Creating Interaction
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To create interaction, don't transfer pedagogy but transform it
The term ‘distance learning’ refers to physical difference, but for many in online learning and teaching (OLT), it might as well refer to social / emotional distance. So much can be lost when instruction moves online: casual interaction that builds bonds, nonverbal communication that reveals our true feelings, immediate feedback, challenges to our thinking and answers to our questions, and the sense of togetherness, authenticity, and shared purpose that can come from gathering people in a room. Sure, we can still gather people in a video-chat, but somehow, it just doesn’t feel the same.
The key is to keep in mind that we are working in a different medium, and that we can’t just transfer over our face-to-face pedagogy to OLT. We must instead transform our pedagogy and develop new techniques to create interaction.
Like always, we have to be patient with ourselves. Most of us have spent decades in physical classrooms as teachers and students, slowly learning what leads to interaction and what doesn’t. Creating interaction in OLT will take time as well. Below are some techniques to create both instructor-learner and learner-learner interaction.
Instructor-Learner Interaction
Effective instructor-learner communication may be the strongest predictor of students' learning outcomes. As noted on the Reducing Friction page, this involves creating easy-to-navigate course interfaces, and being available for check-ins and chats.
But it also requires us to transform the way we share content and assess students' understanding of it.
Rethink lectures
Classroom based lectures provide some opportunities for interaction: students can ask questions, or at least use body language to show whether they are engaged or not. But that interaction is easily lost in online lectures. Thus, we need to rethink the practice of lecturing in OLT.
Student led lectures
As online learning expert Tony Bates notes, "When we do a lecture, we are doing most of the work... would it not be better to teach students themselves how to do this?" Bates points out that, with proper training and guidance, students can find, organize, and present content on their own.
image credit: panopto.com
Give personal, formative feedback
Just as in face-to-face courses, rubrics and detailed grading breakdowns can help online learners understand how they reached a particular grade or learning outcome. Here are some other ways to give effective feedback in OLT.
Formative feedback
Often lost in OLT is the opportunity for formative feedback: low-stakes, informal daily / weekly assessments that let teachers and students know how well they are progressing towards a goal.
One-on-one meetings with students are excellent opportunities for formative feedback.
Berkeley composition instructor Benjamin Spanbock performs formative assessments by having his students document each stage of their process, starting with close reading, and then offering feedback.
image credit: aplithelp.com
Other forms of formative assessment in OLT might include:
Review games and activities
Mandatory office-hour check-ins
Monitored group work and discussions
Informal quizzes
Low‐stakes written assignments that build to higher‐stakes, summative ones
Record yourself reviewing assignments
Rather than just typing notes at the end of an assignment, why not make a screencast as you review it? This helps students understand what their work really looks like to another person, and how you react to it in real-time. Berkeley instructor Dr. Ron Martinez follows up screencast feedback with a one-on-one video chat with students as part of his flipped classroom approach.
Qualitative before quantitative
Don't let students know their score on an assignment until they've reviewed qualitative feedback, whether by watching a video, participating in a conference, or simply reading comments.
image credit: trustedexpert.io
Show your face
Students strongly prefer to see their instructors' faces than just text and perceive this method of instruction as "more educational".
That's why Berkeley instructor Kaya Oakes likes to keep her assignment prompts short and then attach videos of herself elaborating on the assignment and offering suggestions.
Instructors can also integrate video of themselves speaking with slides or lecture notes using platforms like Camtasia or ScreenFlow.
Ask students to share feelings
As instructor Holly Painter notes, students may be more interested in talking about how they are doing than the course itself. Be sure to check in with students and not just assume they'll ask for help when they need it.
Be honest about your feelings
Being authentic also means sharing how we are feeling. Instructors who are struggling with OLT can say as much; many students will be feeling the same way.
Learner-Learner Interaction
Education is an inherently social experience, and broadly speaking, students in online courses want to interact with classmates. This interaction leads to higher student satisfaction, and better learning outcomes. Here are some ways to create it.
Establish clear expectations
As the memes below show, it is not enough to ask students to 'respond to a classmate'.
We must help students see what effective learner-learner communication looks like. Does it involve sustained discussion? Does it involve concrete detail? Does it require us to add something new to the existing conversation on a given topic? These are expectations we instructors can model and scaffold for students.
Look at this original and revised prompt below as an example:
Original prompt
Write a discussion board post in which you identify a recurring theme in the reading. Then respond to a classmate’s post.
Revised prompt
Write a discussion board post in which you identify a recurring theme in the reading and give 2-3 concrete examples of the theme. Be sure to indicate on which page(s) you find these examples. Then respond to a classmate's post. In your response, identify another concrete example of the theme your classmate is posting about. This must not be an example that another student has already given.
Here's an example of what a post and response might look like...
You can also create sustained, meaningful discussions by assigning students roles: initiator, provocateur, devil’s advocate, rabble rouser, fact checker, 'yes person' and so on.
image credit: cartoonresource.com
Finally, remember to empower students and make them responsible for their own learning. Once an instructor comments on a post, that usually ends all student-student interaction. And remember that students want discussions to be effective. Why not show students the above memes, ask them if they recognize the problem the memes show, and then have them brainstorm solutions?
Make students show their faces
As mentioned above, students prefer to see faces than text alone. That's why, as NYU instructor Scott Galloway notes, "You need to force the students to turn on their cameras; you need to see their faces more; you need to hold them accountable." Here are some ways that can happen.
Introductory videos
Berkeley instructor Carmen Acevedo Butcher has her students create videos to introduce themselves to classmates. Note how much of their personalities comes across in these short pieces.
Noah.mp4Noah
Sage.mp4Sage
Hailie.mp4Hailie
Gaby.mp4Gaby
Video discussions
Rather than a traditional text-based discussion, students can share their ideas in short videos.
image credit: support.emerson.edu
Create spaces for learner-learner communication
As Holly Painter noted above, students want to share. And meaningful learner-learner relationships are built upon shared emotional experiences. Here are some ways to facilitate such sharing:
Discussion boards
Discussion boards can be places for students to vent, gripe, or ask each other for help. These boards can be set up by students, and be independent of the course.
Video chats also allow students to connect and share how they are feeling.
Students can join synchronous class meetings before instructors, or stay after, or meet in breakout rooms during class sessions. That way, they can privately check in with each other, discuss concerns, and then report back to their instructors. Students can also complete review tasks in this manner. They might feel safer admitting what they don’t know or understand to each other than to their instructor.
A video chat room can even be left open to act as a virtual drop-in space where students chat with each other, or just 'hang out' as they get some work done.
Selfies and memes
To show how they are feeling at a given moment, students can share a ‘schoolwork selfie’ or create a meme. Take a look at some examples below.
Berkeley student Tania Perez captures her increased confidence in a 'writing selfie'
A composition student shares his thoughts about campus culture in a meme
Quick check ins
Even just asking students to rate how positively they feel on a scale of 1-10 provides an opportunity to share emotions.
image credit: medium.com
Games
Games involve clear expectations and allow students to share emotions, and lead to improved learning outcomes.
Games can be related to course content, and created on websites like http://puzzlemaker.discoveryeducation.com/ or https://crosswordlabs.com/. For instance, students might complete a crossword, word search or jumble with course concepts or key terminology.
Students can also play games using features such as Zoom’s whiteboard. For instance, can classmates guess which key concept from the reading a particular drawing represents?
image credit: theandroidsoul.com
Instructors can also encourage students to meet outside of class and play games such as Killer Queen that allow for socializing and interaction. The bonds they form from these games will carry over into the classroom environment and lead to increased learner-learner interaction.
image credit: venturebeat.com
