Step Up Student Engagement with Branched Learning

Concurrent Session 9

Session Materials

Brief Abstract

Branched learning is not a new concept, but it can help instructors create learner-directed experiences and engage their online students in a new way. This workshop will provide faculty and instructional designers with a foundational understanding of branched learning and how to create learner-directed experiences in PlayPosit. They will interact with the presenter and one another in learning activities that encourage them to create plans for their curriculum.

Presenters

Lead Presenter: Holley Baker, Texas Tech University

Co-presenter: Elyse Ramirez, University of Texas at San Antonio

Elyse Ramirez is a Lead Learning Experience Designer in Teaching, Learning & Digital Transformation under the division of Academic Innovation at The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA). Elyse is currently in her 7th year in education with prior experience as a high school computer technology teacher for grades 9th-12th. She is currently enrolled in the Instructional Systems Design and Technology doctoral program at Sam Houston State University. Elyse is dedicated to assisting faculty with designing high-quality and accessible online courses for all learners and providing opportunities to innovate the field of online education.

Extended Abstract

Holley Baker is a program director with hands-on experience designing interactive, learner-directed experiences for online STEM classes. Elyse Ramirez-Caldeña is a lead instructional designer at the University of Texas at San Antonio and has helped professors of all disciplines create interactive and branched-learning activities to engage their students. It can be challenging to create learner-directed experiences in an online class, but participants can benefit from the triumphs and tragedies of their collective experiences.

We will begin by exploring branched learning, or learning-centered experiences, and how instructors and instructional designers can adapt our strategies to their collaborative processes. What content makes effective branched learning? How do I convert my existing lectures into an interactive learning object? In this interactive discovery session, participants will have the opportunity to discuss the decision-making process when planning branched learning activities and can then customize their workflow based on planning documents provided by the presenter.