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Three Types of Interaction

“The computer is merely the vehicle that provides the processing capability and delivers the instruction to learners.”

Clark (2001) in Anderson, T. (2008 p.16)

“For learners, online learning knows no time zones, and location and distance are not issues. In asynchronous online learning, students can access the online materials anytime, while synchronous online learning allows for real-time interaction between students and instructors.”

Anderson, T. (2008, p17)

Interactions in Online Learning: learner-content, learner-instructor, learner-learner.

Facilitating any kind of Interaction

Communication is Key

  • Clarify expectations
    • Who: individually, groups, the class
    • What: discuss, journal, explore, respond, etc.
    • Where: email, discussion forums, wiki, etc.
    • When: in the context of the course and calendar
    • Why: how does this related to the course overall and/or the assignments
    • How: specific tools or document types, Netiquette
  • Be present, but not overbearing
  • Acknowledge student contributions

 

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Learner-Content Interactions

Learner-Content Interaction

“The first type of interaction is interaction between the learner and the content or subject of study…The oldest form of distance teaching that aimed to facilitate interaction with content was the didactic text.”

Moore, M. (1989)

“Good design is crucial in education because much of the learning that students undertake is without direct supervision, meaning that learners only have designed instructions, artifacts, and scaffolding to guide their activity”

Bower, M. (2017)

“In preparing instruction for learner-content interaction the educator can design written and recorded material that aims to motivate, make presentations, facilitate application, evaluate, and even provide a degree of student affective support. ”

Moore, M. (1989)

Key Ingredients

  • Variety of content and activities:
    • readings, video, websites, online exemplars
    • reading responses, reflections/journals, case studies, quizzing
  • Resources should be contextualized, and opportunities for feedback should be included throughout the course (Chakraborty & Nafukho, 2014)
  • Relevance is key in adult learning, practical value of activities beyond the duration of the course establishes relevance (Knowles, 1984)
  • Encourage active reflection and self-assessment (Duncan & Barnett, 2009; Pawan et al., 2003)

Taste Test

Look through the content of your course and consider what you ask students to do independently. Then consider the following:

  • How do you currently facilitate clear explanations and descriptions when information is not readily available from selected learning materials? Consider, for example, letting learners know why you want them to access these resources, and what they should be looking for.
  • Where could you include reflection as part of project assignments? (e.g. on the process they went through , and how that process impacted their learning.) If you were to include reflection, how might it be continuous, connected, challenging, and contextualized? (Eyler, J., Giles, D.E. & Schmiede, A. 1996.)
  • Where might students reflect on their own strategies for learning and behaviours? Crosslin (2018) provides a series of exercises one might try such as: The Multitasking Exercise, Journal Writing, Deep Reflection.
  • Where in your course might you incorporate experiential learning, case studies, and problem-based activities designed to immerse learners in real world scenarios? (Caulfield, 2016)
  • Where might Self-Assessment fit into your course? (Dingwall, 2017)

The dialog card has several different iterations available, one of which acts as a set of digital flashcards. The learner can shuffle, draw a selection, remove cards correctly guessed, etc. The designer can include text, audio, images, and hints for each card in a deck. This activity is from HORT27: Woody Landscape Plants, Module 4: Deciduous Trees.

The following timeline is used as part of the course learning materials in Drama 108: What is Theatre?, Module 3: Evolution of Western Theatre

 

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Learner-Instructor Interactions

“The second type of interaction-regarded as essential by many educators, and as highly desirable by many learners-is interaction between the learner and the expert who prepared the subject material, or some other expert acting as instructor.”

“The instructor is especially valuable in responding to the learners’ application of new knowledge. Whatever self-directed learners can do alone for self-motivation and interaction with content presented, they are vulnerable at the point of application… It is for reality testing and feedback that interaction with an instructor is likely to be most valuable. “

Moore, M. (1989)

“Effective feedback isn’t a fix: it’s food, not medicine.”

Torcivia Prusko, P. (2020)

Key Ingredients

  • Regular interaction with students and provide feedback (Berge and Clark 2009)
  • Planned and spontaneous communication, and transparency
  • Instructor as participant, facilitator, mentor (Burkle and Cleveland-Innes 2013)

Taste Test

Think about any class you’ve taken or are teaching right now. How do you currently create a sense of connectedness? Which of the following is not included in your course currently, and how might they be incorporated?

  • Communication Planning:
    • proactive or reactive (module overviews, muddiest point)
    • communication purpose, methods, frequency/timing, e.g.:
      • Announcement: course adjustments, announcement tool or email, once
      • Discussion: task related Q & A, discussion forum or webinar, duration of task
      • Feedback: personal concerns or feedback, email/gradebook/call, as soon as possible
    • audience: whole class, groups, individuals
  • Feedback Planning

“I worked with two different Ph.D. supervisors. One of them was well able to convey his feedback clearly and supportively via text, whereas the other was much better able to express his feedback constructively in person, on the phone, or via Skype.”

Bali, M. in Kilgore, W. (2016)

 

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Learner-Learner Interactions

“This is inter-learner interaction, between one learner and other learners, alone or in group settings, with or without the real-time presence of an instructor. “

Moore, M. (1989)

Key Ingredients

  • Developing peer relationships increases student engagement and learning (Trowler, 2010)
  • Students are experienced and knowledgeable
  • Students can be contributors to the course itself
  • Students can be collaborators, learning with and from peers,
  • Social activities which focus on self-expression increase student agency.
  • Cognitive activities which focus on academic and professional goals engage students as a community.
  • Peer learning has many forms and mediums, not just group work or discussions.

Taste Test

Discussions

  • Students as moderators, e.g. assign discussions forum each module, helping others stay on topic and track.
  • Chain reaction (Dingwall, 2018)
  • Pass the Baton (Crosslin, 2020)
  • Create “offline” activities and have the students “debrief” in “class”
  • Create a simple weekly challenge to encourage creative thinking. For example, have learners share one related resource to the module topic, and share why it matters to them, and what value it brings to the course.

More on discussions can be found at Facilitating Engaging Discussions

Group Work

  • Group work and presentations work in distributed and online environments too.
  • Create scenarios for learners to interact in. Establish and assign roles for learners within those scenarios.
  • Host a formal debate

Collaboration & Feedback

  • No one writes alone, consider how peer feedback might work for any project in your course.
  • Course wiki projects involve assigning individual learners to work on specific areas, creating a cohesive project. (e.g. Fedwiki; The Survey of Scottish Witchcraft – project)
  • Have learners present a proposed project or research topic to the class to solicit feedback.
  • Have learners create and facilitate course related scenarios.

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Questions Comments Concerns

Made with Padlet

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