My thoughts on Engagement Theory

Hi Everyone,

After I finished reading the Engagement Theory, I did find it all very relevant and a useful article.

I have a new understanding of where I can improve and how I can impliment these changes.

As (Prensky, 2001) states, engagement theory is based upon the idea of creating successful collaborative teams that work on ambitious projects that are meaningful to someone outside the classroom. These three components are Relate-Create-Donate.

Many of us are already involved in Technology on a daily basis, I know most of our young children already know how to use a computer, most day care centres use computers to do small tasks, prep students have computer lessons. Most children own a Nintendo DS game or an Ipod Touch, or a phone.

I run an After School Care Service and we often have cooking activities, as a class discussion we ask everyone what they like and dislike and come to an agreement of what to cook for instance (Relate) We organise all the ingredients needed and cook the following day (Create) The children then eat there cooking the next day for their afternoon tea. (Donate)

We do many other tasks similar to this but this is our most successful.

When I have a class I would like to use this method. Split the class into approx 6 groups, each group choose their own topic to do an oral presentation on. (Relate) They have to collaborate with each other and choose a topic or something they all enjoy. (Create)They then begin to begin the project. As a group they can each have a role to do. Once they have work together effectively they then donate (deliver) this through oral presentations. There are many ways to utilise this method of Prensky's.