Upon completion of this unit, you will be able to:
Define interactivity, types of interactivity and purpose of interactivity
Recognize importance of interactivity in online learning to meet learning objectives
Recognize the elements of an interactivity rubric for online courses
For each learning component, identify type and amount of interactivity.
Define feedback and types of feedback
Recognize formats of providing feedback (text, audio, video)
Define instructional immediacy and its importance
Identify 5 types of feedback for computer aided instruction
Recognize importance of providing feedback
Recognize importance of providing elaborative feedback
Introduction to Interaction
Interaction is an important component of any lesson.
Unfortunately, interaction is a term that has many meanings. During this unit
we are going to consider the types of learner interaction which can take place
in an online environment. Historically their have been three types of learner
interaction considered in the literature:
Historically the literature has considered three types of learner interaction:
Learner-content interaction;
Learner-instructor interaction;
and Learner-learner interaction.
But with the advent of online learning a fourth type of learner interaction (learner interface interaction) began to be considered.
Learner-instructor and Learner-learner interactions are primarily social in nature and should be encouraged in an online environment. Certainly instructors and fellow learners have a role in the learning process, but interaction with content is the main reason your students have enrolled in the course.
Recall that in unit 4.1 we discussed the differences between synchronous and asynchronous learning. This has some important implications for the three types of interactions. One of the main differences between online and campus based courses are that online courses are primarily asynchronous. Unfortunately some learners may feel isolated (isolation effects) in an asynchronous course environment, because they are not attending regular classes. This is primarily because of a lack of the social interactions (Learner-instructor and Learner-learner interactions). Thus it is important that you try to promote some synchronous course activities to promote learner-instructor and learner-learner interaction. View this narrated presentation and consider how these types of interaction are interrelated.
Adding Interactivity to your online lesson
Since an online course is web-based and primarily asynchronous, your role as an instructor is to provide guidance primarily through asynchronous interactions (discussion forums and email). This will help alleviate isolation effects. But in addition you may want to consider synchronous interactions (via chat or Elluminate sessions).
You can also indirectly interact with your students via the content itself with well-structured learning activities. Do not underestimate the importance of learner-content interaction. Remember learner content interaction does not have to be only within the materials you develop, it can occur during an assignment (e.g. during a research paper). Finally it’s important that all online activities meet your learning objectives, so make sure to base your interactions on your predetermined course objectives.
So how do you add interactivity to your courses? Interactivity rubrics may be one answer. This article is all about interactivity in courses. Please take time to read the article and use the interactivity rubric from a student’s perspective to evaluate your own lesson.
Interactivity Assessment
Finally Interactivity is not always warranted. Even though many authors have discussed the virtues of active learning, remember it is critical that a learner be cognitively active, during learning. Thus Interactivity is just as useful during follow-up practice-oriented exercises and should be used in an assignment when the learner already has an understanding of the rules and basic concepts required by the assignment. If learners are unaware of the rules or basic concepts, it is best to supply a few worked-examples first and then later use an interactive lesson as a follow-up exercise.
Review this presentation as an example lesson. Reflect upon your answers and the proper uses of interactivity within a lesson.
Learning Activity #1: Evaluate and complete the "Planning Interaction for your Lesson Worksheet"
First identify the learning components in your lesson
Then identify type and amount of interaction in your lesson.
Consider adding interactivity to your lesson (if warranted)
Recall that we discussed Gagne’s nine events of instruction in Module 2. Feedback is one of the more important events of instruction. In an online environment, feedback occurs asynchronously via your personal responses in email or discussion, or may also occur in an online quiz, as question feedback.
Your personal feedback is much more important to learners than you may think. Be careful not to be too judgmental. As an instructor, students look up to you as an expert in the field, and may take to heart what you say.
Unfortunately writing feedback takes time. Because of the time constraints on all of us sometimes it is easy to give vague or general feedback. Such feedback may point the student in the wrong direction or confuse them even more. Please take the time and effort to consider how to respond to your students. Providing valuable, timely and constructive feedback to your students will be the single most important task that you will take on as an online instructor. Given that you usually respond to learners in an asynchronous manner (in discussion postings or email) you’ll have time to think about your responses. Before continuing please review the Feedback presentation. It provides an overview of how to provide feedback in web based courses.
Here are the general types of feedback that you saw in the presentation. These can be used in many types student assessment (e.g. in a discussion posting, or even as question response in an online quiz).
Type of Feedback
Example
Confirmation
Your answer was incorrect
Corrective
Your Answer was incorrect. The Correct answer was Jefferson.
Explanatory
Your answer was incorrect because Carter was from Georgia, only Jefferson called Virginia home.
Diagnostic
Your answer was incorrect. Your choice of Carter suggests some extra instruction on the home states of past presidents might be helpful.
Elaborative
Your answer, Jefferson. Was correct. The University of Virginia, a campus rich with Jeffersonian architecture and writings, is sometimes referred to as Thomas Jefferson’s school.
One other notion that is related to feedback is the idea of “instructional immediacy.” Originally instructional immediacy was developed in an interpersonal communications context, but with the advent of online courses it has been applied to the social dynamics of an online course.
Student Activities on Feedback
Revise the “general feedback” in the attached feedback quiz, to include all five versions of feedback (Confirmation, Corrective, Explanatory, Diagnostic, Elaborative). It is important that you understand the differences between these different types of feedback, but is not necessary that you provide all five versions of feedback for each quiz question, just that you include all five versions in the quiz.
