Interaction is the key in an online course

From "Designing Interactivities for Internet Learning" by D. Mesher, San Jose State University, Syllabus March 1999

If all it took to teach a class were the delivery of information, then instructors could arrive the first day, hand each student a textbook, a video, and a phone number, say "Call me if there are any questions," and go do something else until finals week. And, in fact, for a very small percentage of students, that would be fine.

But, for most students, learning requires something more than just exposure to the material - and that something is often hard to identify, harder to quantify, and harder still to control. Yet those are the tasks we set for ourselves when we attempt to move learning from a conventional setting, such as a classroom, to an unconventional one, such as the Internet. We lose the rituals and intangibles of classroom education - the ten-minute walk from a parking lot or previous class, the entering a site where learning takes place, the presence of an instructor, and awareness of a community of classmates, even to the rather interesting guy who always sits on the side, to the woman with the ridiculous hair color. In other words, what we lose is a whole series of unscripted interactions between individual student and the physical environment, the other students, and the instructor. What we gain is the ability to script a different series of interactivities between the student and the material. The extent to which that is possible, and the extent to which we succeed in our attempt, is the extent to which an online course can approach, even surpass, the learning model of a conventional classroom.

Interactivity, then, is key to successful online learning. Yet a survey of online instructional materials and course-template software would reveal a surprising deficiency in educational activities for the student for three reasons: first, cybercourses are largely a porting of conventional classroom and textbook materials, neither of which comfortably quantify interactivity; second, educators tend to think of interactivity primarily as a means of assessment, instead of learning; and third, the term itself is used to cover everything from navigational buttons to chatrooms to online gaming.

All learning is a function of interaction. In taking courses onto the Internet, instructors have an opportunity to script levels of interactivity in ways unavailable in the conventional classroom. To do so, however, requires rethinking online interactivities, not as a means of assessment and grading, but as the primary way to involve students.

A shift in teaching focus

The most successful distance learning courses are those that shift away from straight lecturing towards a learner-centered approach - away from 'the sage on the stage' to 'the guide on the side.'

What's involved with developing an online course?

Six steps in developing an online course

1. Select the domain of learning and level of cognitive learning and determine learning performance objectives
2. Identify learning activities
3. Identify teaching strategies
4. Conduct a student analysis
5. Identify all technical considerations
6. Identify alternative delivery technologies

Further questions to consider when planning your course:

1. Review your course terminal learning performance objectives for the primary domain of learning.
• What is the highest level of the cognitive objectives?
• How much latitude will the students be provided to negotiate or specify their own learning objectives? Are these specified by a certifying board or by a professional organization?
• Can these objectives be mastered in synchronous or asynchronous time?
• Do any of these learning performance objectives require team projects or team activities?
• Will the teams have to meet in synchronous time?
• Do the teams have to meet physically in one designated place?
• If the teams have to meet in synchronous time, could they meet via email, chat room, or audioconference? Who will make arrangements for and pay for the audioconference?
• How will the final tam project be presented to either the whole class or the instructor alone?
• Will the teams require any peer review in terms of individual contributions to the project? How will this be accomplished?


2. Are they any examples, demonstrations, techniques, visitations, special interviews, exercises, or activities or any other reason for video?
• Are these segments specifically linked to the learning performance objectives?
• Could any other strategy be used in lieu of the video?
• If video is important, could it be provided as part of the cost of the text, or by loaning it via snail mail.


3. Are any laboratory experiments required by the learning performance objectives?
• Do these experiments require the student to physically manipulate equipment or only interpret results? Interpretation of results could be accomplished by low level simulations.
• If real experiments must be conducted, you must consider supervision, safety, security, and materials disposal, as well as compliance with OSHA.


4. Have the minimal hardware and software requirements been clearly specified and communicated to all prospective students?
• Can this equipment be borrowed or rented from the sponsoring institution(s)?


5. Given that the prospective students have the required hardware or software, are they familiar enough with the applications that they will use or will they require a period of time to become familiar with course procedures?
• How much time will you allow for all students to come up to speed?


6. Will you require a bulletin board or listserv for messages, postings of new information, display/distribution of projects, and course announcements?


7. Are you comfortable enough with the hardware and software to conduct the course?


8. How many students can you accommodate at one time in this course?


9. How geographically dispersed are your students? Are any in different time zones?


10. Are there any support services available to you at your institution to help you to prepare your web course?
• Instructional designers
• Graphic artists
• Technical computer assistance
• Librarians
• Editorial
• Typists


11. Is there a web-based computer management system like WebCT or TopClass available to you at your institution?
• Is there someone available to train you to use it?

Adapted from "Suggestions for Designing a WWW Course" Copyright 1999 Educational Development Associates