Interactivity: Key to CLS Online Instruction

Clinical Laboratory Science, Spring 2006 by Zundel, William B

Learning is the attainment and application of knowledge or skill. Effective online instruction should integrate interactivity. Online interactivity 1) includes a message loop, 2) occurs from the learner's point of view, 3) provides for content and affective outcomes, and 4) is mutually coherent. These characteristics must be woven into online interactive devices such as discussion boards, PowerPoint(TM) slides, email, and chat rooms to insure learning. Interactivity must be consistent with the course objectives. Increased interactivity enhances learning in online courses just as it does on campus.

INDEX TERMS: distance education; interactivity; online instruction.

Clin Lab Sci 2006;19(2):122

The following paper was presented at the Clinical Laboratory Educators Conference, February 2005 in Williamsburg VA.

This article describes the intimate relationship between interactivity and instruction. Dick and Carey define instruction as "the systematic process in which every component; (i.e. teacher, students, materials, and learning environment) is crucial to successful learning."1 Instruction is more than the dissemination of information. Instruction occurs when all factors work together to facilitate learning: the attainment and proper application of knowledge and/or skill.

Interactivity is not simple. There are a multitude of interactive processes in a face-to-face classroom: lectures, questioning, laboratory exercises, case studies, and non-verbal cues. Do we apply interactivity with online instruction as with face-to-face instruction? Online interactivity can include all of the above through formats such as email, discussion boards, and chat rooms.

Interactivity has several definitions.2-8 In "Interactivity Demystified: A Structural Definition for Distance Education and Intelligent CBT" Michael Yacci discusses four essential characteristics:9

1. Instructional interactivity is a message loop.

2. Instructional interactivity occurs from the learner's point of view.

3. Instructional interactivity has two outputs: content learning and affective benefits.

4. Messages must be mutually coherent.

MESSAGE LOOP

Instructional interactivity is a message loop. Online interactivity is a circuit of messages flowing from an originating entity to a target entity and back. Entities can be students, instructors, computers, or other media capable of receiving and sending messages. For example, when a teacher posts a question on a discussion board and a student answers, the loop has been completed, but from whose perspective?

A STUDENT'S POINT OF VIEW

Instructional interactivity must occur from a student's perspective. In the example the loop was complete for the teacher, but what about the student? If the student does not receive feedback the loop is incomplete. Did instruction occur? Think for just a moment how this would play out in a classroom: An instructor poses a question. A student answers and the instructor moves on with disregard for the response. The effect is the same for online instruction. Our challenge is to ensure the message loop is complete from the student s point of view, and to make appropriate changes.

CONTENT LEARNING

Content learning is purposeful learning directed toward an instructional goal or objective. Wagner writes, "When focusing upon interaction outcomes rather than interaction agents, interactions can more effectively serve as a means to the ends of learning and performance improvement. In this context interactivity has two purposes: it must change the learners and it must move learners toward an action state of goal attainment. By emphasizing the outcome of an interaction, it is easier to see the impact that an interaction has on learners."2 Interactivity should lend itself to achieving the course objectives. For example, discussion board questions or case studies must be written at the same cognitive level as the course objective from which they are written.

AFFECTIVE BENEFITS

Affective benefits are defined as emotions and values toward instructional objects that are amplified. We hope for amplification of learning through social interaction with the faculty and other students in the course. Students on campus get to know each other and interact socially by forming study groups, discussing how to prepare for exams, and in cramming for exams. The same social interactions among online students can be coordinated through collaboration projects or discussion boards, thus enhancing the achievement of learning objectives.

MUTUAL COHERENCE

Mutual coherence describes the relationship between a message and its response. The content of both the outgoing and returning messages must be considered if we are to make sense of an interaction. Mutual coherence labels the shared meaning between both messages in an interaction. Interactions with low mutual coherence are easy to spot. For example, an interaction with zero mutual coherence goes something like this. Student: "I feel lost in this course." Teacher: "I love to watch college football."