed.
• Create wikis or discussion boards for each of the topic statements.
• Whether or not students agree with the required perspective, each posted reply must reflect the opposite perspective on the topic.
• Encourage students to play the role of devil’s advocate and to post responses that may not be representative of their personal perspective on the issue.
• Instructors should participate in the discussion, adding point or counterpoint postings when useful for extending the activity and exploring alternative perspectives.

 20 Questions

• Form 3 – 5 groups of students
• Create forums or wikis for them to work in
• Identify a course-related historical figure or commonly used item.
• Groups must come up with 20 questions in order to identify the item or person selected. Group members should work together to identify useful and appropriate questions to ask.
• All questions must be answerable by yes, no, irrelevant, doubtful, probably, sometimes, usually, rarely, or unknown.
• Each group should select one person to post their questions for the rest of the class.

 In The Hot Seat

• Assign students to groups
• Assign each group a topic, issue, or theme from the course
• Give groups time to collaborate and focus on their topic.
• Create a wiki or discussion board that the whole class will use for the Hot Seat
• Have students gather resources, study, and prepare to answer questions that other students will have when their group is in the Hot Seat.
• Create a Hot Seat schedule for the groups.
• Have students post questions that they have regarding the current topic. Issue, or theme to the Hot Seat Wiki or Discussion.
• Require students in the assigned group to answer the questions posted by their peers throughout the time their group is in the Hot Seat.

 Shared Knowledgebase

• Identify topics that are important in the course
• Post those topics to a Wiki
• Have students add additional information related to the topics identified.