Gaining Their Attention

A journalism teacher in a Vermont classroom teaches observation skills by staging a mock robbery as class begins. While he shuffles papers and writes on the board, a masked stranger barges in, brandishing a "weapon" and loudly demanding the instructor to turn over all his valuables. Students aren't told in advance about the disruption. The robber departs as abruptly as he arrived. The rest of the class period centers on what students think they saw and heard, and on the skills reporters need to be accurate observers.

Face to face with students in our classrooms, we employ many strategies to engage their interest. We might:

• tell an interesting story or paint an intriguing picture
• pose a problem that matters to the students

Online delivery filters out a lot of the sensory stimuli that help make these tactics powerful. It's one thing, for example, to witness a robbery at the blackboard, but quite another to read or hear a one-paragraph account of the event.

The social dynamics of the online learning community also differ from those of its face-to-face counterpart, in ways that aren't yet completely understood. It seems safe to assume, for example, that students are likely to focus more intently on a mock robbery involving someone they know, see and speak with daily, than on the same scenario populated by total strangers.

Does that mean a video clip of a robbery would be an ineffective way to engage students in such a lesson online? Not necessarily. The online environment is a different setting, but we need not regard it as a fatally diminished setting. At the same time, most educators are only just beginning to conceive and test strategies in this medium.

As the notion of integrating video suggests, we aren't limited to text-only narration in engaging our online learners. The modern Web can also deliver imagery, animation and sound. In Unit II we'll discuss the nuts and bolts of incorporating these elements. Here we make two points about their value:

First, where they work you should use them. We want to emphasize the word "work." We don't mean simply "decorating" your lessons with pictures and sound. We want you to consider that pictures and sound may actually engage learners who can't or don't connect with plain-text presentations. Appealing to different senses is fundamental to supporting the different learning styles your learners may bring to your resource.

Second, beware the peril of the "strong and wrong." By this we mean that you should avoid using sensory appeal that distracts learners from the key points you want to make. Sound and imagery are powerful. You don't want that strength to leave your learners with a false impression of which information is most important. You must get their attention, but if they focus on the "wrong ideas" you've only created a new obstacle to their learning.

Therefore: ask yourself first, "What's the Big Idea?" Use technology to serve this idea. Be clear in your presentation. Avoid confusing learners with flashy elements that aren't relevant to the point of the instruction.

Creating Expectancy
When you engage learners with the central idea, you are seeding them with what Gagné calls "expectancy." Expectancy may be thought of as the combination of "expectation" and "anticipation." In Gagné's scheme, creating expectancy is the critical second instructional event.

Expectation involves clear answers to question such as:

• What ground will be covered?
• By what means?
• What will students be expected to do during the lesson?
• What will they take away at the end?

Online, you can answer these questions explicitly, by creating lists and handouts much as you would in the classroom. The way you organize information on your site, as well as page design and navigation elements that appear on your pages, implicitly orient users within your resource, and contribute to their understanding of what's coming up.

Anticipation involves generating a sense that important parts of the story are still to come. It's a key step in motivating your learners. You've set forth a task or problem that matters to your students. Now make them also understand that executing the task or solving the problem really does depend on the instruction to follow. Strive to persuade learners both emotionally and intellectually to "stay with it."

Always Be Thinking: "Who is the audience?"
Gaining attention and creating expectancy are difficult tasks when you don't know your audience. On the Web , it could include anybody with a browser. But you can't serve everyone. You'll find it easier to identify what's interesting or significant to your learners if you pare down the spectrum of learners you hope to reach.

Make choices up front about the clientele you intend to serve. Be explicit about these decisions, so that potential users know whether your resource suits their needs. Also plan to learn from your learners. Good design is iterative. Expect to revise your work as you gain experience.