Online Communities & Communication
Focus is the difference between interactivity and interaction. Interactivity focuses on the characteristics and capability of a technological system. Interaction focuses on people’s behaviors and the way they interact with the actual design of an online environment. There are challenges in creating an interactive online environment that is conducive to learning. Building a community of members involves finding, retaining and developing a commitment from the members to the group. Below are 10 suggestions that will help in developing a successful online learning environment.
1) The goal of interactivity is creating a reliable system, such as COD’s Blackboard. This system offers a variety of tools to help instructors and students to connect. Some features are the sending of emails or text to voice communication tools and the online Blackboard forum. The forum provides an avenue to communicate to others and share our own reflections in the online environment.
2) Communicating the teacher’s expectations of providing a weekly lesson plan. The interaction by teachers and students using the Blackboard system provides an opportunity for the class to build a community that encourages learning. Although discussion boards have their strengths, there are a few disadvantages. There is the limitation of real time responses and requires multiple logins to read and respond to discussions. It is also text-based that may be uncomfortable for some people.
3) Facilitating online discussions by asking questions and giving assignments will help the students focus on the course material. Use of a rubric for grading, that has examples and criteria spelled out, will give the student a sense of fairness in the grading of assignments.
4) Providing a variety of activities to engage all the learning styles of the students. PowerPoint slides, or video are examples that should be used to deliver content each week.
5) Developing questions that require students to analyze issues and evaluate their personal reaction to these issues. Utilizing Bloom’s taxonomy that uses selected terms to ask higher order thinking questions is a type of questioning that stimulates the mind to go to deeper levels of learning. The learner moves to a higher level of analysis, synthesis and evaluation.
6) Interaction and contributions strengthens the commitment to a group. Professor Bob Kraut at Stanford University spoke about social behavior as the basis for designing social environments. Designing for different groups increases commitment. The Identity-base individual identifies with the core ideas and issues of the group as a whole. By introducing sub-groups that are similar to each other on the website will allow the individuals to strengthen their commitment. Giving them group profiles, a motto and things the group likes will also attract them. For the bond-based individual it’s the personal connection to the group members that makes them stay in the group. Adding individual profiles and opportunities for communication so people connect to the individuals in the group will allow these individuals to feel connected.
7) Connecting with other online communities for assignments within the coursework as another communication platform. Google+ offers several tools that encourage interaction. Kraut mentioned how Facebook got started. It demonstrated that both bond-based and identity-based individuals were involved when it started. A few people already knew each other (bond) and then others wanted to connect to the group (Identity). Twitter imported groups and paid contributors to begin the website. A large amount of content and diverse content is needed to retain people. Personalized moderation helped with commitment to the website.
8) Create a positive learning atmosphere. Encourage all involved to respond to each other and reinforce student contributions. Students need to remember they share in the responsibility to make the discussions a worthwhile experience.
9) The teacher must monitor and provide timely feedback. If negative feedback is appropriate, give suggestions for improvement that will become positive feedback over time.
10) Incorporate writing skills and emphasize creativity. Students will be motivated to participate in online discussions if they feel an identity to the group or attached to the members of the group and its fun to be there.
1) The goal of interactivity is creating a reliable system, such as COD’s Blackboard. This system offers a variety of tools to help instructors and students to connect. Some features are the sending of emails or text to voice communication tools and the online Blackboard forum. The forum provides an avenue to communicate to others and share our own reflections in the online environment.
2) Communicating the teacher’s expectations of providing a weekly lesson plan. The interaction by teachers and students using the Blackboard system provides an opportunity for the class to build a community that encourages learning. Although discussion boards have their strengths, there are a few disadvantages. There is the limitation of real time responses and requires multiple logins to read and respond to discussions. It is also text-based that may be uncomfortable for some people.
3) Facilitating online discussions by asking questions and giving assignments will help the students focus on the course material. Use of a rubric for grading, that has examples and criteria spelled out, will give the student a sense of fairness in the grading of assignments.
4) Providing a variety of activities to engage all the learning styles of the students. PowerPoint slides, or video are examples that should be used to deliver content each week.
5) Developing questions that require students to analyze issues and evaluate their personal reaction to these issues. Utilizing Bloom’s taxonomy that uses selected terms to ask higher order thinking questions is a type of questioning that stimulates the mind to go to deeper levels of learning. The learner moves to a higher level of analysis, synthesis and evaluation.
6) Interaction and contributions strengthens the commitment to a group. Professor Bob Kraut at Stanford University spoke about social behavior as the basis for designing social environments. Designing for different groups increases commitment. The Identity-base individual identifies with the core ideas and issues of the group as a whole. By introducing sub-groups that are similar to each other on the website will allow the individuals to strengthen their commitment. Giving them group profiles, a motto and things the group likes will also attract them. For the bond-based individual it’s the personal connection to the group members that makes them stay in the group. Adding individual profiles and opportunities for communication so people connect to the individuals in the group will allow these individuals to feel connected.
7) Connecting with other online communities for assignments within the coursework as another communication platform. Google+ offers several tools that encourage interaction. Kraut mentioned how Facebook got started. It demonstrated that both bond-based and identity-based individuals were involved when it started. A few people already knew each other (bond) and then others wanted to connect to the group (Identity). Twitter imported groups and paid contributors to begin the website. A large amount of content and diverse content is needed to retain people. Personalized moderation helped with commitment to the website.
8) Create a positive learning atmosphere. Encourage all involved to respond to each other and reinforce student contributions. Students need to remember they share in the responsibility to make the discussions a worthwhile experience.
9) The teacher must monitor and provide timely feedback. If negative feedback is appropriate, give suggestions for improvement that will become positive feedback over time.
10) Incorporate writing skills and emphasize creativity. Students will be motivated to participate in online discussions if they feel an identity to the group or attached to the members of the group and its fun to be there.