Classroom Door Greetings Increase Academic Engagement

A recent survey found that greeting students at the classroom door boosts academic engagement and behavior. The researchers determined that making eye contact, saying students' names, and offering encouraging words inspires students to put more effort into their own learning. Results revealed that the PGD strategy produced significant improvements in academic engaged time and reductions in disruptive behavior. Moreover, results from a social validity questionnaire indicated that teachers found the PGD strategy to be feasible, reasonable, and acceptable. The limitations of this study and implications of these findings for teacher pre- and in-service trainings are discussed.

Cook, C. R., Fiat, A., Larson, M., Daikos, C., Slemrod, T., Holland, E. A., Thayer, A. J., & Renshaw, T. (2018). Positive greetings at the door: Evaluation of a low-cost, high-yield proactive classroom management strategy. Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, 20(3), 149-159. https://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1098300717753831

Faculty Views on Technology

According to findings from a Gallup survey, all faculty members and technology administrators say meaningful student-teacher interaction is a hallmark of a quality online education, and that it is missing from most online courses. A majority of faculty members with online teaching experience still say those courses produce results inferior to in-person courses.

Highlights include:

-        Virtually all faculty members and technology administrators say meaningful student-teacher interaction is a hallmark of a quality online education, and that it is missing from most online courses.

-        A majority of faculty members with online teaching experience still say those courses produce results inferior to in-person courses.

-        Faculty members are overwhelmingly opposed to their institutions hiring outside "enablers" to manage any part of online course operation, even for marketing purposes.

-        Humanities instructors are most likely to say they have benefited from the digital humanities -- but also that those digital techniques have been oversold.

Straumsheim, C. (2014). Online ed skepticism and self-sufficiency: Survey of faculty views on technology. Washington, D.C.: Gallup. https://www.insidehighered.com/booklet/survey-faculty-attitudes-technology-0

Off-Task Behavior in Students

One study found that the average elementary school student is distracted more than a quarter of the time during class. This was as true for fourth graders as it was for kindergarteners. Off-task behavior didn’t improve with age, or with a child’s socioeconomic status.

Key Findings:

- On-task behavior declined at the end of the school year.

- On-task behavior declined as instructional duration increased.

- Lowest rates of on-task behavior were observed in whole-group instructional formats.

- Girls were more likely to engage in off-task peer interactions than boys.

      - Overall, girls were more likely to be on-task than boys.

These findings can begin to form a foundation for the development of research-based guidelines for instructional design aimed to support engagement among students in elementary classrooms.

Godwin, K. E., Almeda, M. V., Seltman, H., Kai, S., Skerbetz, M. D., Baker, R. S., & Fisher, A. V. (2016). Off-task behavior in elementary school children. Learning and Instruction. 44, 128-143. https://dx.doi.org//10.1016/j.learninstruc.2016.04.003