Promoting interaction with students is the key to learning online. As discussed in earlier modules, online learning is not necessarily better or worse than in class learning. It is different. If your intent, when you start teaching online, is to duplicate the in-class experience, you’ll likely face frustration and uneven results in student performance.
Why?
Well, first, when you move online you move into networks. Networks – where we can easily access information and connect with others – represents a power shift. This power shift means that students are now accessing ideas and resources that you may not have intended for them to access. It changes a classroom dynamic because they bring in different sources than what you may have planned. But it also creates an opportunity for new modes of interaction where you can take advantage of the knowledge that is latent in your students (and their networks). Secondly, the web is a participatory medium. Spending the day starting at a Zoom meeting or online lecture videos will likely result in disengagement with students – there are too many distracting notifications available.
Because of these two reasons – the move to networks and the participatory nature of the online environment – we emphasize that learning be designed to motivate and engage students, rather than to remain didactic or lecture-based. That’s the topic that we’ll explore in this module.
Next: Guest Interview: Bonnie Stewart