In the
online classroom, students not only interact with the instructor and each
other, but students interact with content. Interaction with course content
impacts student engagement and learning. With available technologies, it is
easy to throw content together and just put it online. However, will students
be able to purposefully engage with the content and arrive at their destination
(knowledge acquisition) without getting lost along the way? Let’s explore the
possibilities of student engagement in online learning environments.
Student-content interaction is defined
as the engagement by students with the course content. It is the ability of
students to access, manipulate, synthesize, and communicate content
information. Engagement with the course content can happen through learning
activities (reading, watching videos, exploring resources) and working on
course assignments (Kyei-Blankson & Donnelly, 2016). Discussion boards
have long been the go-to for online courses. (You need to discuss the
discussion more in greater detail. Where
are the references that support this discussion board? What do the experts
say?) Many times, instructors have students read chapters in a textbook or read
an article, and then require them to discuss the content in a discussion board post.
Does this sound familiar? Post your initial response to the questions no later
than 5 pm on Tuesday and reply to posts by two different students no later than
5 pm on Saturday. Being creative with discussion board assignments is one way
to provide student interaction with content.
Modifications to the structure of online
discussions can yield better student interaction with content (Yilmaz & Karaoglan, 2019). One method for structuring online
discussions is assigning different roles and responsibilities to group members.
Roles can include students as starter, moderator, arguer, source searcher, and
summarizer. The main responsibilities of each role are (Yilmaz & Karaoglan, 2019):
- Starter: Starts and keeps the discussion sustainable for the group.
- Moderator: Follows the flow of the discussion and keeps the group on task.
- Arguer: Works with the source searcher and starter and takes a critical approach to responses from participants.
- Summarizer: Notes the major points and issues from the discussion and summarizes the important information related to the topics.
In conclusion, interactions occur through instructor-student communication, student-student collaboration, and student-content engagement. Each form of interactions has important implications for learning in online courses. Through further research, educators may benefit from better understanding of how student interaction with course content impacts student engagement and learning in the online classroom.
References:
Kyei-Blankson, L.,
Ntuli, E., & Donnelly, H. (2016). Establishing the importance of
interaction and presence to student learning in online environments. World Journal of Educational Research,
3(1), 48-65.
doi:10.22158/wjer.v3n1p48
Yilmaz, R., & Karaoglan Yilmaz,
F. G. (2019). Assigned roles as a structuring tool in online discussion groups:
Comparison of transactional distance and knowledge sharing behaviors. Journal
of Educational Computing Research, 57(5), 1303-1325. doi:10.1177/0735633118786855
Cite this blog:
Washington, G. (2019, October 28). The Online Classroom: Student-Content
Interactions [Blog post]. Retrieved
from https://pedagogybeforetechnology.blogspot.com/
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