The role of interaction is probablly the most important thing in education. Whether it be between the teacher and student or student and student it all plays an important role in how we learn. With more and more people relying to technology and things like the internet for knowledge it has made me wonder how interaction has been effected through distance based learning. Anderson's article does a good job in helping to answer this question.
At times, I found the article hard to follow, as it sounded like a consulting report. The article makes many good points though on the different types of interaction and there importance in the classroom. I thought it was very interesting when he was talking about teacher and student interaction, and that most students try and pick a learning program that minimizes student/teacher interaction which I thought was very interesting. I myself have found that the teacher/student relationship is one of the most important things in learning.
Anderson points out that as long as one of the three relationships (teacher/student, student/student or student/content) is at a high level, deep and meaningful learning can be supported. Anderson states "Student-teacher interaction has the highest percieved value among students." To me this sounded silly how it was worded but made a lot of sense. The teacher and student engaging in discussion with one another is vitally important in my opinion when it comes to learning and comprehending the material.
The importance of student to student interaction is also brought up in the article. This too I believe is very important in learning but can be difficult in distance learning. It is mentioned that students can colloborate through various means like a student portfolio. I agree that student to student interaction is essential. Student blogs and portfolios are great but it doesn't make up for the face to face interaction. This I feel is the down side to distance learning. A teacher to student relationship via distance learning isn't much affected as long as the teacher and student are in constant content with each other via various sources like email, blogs, etc... To colloborate and work with other students on projects or communicating ideas can be a challenge. Students aren't always online at the same time and often refer to leaving each other messages when communicating with each other. As a result, timely communication and working with each others schedules can be difficult.
In conclusion, when it comes to distance learning there are many pros and cons. Anderson's article helps to give a non biased approach to the various apsects of interaction in distance learning. Through our own judgement and experience we can make up our own mind what works and what doesn't. I have to say as much as I have enjoyed distance leaning with my busy schedule it will never make up for the face to face interaction. In the future, we as educators have to think hard about how we use distance learning and the format in which we teach our students through these means.
Anderson, Terry. "Getting The Right Mix Again: An Updated and Theoretical Rationale For Interaction." The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, Vol. 4, No. 2 (2003).
I found this comment "most students try and pick a learning program that minimizes student/teacher interaction" very intriguing too. Although I'm sure that some diffident students might prefer a distance learning course because of the minimal face-to-face interaction, I would think most would avoid the interaction if they were wary of their language abilities. In this case, I think this would be a reason for MORE interaction.
답글삭제My choice of a course usually involves convenience first (as it has to fit around my job) and then a course topic that interests me. I've enjoyed direct classroom and distance learning courses almost equally, so the interaction level of a course usually isn't a deciding factor for me.
William, I have to say that I am a bit confused by the distinction that you're drawing between interaction with classmates and with the teacher in your online courses. This is only my 3rd class and they have all been through IU School of Ed., but I haven't felt as though there was any difference in the way I interacted with the teacher and my coursemates. Perhaps you've had a wider range of classes from different providers...
답글삭제If anything, I've felt like the interactions that I've had with online classmates have been better than those in face-to-face classes. For me, at least, when I have time to read people's responses, think them over and then respond at my leisure, it makes for a much more relaxed and (sometimes) more meaningful exchange. It's a personal preference, of course. I do miss face time with a teacher because I enjoy lectures, but in other regards I see a lot of advantages to online learning.
The point I was trying to make about classmates had to do with the immediate feedback you would get back in the classroom when having a discussion. Like you said it is a personal preference. When it comes to this kind of interaction with the teacher it doesn't make too much of a difference with me. Sometimes when having a discussion online you get a response or you don't. When it is face to face you will usually always get a response when having a discussion and you will have more people discussing at the same time which I think is great.
답글삭제William, I like your comment, "Through our own judgement and experience we can make up our own mind what works and what doesn't". This becomes a reminder that a teacher, who most of the time is aslo an instructional designer of his/her own class, needs to always be able to apply the theories learned into his/her own context of teaching for to better facilitate students' learning.
답글삭제William, in the paragraph of "This too I believe is very important in learning but can be difficult in distance learning.", you have pointed out caveats of distance learning. To make up the disadvantages of distance learning, other types of learning, so-called blended-learning system is emerging.
답글삭제This was first started from onsite learning to maximize the use of online resources, but these days, especially in the cyber university system in Korea, the colleges try to create onsite interaction between students and students, and students and teachers.
Then the question always comes up when students have to show up in onsite classroom losing the advantages of "distance" learning.
William, I agree that especially for language learners, immediate responses from teachers can be beneficial. When it comes to learning speaking, distance education is not really well suited for giving students feedback. If we attend live lectures, we can ask the instructor questions and receive feedback whenever we don't understand something. If we read an article and have questions about it, we have to wait for cyber responses. Yet, it is nice when our instructors have set office hour times where we'll know that they're online. Sometimes those times conflict with peoples' schedules though.
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