A-Interactivity and Engagement Blog Post

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National University College *

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730

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Apr 3, 2024

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EDUC 730 I NTERACTIVITY AND E NGAGEMENT B LOG P OST Target Audience and Sector Adult instructors and students in military electronic schools Applications Selected Name of Application Link to Application EveryCircuit https://everycircuit.com/app Circuit Lab https://www.circuitlab.com Ultimate Electronics https://ultimateelectronicsbook.com/# Blog Post and Hosting Service Name of Blog Hosting Service Link to Your Blog Post Link to the interactive asset you created to use with your learners Blog Post Hello all, Today’s subject is regarding some of the better online apps for the electronic technician, electronics student, or electronics instructor. We will discuss why three of these are chosen to be discussed today along with some advantages, disadvantages, and financial considerations of each one of the three. As you know, using a multitude of instructional methods can produce more educated learners. With improvements and advances in technology (tech), the latest tech can augment your instructional methods to achieve more than could be done without using tech. Using tech with these other methods can produce a synergistic effect to accelerate the learning process among students. The additional educational gains from interactivity and engagement are well known as stated by Muzammil et al. (2020), where the authors indicate a higher percentage of learning when students interact with other students, and a higher success rate with in-seat classes versus online courses due to the interaction between students. Qureshi et al. (2023), indicates

EDUC 730 i nteractivity should be stimulated in teaching and learning in higher education as it typically improves educational development. These same authors report an increase in overall course engagement when students interact more with other students. The use of educational technology has advantages and challenges from both the instructor and student viewpoint. On the instructor side, an advantage is adding another avenue of instruction with the goal of reaching more students or getting them to a deeper level of understanding. A challenge is if the instructor does not know how to use the technology, or doesn’t know the full capabilities of the technology, the advantage may be lost or reduced to the point of being a detriment. Guggemos & Seufert (2021) posit instructors play a crucial role integrating technology into instruction, and the instructor’s professional knowledge may be a key factor in incorporating new tech into the classroom. I have personally seen the effect of an instructor not knowing how to use the technology they were trying to use. In an undergrad English class, the professor had a problem with his own laptop, and was trying to use another with a smart board. The smart board needed to install drivers to work, but antivirus software would not allow installation of the drivers. 18 people waited a bit over half the one-hour class while the instructor tried different things. When the instructor finally gave up and got on an alternate track of instruction, about 40 minutes had elapsed, and student interest was lost. Another challenge is if the technology is more complex and has a longer learning time. A danger is for students, who may not have ever been exposed to the new technology, may need more time than anticipated to learn and use the new tech correctly Guggemos & Seufert (2021). An advantage to the more complex tech is once learned, the satisfaction of overcoming the tech learning barrier usually stimulates a higher level of engagement with the course technology for the student (Dron, 2023).

EDUC 730 The three apps chosen for today are: EveryCircuit ( https://everycircuit.com/app ) This app engages learners due to students “building” their own circuit and the challenge of making it work the first time. Circuit Lab https://www.circuitlab.com This app also engages learners by being able to “build” their own circuit and the satisfaction when it operates correctly. Ultimate Electronics https://ultimateelectronicsbook.com/# This app (content still being added) engages learners by providing excellent content in addition many hyper-links to other areas of the book or the hyper-links to simulations provided by Circuit Lab. Note: -Users may get a false positive from your antivirus when clicking through. You may have to type in the website address manually. Connectivity : Since our military classrooms use smartboards and NetSupport , only an internet connection is needed to access the site. Instructors can mirror the screen on the smart board, and broadcast to the students monitors if needed. Integration : Because these apps are online, system integration concerns are using modern browsers. CircuitLab officially supports Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox although some users have reported having success with Apple Safari and Opera. The CircuitLab website does stipulate

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EDUC 730 JavaScript needing to be enabled in the browser of choice. As mentioned above, since all the military students are connected to the instructor via NetSupport ©, the instructor can “broadcast” their screen to all the students, or links can be provided to let the student choose which one to view at their leisure. Everycircuit officially supports Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Microsoft Edge . Ultimate Electronics does not state it officially supports any browser and has worked with Safari and Chrome when I tried. Cost : Everycircuit cost: While having a free option, it is limited to five components in the circuit. They have two pay plans. One is an individual forever use license with all features for a very reasonable $15, and the other is a class license plan having a minimum of ten students. Prices vary but entering the ten-student minimum for one year yielded a price of $120, or $12 per student for the year. CircuitLab cost: Completely free. Only an internet connection is needed. Ultimate Electronics cost: Completely free. Only an internet connection is needed. Support : All have good support through either the web page instructions or email support. EveryCircuit and CircuitLab has a learning curve, but Ultimate Electronics is VERY user intuitive, even for first-time users. Here is a simple DC voltage divider circuit I created you can use to try out EveryCircuit. Move, add, or delete components if you want. (You can also browse other circuits) Try it out! Here’s the link:

EDUC 730 Additionally, here is the link for Ultimate Electronics: https://ultimateelectronicsbook.com/# Browse through electronic terms and definitions or see simulations for circuits you may have always wondered about! Remember, technology is just an additional tool to be used in addition to all others in the instructor “toolbox”. Don’t let technology be the only educational method used. In an article by Stone & Springer (2019), the authors cited a study using 16 Australian universities in which the significant factor of increased interactivity and engagement by students was due to “teacher presence”. The study primarily focused on the increase in interactivity and engagement after implementing changes in the online university realm but noted similar results in face-to-face classes. Results from students indicated a seven to thirteen percent increase in satisfaction across twelve areas surveyed. An article in the Croatian Journal of Education establishes a direct connection between higher levels of student interaction and student engagement and increased student satisfaction and increased educational goal outcomes (Oluwajana, et al., 2019, p. 80). As you can see, the theory of increased interactivity and engagement leading to higher learner satisfaction and educational goals has been proven accurate in multiple countries. This just shows educational theories go beyond borders. All means to increase interactivity and engagement should be sought, but instructor feedback is always suitable!

EDUC 730 References Dron, J. (2023). How education works: teaching, technology, and technique (1st ed.). Jon Dron. Guggemos, J., Seufert, S. (2021, February). Teaching with and teaching about technology – Evidence for professional development of in-service teachers, Computers in Human Behavior , 115, Article 106613 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2020.106613 Muzammil, M., Sutawijaya, A., & Harsasi, M. (2020). Investigating student satisfaction in online learning: The Role of Student Interaction and Engagement in Distance Learning University. Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education, 21 (Special Issue-IODL), 88-96. https://doi.org/10.17718/tojde.770928

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EDUC 730 Oluwajana, D., Nat, M., & Fadiya, S. (2019). An Investigation of Students’ Interactivity in the Classroom and within Learning Management System to Improve Learning Outcomes. Croatian Journal of Education , 21 (1). https://doi.org/10.15516/cje.v21i1.3085 Qureshi, M., Khaskheli, A., Qureshi, J., Raza, S., & Yousufi, S. (2023). Factors affecting students’ learning performance through collaborative learning and engagement. Interactive Learning Environments, 31 (4), 2371-2391. https://doi.org/ 10.1080/10494820.2021.1884886 Seufert, S., Guggemos, J., Sailer, M. (2021) Technology-related knowledge, skills, and attitudes of pre- and in-service teachers: The current situation and emerging trends, Computers in Human Behavior, 115, Article 106552 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2020.106552 Stone, C., & Springer, M. (2019). Interactivity, connectedness and 'teacher-presence': Engaging and retaining students online. Australian Journal of Adult Learning, 59 (2), 146-169. https://go.openathens.net/redirector/liberty.edu?url=https://www.proquest.com/scholarly- journals/interactivity-connectedness-teacher-presence/docview/2342506006/se-2

A-Interactivity and Engagement Blog Post

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