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Educator's Voice

Volume 3, Issue 5
May 15, 2002

Building Interactivity and a Sense of Community in an Online Environment

There are many examples of "online" learning environments in cyberspace. A great number are very good, while an equal or even greater number are lacking the basic elements that take an online course from a static state to a dynamic state. Dynamic here refers to a course that brings the educational experience "to life" for the students and in doing so, greatly enhances their cognitive skills while increasing their overall rate and level of success.

What is an "online" learning environment?
An "online environment" is not just a "tell and test" or a "correspondence course." It is not a "text-based" environment where students are expected to read something and then answer questions about that which they have read. It is not a series of "research projects" that students complete and submit their findings as a note, report or essay. It is not series of tasks for students to complete and then prove to their teacher they have achieved the expectations of a unit by completing successfully a multiple-choice, true and false, or short answer test.

An "online environment" may use some of these techniques to deliver some of the curriculum, but these techniques are incorporated into a wider range of techniques and strategies that create an interactive learning environment for the student.

What does the term "interactive" mean in this context?
Interactive means engaging students in the learning process by enhancing text and tasks with techniques, strategies and tools that bring the learning environment "alive" for the students. Interactive means focusing on the various cognitive types and learning styles of the students. Interactive means constructing a learning environment where students work both co-operatively and collaboratively.

How does one create an "interactive learning environment"?
Let's look at the three actions mentioned above that are needed for creating an interactive learning environment: engaging, focusing and constructing.

Engage students in the learning process
Students should be given an opportunity to "explore" and to "seek out knowledge." This means setting up the online environment so students have an opportunity to find the information they need to meet specific expectations of curriculum rather then having the information provided for them in the form of text.

Focus on the various cognitive types and learning styles of the students
Although one would think that students working in an online environment would be good readers and very good at being able to extrapolate information from that which they read, this is not always the case.

Students in this environment bring with them a variety of cognitive skills and learning styles that must be addressed by the online environment to make it interactive.

When designing an online course, the teacher must develop a variety of activities that will engage students at some point in a unit at all cognitive levels and across all learning styles. The teacher may use graphics, Flash mulitmedia presentations, interactive Web sites, audio and video clips, simulations, "game-based design," site maps, "drag and drop" exercises, animations and virtual labs.

Having students share their own work and comment on other students' work helps to open a dialogue to a fuller understanding of concepts being delivered in a unit of study. Having students participate in threaded discussions allows them to make a variety of cognitive connections with the information that is being explored in a unit. Having students work in partnerships or in small co-operative groups, online via email or in the chat room, allows them to develop critical thinking skills while creating a sense of community.

Construct a learning environment where students work both co-operatively and collaboratively
Although students are working from their own home computer as they progress through an online course, they need to understand that they are not alone in this environment. The teacher must build into the course opportunities for students to work co-operatively and collaboratively with other students in the course. This means designing activities that students can complete in partnerships and in small groups.

Students can use the various "tools" of the course site to connect with other students. The email and chat room tool both facilitate this; however, the document sharing tool allows students to make readily available their part of any group work for the other members of their group. The Webliography section also allows students to share informative and useful web sites with all classmates.

The teacher should also build in opportunities for students to share and discuss products that have been created by individuals and groups. The teacher can have students review, critique, question and discuss the work of other students through threaded and open forum discussion in a positive manner. This allows students to experience a "real audience" for their work that goes beyond the teacher being the sole audience.

Create a sense of community
As already mentioned, students need to feel that they are part of a "class" and not working in an isolated environment.

Several techniques, strategies and tools have already been mentioned earlier that help to contribute to the creation of an online community. There are also several other techniques that can be used.

One such technique involves the teacher regularly making contact with the student. This can be achieved through email messages, comments on returned assignments, participation in the threaded discussions, and being available in the chat rooms. The teacher can also set up a separate area for general open forum discussions about topics that are not directly related to the course itself. Asking students to share their weekend plans, or special events in their lives helps to "break the ice" between members of the online class. The teacher might have students write biographical sketches and supply a scanned picture that can be assembled into a slide show - "Meet the Class" - presentation. The teacher might also have the students send introductory email messages to classmates or have students through email share information about hobbies and interests.

What is the bottom line?
In many ways, the online environment is really not that much different from the traditional classroom setting. It really depends on how one designs the course and uses the tools available.

If an online environment is going to be dynamic as opposed to static, then the techniques, strategies and tools that are used must create an engaging, focused, collaborative and co-operative environment for the students that leads them to success.

Special thanks to Steven Bland, vTeacher and Developer at Durham Virtual High School, for his contribution to this month's Educator's Voice.

TIP

Using ClassLive^SM

Many of you already know that ClassLive is now a part of the eCollege platform. However, maybe you'll be interested in a few tips and ideas for uses of this robust tool. Here are just a few:

• You can use ClassLive to create math content in your courses. First, launch ClassLive, which is located under the "Chat" tab. Create math content using the toolbar on the left, and then "Exit" the session. The session will archive, and you can either have students post responses to the problems there, or you can save the archive image as a .gif and upload it into a unit in your course.
  
  
• The ClassLive toolbar can be customized for the needs of your course by displaying Math, Chemistry, or Accounting specific tools. Just go to the ClassLive entry page and click on the "Customize ClassLive Toolbar" link and select the toolbar you wish to use. Then click on "Save Changes."
  
  
• PowerPoint presentations can be uploaded to ClassLive before a session begins so that you can synchronously move through a PowerPoint presentation with your students. After launching a new ClassLive session, select "Tools" then "Upload MS Office Docs." Select the PowerPoint presentation you want to upload and press "OK." Each slide in the presentation will then be uploaded to a separate ClassLive board. Be patient, as it may take several minutes to upload the entire presentation. You can then take your entire class or a small number of students through the presentation synchronously (or archive them and let students view them asynchronously).

Again, these are just a few ideas. Remember, too, that any time you need more how-to information on ClassLive, the online manual is located in the top toolbar, under "Help."

       --Errin Klein, MA