DEVELOPING INTERACTIVE ACTIVITIES Jennifer Freeman and Patricia McGee

Overview  Issues, Challenges, Benefits  Student-Content  Student-Instructor  Student-Student  Student-Resources  Keeping interaction going from the learner perspective  Keeping interaction going from the instructor’s perspective

Why is Interactivity Important?  Research shows that students learn best through DOING.  Interactivity decreases students' sense of isolation while participating in a course at a distance.  Interactivity motivates and engages

Which supports your module? 1.Interaction to enhance elaboration and retention. 2.Interaction to support learner control/self regulation. 3.Interaction to increase motivation. 4.Interaction for negotiation of understanding. 5.Interaction for team building. 6.Interaction for discovery. 7.Interaction for exploration. 8.Interaction for clarification of understanding. 9.Interaction for closure. 10.Interaction to increase participation. 11. Interaction to develop communication. 12.Interaction to receive feedback. Wagner, E. D. (1997). Interactivity: From agents to outcomes. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 91,

Student-Content Interaction

Our Case Analyze fair use for a select piece of course materials Structured Practice Case Analysis Online, interactive analysis tooltool Objective Learning Events Activity Tool

ACTIVITY: SCAVENGER HUNT 1. Explore sites listed 2. Find a learning object appropriate to your topic 3. Share with your table, share with other tables Note: It’s not enough to find cool stuff on the web…part 2 of this activity is to compose instructions and context to introduce students to the learning object that you found /repositories.shtml /repositories.shtml  more URLs - Developing Content handout, pages 22-23

Learner-Instructor Interaction Learner-instructor involves feedback and guidance to the learner from the instructor (Moore, 1993).

Types General Communication Instructional Directions and Guidance Performance Feedback Facilitation

Consider Social Presence From From aude.com/pages/skype.htm

Student-Student Interaction Learner-learner interaction involves processes that result in clarifications and knowledge construction (Moore, 1993).

Student-Student Interaction

Interaction Framework One to many Many to many One to one (Harasim, 1989)

Collaboration vs. Cooperation Learners work independently to produce one piece of a product. Learners work together to produce one product.

ACTIVITY 1. Using index cards 2. Write down 3 different interaction challenges in an online course on separate cards 3. Exchange with other table 4. Write a solution 5. Return

Student-Resources Interaction publisher extras online FAQ lists technology tutorials webquests URL exchange guest lectures virtual field trips

ACTIVITY Teams..  Review module design  What kinds of interactions can you add? Change?  Be prepared to share.

Keeping Interaction Going… Learners’ Perspectives Why do some students “lurk”?

Keeping Interaction Going… Learners’ Perspectives Tools difficult to use and/or internet issues New to online communication Don’t feel welcome Time constraints Pace of conversation Information overload Provide detailed instructions; provide technical support Provide social areas; encourage the newly de-lurked; provide “greeters”, mentoring and prompt feedback At least one easy, non- threatening topic to get started; provide surveys or rating activities; periodically create low-stress opportunities for posting Management of threads; disable all but the current topic of conversation Be sure that everyone adheres to basic netiquette; quickly censure aggressive or inappropriate posts

Keeping Interaction Going… Instructor’s Perspective  Make it meaningful  Limit scope and time  Set expectations and provide examples  Give responsibility to others  Personalize  Mix it up

Take-aways  Keep it somewhat flexible  Consider access and scheduling  Provide choices