How to use Highlights to create an active learning environment Follow
Hāpara Highlights gives you the tools to create an active learning environment, where learners are invested and participate in the process. Instead of sitting back and listening to a lecture, active learners engage with the concepts and material. This promotes independent inquiry and encourages curiosity.
In an online lesson based on active learning, it is important to plan assignments that require learners to problem-solve, form an opinion or work with real-life examples. You can do this by incorporating videos, audio clips, discussion and collaboration into the lesson. Here’s an example of how to do that and how Highlights can help.
Active learning assignment
Martin Luther King Jr. rhetorical analysis of the “I Have A Dream” Speech
Instructions:
1. Form a group of four members.
2. Each group member should select one of the following websites to learn about Martin Luther King Jr, his activism and his cause.
3. You will have fifteen minutes to explore.
4. Open a new Google Doc and record thoughts that you have about the information.
Websites:
https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1964/king/biographical/
https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/martin-luther-king-jr
https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/
https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/explore/history/martin-luther-king-jr/
5. When you finish browsing, spend five minutes discussing the information that each of you learned about Dr. King.
6. In the same Google Doc, take notes about the information that you learn from your peers.
7. Next, pick two group members to watch the video of the “I Have a Dream” speech.
8. Then pick two group members to watch and read the text of the “I Have a Dream” animated speech.
9. In your Google Doc, make a list of the rhetorical devices that you think Dr. King was using. Why do you think he used them in the way he did? Were they effective?
Video of Speech: https://youtu.be/3vDWWy4CMhE
I Have a Dream - Animated: http://freedomsring.stanford.edu/?view=Speech
10. When you finish viewing the videos, conference for five minutes with your group. Share your thoughts and impressions.
11. Finally, combine all of your notes into one document and submit it to your teacher.
|
Duration |
Learner actions |
Teacher actions |
|
5 minutes |
Form groups. |
Assign learners to those same groups in Highlights using the Groups feature. |
|
5 minutes |
Each group member explores their selected website for fifteen minutes. Or the learner explores only the website assigned by the teacher. |
Open the four websites for exactly 15 minutes for all learners by pressing the Guide browsing button and setting up a Focus Session. Or open only the assigned website for each learner. This can help with differentiation, for example, if you have a struggling reader who needs an appropriate text to read. |
|
15 minutes |
Browse specific websites. |
Click the Current Screens tab to check in and see if learners have their webpages open and a Google Doc for recording notes. |
|
5 minutes |
Discuss the information that each person learned about Dr. King. |
Use the Activity Viewer to make sure that learners aren’t on any unauthorized websites. (Since the focus session has ended they could potentially begin surfing the web.) |
|
10 minutes |
Watch videos and add notes to team Google Doc. |
Click Share links or Guide browsing to open the videos for learners for a specific amount of time — perhaps enough time to play them twice. Open a video for an individual learner if you need to differentiate or adhere to accommodations. In the Collaboration window in the Activity Viewer, check if learners are collaborating and combining their notes into one Google Doc. During the discussion and notes part of the lesson, open a Filter Session to block out problem websites and make sure learners aren't wasting time. |
|
5-10 minutes |
Work on the assignment. |
Take Snaps throughout the lesson to document learners’ participation and engagement. Click Announce to send positive messages or check in if learners are off task. Review the notes they are taking, and message them if it looks like they’re not getting a concept or need clarification. |