Audience engagement from a learning design perspective
How can evidence-based teaching and learning practices make us better communicators?
Learning starts with a spark.
It can be a provocative question. A relatable story. A powerful graphic.
Mistakes, too, can ignite a special curiosity in your brain. Literally, little electric signals called synapses fire in our brain when we make mistakes!
It’s a rare moment when your audience is open to learning.
Teachers deploy a range of strategies to create these moments of engagement.
Come to think of it, teachers are really good at understanding their audiences.
They administer surveys to find out student interests, their goals, and personal preferences.
They use short, formative quizzes to activate and assess prior knowledge on a topic. They use polling and exit slips to collect real-time feedback about what their students are learning and what’s confusing.
They welcome good ol’ fashioned conversation.
It’s not just to gain timely feedback or tailor instruction. It’s also a way for teachers to show they care about and value students as people.
It sounds fluffy but these kinds of connections build trust and establish meaningful relationships.
Why should it be any different for writers or content creators when it comes to audience engagement?
