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There are three ways interaction should occur in an online course:
There are three ways interaction should occur in an online course:
1. Students interact with course content
1. Students interact with course content
2. Students interact with peers
2. Students interact with peers
3. Students interact with the instructor
3. Students interact with the instructor
It is essential to be intentional about the ways in which this interaction will occur in your course. Obviously, the first type of interaction (studen-content) will occur naturally to some degree throughout the course, but should still be carefully considered. The other two types of interaction (student-student; student-instructor) do not occur naturally. It is the responsibility of the instructor to ensure that these interactions are frequent and meaningful. Consider the following ways to facilitate all types of interaction:
Student-Content
Student-Content
- Recorded lecture videos
- Informative videos (YouTube, Khan Academy, Publisher Resources, etc.)
- Assigned reading or problem sets
- Instructional Strategies
- Assessment Strategies
- MERLOT: An online collection of instructional resources
Student-Student
Student-Student
- Discussion Forums
- Help Forums
- Padlet
- FlipGrid
- WebEx
- Big Blue Button
- Semester Projects (cloud-based storage such as One-Drive makes collaboration on projects much easier)
- Peer feedback/evaluation
Student-Instructor
Student-Instructor
- Many of the above strategies require and/or facilitate student-instructor interaction
- Course Welcome Video
- Module Overview Videos
- Weekly Update Videos
- Personalized Feedback Videos (Short screencast reviewing assignments)
- Virtual Office Hours (tutoring/advising)
- Remind
Whatever strategies you choose to utilize, it is important that you are explicit in your expectations for how students should communicate with one another and with you. Further, you should be equally explicit in what your students can expect from you in terms of communication. How will you communicate? How often? What is the average response time?
As always, consistency is key. There are numerous ways in which students can contact you, so make your life easier by picking one (or two) form(s) of communication, making it clear to your students that this is how they should communicate with you, model for them how to use the technology, and then stick with it.
Barkley (2010)
Barkley (2010)
Barkley defines student engagement as being the intersection of motivation and active learning. For students to be properly motivated, it is essential that we provide an educational experience that is results in high expectancy and high value. High expectancy means that students are confident that they have the ability to do well in the course. High value means that students find the content relevant enough to expend time and effort. Active learning is commonly misunderstood as being only related to in-class activities in which students are physically active or working in pairs or small groups. However, Barkley defines active learning in this way:
"Active learning means that the mind is engaged. Its defining characteristics are that students are dynamic participants in their learning and that they are reflecting on and monitoring both the processes and the results of their learning."
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