Facilitation of Learning & Teaching Online
Content Overview:
Facilitation of Learning and Teaching Online Part 2
Community of Inquiry Framework
Gilly Salmon’s Five Stage Model
Navigating Pressbooks Tutorial
What you will learn in this module PART 1
You will:
- Read about increasing interactivity online to familiarize yourself with specific facilitation techniques
- Provide solutions to identified problems in a case study by commenting on a shared discussion board
- Contribute comments to your peers suggested solutions to build a sense of community around online facilitation
Time Commitment:
This module is designed to take 2-3 hours to complete.
Instructor contact and availability:
Activity/Lesson acceptable submission formats:
Instructions:
STEP 1: Read about the need to increase interactivity in online environments to help increase student motivation and engagement.
Increasing Interactivity Online
As we shall see, instructor presence, social presence, and cognitive presence all support student engagement online. Both instructor presence and social presence speak to different levels of interactivity online. It is those levels that need to be paid careful attention to. Interactivity plays an important role in the learning process among instructors, learners, and content (Wei, et al., 2015). Interactivity can happen through instructor-student interactions, student-student interactions, and student-content interactions. Research suggests that of the three, instructor-student interactions have the most impact on student motivation, retention, and perseverance (Croxton, 2014; Huss et al., 2015). Online interactivity is not bound by time or space and thus has been viewed as one of the most important parts of a learners’ positive learning experience online (Wei, et al., 2015). Moreover, as research shows, “Multimedia resources and other tools… [only] serve to enhance the learning experience and provide a focus for students to actively engage with the instructor, their peers, and course content” (Huss et al., 2015, p. 75).
Instructor-student interaction
Huss et al. note that “Instructors who are best at facilitating interaction in online classes are those who are resilient, adaptive, and proactive” (2015, p. 74). The role of the instructor is to facilitate and encourage high-quality communication among his/her learners and thereby also encouraging learners to communicate and build relationships with their instructors.
Student-student interaction
Student-student interactions are also an important part of learner satisfaction online (Croxton, 2014). Research suggests “interactions that were most predictive of sense of community were: sharing personal experiences, collaborative group projects, entire class discussions, and exchanging resources” (Huss et al., 2015, p. 74). Student-student interactions also foster a sense of student autonomy where students learn independently or from one another and are less reliant on their instructor.
Instructions:
STEP 2: Read the article, A case study of online instructors and their quest for greater interactivity in their courses: Overcoming the distance in distance education by Huss, J.A., Sela, O., & Eastep, S. (2015).
STEP 3: Now that you have a bit more understanding about interactivity and its effect on student satisfaction, assume the comments below (excerpts from the above reading) are from your colleagues. As you read these comments, consider the following question:
- How would you suggest mitigating the barriers to interactivity online?
Step 4: Share your thoughts on this general discussion forum Once other participants have posted their comments, post a response to at least one other participant.
Note: If you chose not to do the suggested reading, you can still do this activity below.
Online Courses Hinder Instructor-Student Interaction
“…(Carol, Kate, Marion, Olivia) brought up their frustration with the fact that the online format seems to hinder the instructor-student interaction. The fact that both teacher and student are unable to use their body language, facial expressions, and voice when communicating is a serious liability in forming the rapport necessary for good learning. Marion stated, “Because so much of my face-to-face [courses] I use body language, I read body posture and facial expressions and I respond to that, and I didn’t realize how much I use that or how that was a skill that I had until I no longer had access to it.” Kate mentioned, “You can’t look and immediately tell if people are getting it or not.” Olivia explained “…in an online course these relationships [instructor-student] aren’t manifested. This interaction is lacking… also lacking is class discussion, which is something very important for learning. I miss that.”
Olivia further noted: Yes, they write me, they won’t stop complaining and I keep telling them, it was you who chose to learn this in an online course. In class I can answer these questions, here I can’t answer every single ‘I didn’t understand, I didn’t know.’ So, I don’t answer.
The participants perceived the communication between instructor and students as flawed or insufficient and are very much upset by this and unable to find a solution” (Huss, Sela & Eastep, 2015, p. 78).
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OPTIONAL: Additional reading
Croxton, R.A. (2014). The role of interactivity in student satisfaction and persistence in online learning. MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, 10(2), p. 314-324. Retrieved from https://jolt.merlot.org/vol10no2/croxton_0614.pdf
References
Croxton, R.A. (2014). The role of interactivity in student satisfaction and persistence in online learning. MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, 10(2), p. 314-324. Retrieved from https://jolt.merlot.org/vol10no2/croxton_0614.pdf
Huss, J.A., Sela, O., & Easter, S. (2015). A case study of online instructors and their quest for greater interactivity in their courses: Overcoming the distance in distance education. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 40(4), p. 72-86 Retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1057909.pdf
Wei, H-C., Peng, H., & Chou, C. (2015). Can more interactivity improve learning achievement in an online course? Effects of college students’ perception and actual use of a course-management system on their learning achievement. Computers & Education, 83, 10-21. Retrieved from http://bibliografia.eovirtual.com/WeiC_2015_Can.pdf
