Lesson:
Flow and Optimal
Engagement

Lesson Flow and Engagement

TAKE A MOMENT TO REFLECT...

How do you know that your lesson is flowing?

The PAL working group was asked this very question early on in the PAL project.

Here are some tell-tale signs that signal that a lesson is flowing well:

“When I have prepared the lesson in advance, and it goes as per the planning, it speeds up or the pace is much faster than you expect. And there is a sense of satisfaction from the learners as well that they could complete the lesson.”

I feel that instead of being a mentor or being an instructor, I'm just there to facilitate and things are happening on their own. The learners just come to you only when they get stuck. Otherwise, they are autonomous, so they're taking ownership of the learning.

It’s that kind of a sense that older learners—unlike children— have a lot of autonomy over what they're doing. It's almost like once they get going on a path, they don't even need you. They're right…

They don't need you to tell them, and they're able to self-check or connect with other people. And it's just kind of the vibe in the classroom, isn't it? It's a kind of focused attention, and it's almost like a relaxed feeling.

"In a good flow of a lesson, I find the lesson almost becomes more conversational, because students are asking more questions. And you can see they're connecting the dots… So if we're talking about, for example, using a Google Meet, … you see them making the connections. And then when they think of how applicable it is to something outside we haven't talked about. … So I find that you feel more confident as a teacher as well, when it becomes conversational. And you're able to develop more of a rapport with the learners, as well."

CHECK OUT the document below to discover how the PAL working group practitioners realized their lessons were flowing...

IN THE FLOW OF THINGS - Final

Can you relate to some of the undeniable flow moments?

Have you encountered these effortless times where the lesson seems to be driving itself?

SEE BELOW to get a sense of what flow is and the conditions for flow

WHAT IS FLOW?

Let's explore flow...

FLOW happens when there is a balance between the challenge(s) presented and skill(s) needed to perform an activity or task. If the skills demanded of the learners and the challenge posed are within a certain zone, optimal engagement for learning is achieved.

Flow is a dynamic process - not a fixed point in ability/challenge - and involves an area in which optimum experience can be realized.

See the chart below to get an idea of how internal thoughts and feelings can keep learners in OPTIMAL LEARNING FLOW or take learners out of flow...

Optimal Lesson Flow—Staying in the Zone...

The diagram below helps illustrate the optimal conditions and the zone in which optimal engagement—flow—occurs:

Adapted from Peter Liljedah’sl Flow: A Framework for Discussing Teaching.

Based on the work of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi - Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, 2008.

Practitioners can help optimize flow by:

Articulating clear outcomes and steps during the course of a lesson
Gradually introducing new concepts or digital tools [be prepared to pull back on digital or content pieces based on observations of students looking overwhelmed or fearful]
Modelling the steps for carrying out a task—digital or otherwise
Offering real-time formative feedback that keeps the student from being overwhelmed by providing needed guidance
Regulating the challenge of an activity with purposeful planning and with changes to maintain flow in real-time during the lesson

As you carry out your lesson plan, be mindful of providing a challenge for your adult learners, but not one that takes them into fear or overwhelm.

Ensuring the motivation is there for optimal learning!

Here's a quick reminder of what learner may be doing or feeling when they are motivated, as well as what practitioners are doing to keep that motivation alive and well in a lesson.

Each bullet point came out of some extremely motivating PAL working group discussions, which we hope can add a spark to your lesson flow!

KEEPING LEARNERS MOTIVATED - Motivation Indicators - Final.pdf

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Lesson: Flow and Optimal Engagement