Understanding Interactive Elements
in Distance Learning Courses
Laura Foley and Matt Miller
Center for Distance and Independent Study
University of Missouri–Columbia
Understanding Interactive Elements
Presentation Overview (objectives)
During this presentation, we will:
• Define interactivity, and explain why it matters.
• Identify ways to integrate interactivity into course
content.
• Explain and illustrate our working set of design
principles for interactive components.
• Discuss how to use a team approach in developing
interactive elements for online courses.
Understanding Interactive Elements
Presentation Overview (presenters)
Meet your presenters:
Laura Foley
Senior Instructional Editor
Center for Distance and Independent Study
University of Missouri–Columbia
foleyl@missouri.edu
Matt Miller
Instructional Design Specialist
Center for Distance and Independent Study
University of Missouri–Columbia
millermatt@missouri.edu
Understanding Interactive Elements
What Is Interactivity?
Understanding Interactive Elements
What Is Interactivity?
• General (dictionary) definition:
“Mutually or reciprocally active; involving the actions
or input of a user, especially of, relating to, or being a
two-way electronic communication system.“
• Steuer (1992):
“Interactivity is the extent to which users can participate
in modifying the form and content of a mediated
environment in real time.”
Understanding Interactive Elements
What Is Interactivity? (Moore)
• Moore (1989) identified three types of interaction that
occur in learning:
– between the learner and the instructor
– between the learner and other learners
– between the learner and the content to be learned
• Lack of learner-instructor and learner-learner
interaction leads to emphasis on learner-content
interaction
Understanding Interactive Elements
What Is Interactivity? (interface)
• Online presentation introduces a fourth type of
interaction—between the learner and the learning
interface.
• The student’s ability to use the interactive technologies
successfully is a predictor of satisfaction and success.
(Hillman, Willis, and Gunawardena, 1994) (Lohr, 2000) (Thurmond and Wambach,
2004)
Understanding Interactive Elements
What Is Interactivity? (our definition)
• Must define a threshold for interaction on Web
interfaces (constantly changing)
• A working definition:
Learner-content interaction modifies the environment in which
students normally interact with written or visual material, and it
does so in a way that either reinforces the objectives in a given
lesson (through repetition or reiteration) or asks students to
somehow work with their knowledge about the content (through
application, analysis, synthesis, etc.).
• Case Study (“Ask the Expert”) Demo >>
Understanding Interactive Elements
What Is Interactivity? (impact)
Increased interaction in distance courses is
associated with higher achievement and student
satisfaction (Roblyer and Wiencke, 2003)
• Complements different learning styles (e.g., aural or
kinesthetic)
• Can promote higher-order thinking
• Provides online adaptations of activities that occur in
face-to-face classrooms
• Engages student interest in material
Understanding Interactive Elements
Ways to Incorporate Interactivity
Understanding Interactive Elements
Incorporating Interactivity
Taxonomy of online interactive environments:
• texts that ask students to do something (“illocutionary force”)
(see J.L. Austin)
• self-checking review questions (can be simple HTML, driven by
XML, or linear with Flash and media)
• graphical organizers that allow students to discover content
• integrated approach in which the environment (the Web page)
allows students to discover content within a single interface
• guided, asynchronous conversations that ask students to shape
their intellectual inquiries (blogs, discussion boards, wikis)
• live video/chat (mediated social interaction)
• simulacrum (Second Life, etc.)
Understanding Interactive Elements
Self-checking Review Activities
• Ideal for reviewing vocabulary, key terms, etc.—
questions that require objective, concrete answers
• Can be designed using Flash or XML-driven data
• Best when used in the context of the lesson
– reinforcement (at the knowledge and comprehension levels) is
most effective immediately after concepts are presented
• XML-driven review Demo >>
• Flash-based review Demo >>
Understanding Interactive Elements
Graphical Organizers
• Online application of classroom activity that helps
students organize abstract concepts or brainstorm ideas
• Can be designed in Flash or in HTML (using tables with
form fields)
• Flash graphical organizer Demo >>
• HTML table with form fields Demo >>
Understanding Interactive Elements
Dynamic Media and Animation
• Dynamic media can be used for information that does
not have to be presented in a linear fashion
− Image slideshow
− Tooltips
• Image slideshow Demo >>
• Animation can be used to demonstrate a process or
concept—Flash animation Demo >>
Understanding Interactive Elements
New Web Technologies
• In particular, technologies that allow for more dynamic
online collaboration:
₋ Weblogs (blogs)
₋ Wikis
₋ Podcasts or iPod-compatible activities
• Few are talking about the use of these technologies in
independent study, but why should we consider their
use?
Understanding Interactive Elements
Blogs in Independent Study
How would we use them?
• Not the same as personal blogging
• Online adaptation of traditional classroom activities
such as journaling, response papers, and preparation for
research
• Advantages:
– practice/improve writing skills, emphasizes process, uses
medium of Web (links, citations, graphics), functions as a
portfolio and record of student’s intellectual development
• Disadvantages:
– may encourage sloppy writing habits that could spill into other
assignments, privacy measures should be taken, not suitable for
all content areas
Understanding Interactive Elements
Wikis in Independent Study
What’s a wiki?
• A Web application that allows users to create, remove,
and edit information
How are wikis used in education?
• Students can critique, edit, or contribute entries to
existing wikis.
• The course instructor can start a wiki that all students
can contribute to.
Social Justice Wiki, Columbia University Demo >>
Understanding Interactive Elements
Packaged Audio
• Audio that you intend students to listen to and work
with outside a browser
Understanding Interactive Elements
Principles of Designing
Interactive Components
Understanding Interactive Elements
Principles of Designing Interactive Elements
• Establish clear learning goals, matched to learning
objectives
– Type of activity chosen should complement content to be
learned
− Interactivity must serve a purpose—not “technology for
technology’s sake”
• Include clear, concise instructions
• Maintain learner orientation through use of visual cues:
− Logical links, buttons, and menu items
− Consistent formatting and use of color
− No unnecessary graphics or content
Understanding Interactive Elements
Principles of Designing Interactive Elements
• Developing a plan:
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Questions
Keyed responses and distractors (for objective questions)
Sample answers (for open-ended questions)
Any other feedback
Vocabulary terms, definitions, etc.
Multimedia: graphics, audio files, etc.
Design: layout, navigation, fonts, colors
Understanding Interactive Elements
A Team Approach
to Interactivity
Understanding Interactive Elements
A Team Approach to Interactivity
• Author/Instructor
– Provides content knowledge
• Curriculum Coordinator and/or Instructional Designer
− Works with instructor to present content for online delivery
− Provides orientation and ongoing guidance in incorporating
technology
• Multimedia Specialist and/or Editor
− Produces interactive components (under guidance of
instructional designer)
− Helps to fine-tune delivery of course content
Understanding Interactive Elements
References
Understanding Interactive Elements
References
• Campbell, Gardner. (November/December 2005). “There’s
Something in the Air: Podcasting in Education.” EDUCAUSE
Review, 40(6).
http://www.educause.edu/apps/er/erm05/erm0561.asp.
• Downes, Stephen. (September/October 2004). “Educational
Blogging.” EDUCAUSE Review, 39(5).
http://www.educause.edu/pub/er/erm04/erm0450.asp.
• Fountain, Renée. (no date). “Wiki Pedagogy.” Dossiers
technopédagogiques.
http://www.profetic.org:16080/dossiers/dossier_imprimer.php3?id_
rubrique=110.
• Fox, Samantha, and Mary Madden. (December 2005). “Generations
Online” Pew Internet and American Life Project.
http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/PIP_Generations_Memo.pdf.
Understanding Interactive Elements
References (cont.)
• Glogoff, Stuart. (June/July 2005). “Instructional Blogging:
Promoting Interactivity, Student-Centered Learning, and Peer
Input.” Innovate: Journal of Online Education 1(5).
http://www.innovateonline.info/index.php?view=article&id=126.
Liu, Alan. (2006). “Developing a Wikipedia Research Policy.”
Reprinted on Kairosnews.org, http://kairosnews.org/developing-awikipedia-research-policy.
• Lohr, L.L. (2000). “Designing the Instructional Interface.” Computers
in Human Behavior 16(2).
• Moore, Michael. (1989). “Three Types of Interaction.” American
Journal of Distance Education 3(2).
• Roblyer, M.D., and W.R. Wiencke. “Design and Use of a Rubric to
Assess and Encourage Interactive Qualities in Distance Courses.”
The American Journal of Distance Education 17(2).
• Steuer, Jonathan. (1992). “Defining Virtual Reality: Dimensions
Determining Telepresence.” Journal of Communication 42(4).
Understanding Interactive Elements
References (cont.)
• Thurmond, Veronica, and Karen Wambach. “Towards an
Understanding of Interactions in Distance Education.” Online
Journal of Nursing Informatics 8(2).
• Trimarco, Ruth. (2004). “Use of blogs in online college classes.” In
B. Hoffman (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Educational Technology.
http://coe.sdsu.edu/eet/Articles/blogonlineclass/index.htm.
• Wagner, Ellen D. (1997). “Interactivity: From Agents to Outcomes.”
New Directions for Teaching and Learning (71)
• Young, Jeffrey R. (11 October 2006). “Textbook Company Tries
Putting Bonus Materials on iTunes.” The Chronicle: Wired Campus
Blog. http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/article/1628/textbookcompany-tries-putting-bonus-materials-on-itunes.