Mdde621 30mark timbulger

!1

! ! ! ! !

How Technology Can Support Interaction in Distance Education

Tim Bulger

MDE 621_F13 Athabasca University 

INTERACTION AND TECHNOLOGY IN DE

!2

How Technology Can Support Interaction in Distance Education

Introduction

Interaction is a requirement for successful learning, increasing the amount and expanding the type of interaction leads to better educational outcomes. Distance education requires interaction but it can be a challenge to provide similar levels student-teacher and student-student interaction compared to classroom teaching. The effective use of technology enables more interaction for distance education and therefore successful learning, by enabling more and meaningful opportunities for teacher interaction and student student collaborative learning. This paper will provide a summary of interaction in the context of distance education and discuss how technology can be used to support interaction.

Definition and Context

Interaction is defined in the New Oxford English Dictionary as “reciprocal action or influence.�

This definition makes it clear that interaction involves two, or more, entities having an action or influence on each other. In traditional classroom education interaction may be primarily thought of as the interaction between teacher and student. When a teacher asks questions of his/her students and they respond, there is interaction. In the context of distance education three forms of interaction were defined by Moore (1989), these are: student-teacher, student-student, and student-content. Much of this asynchronous interaction facilitated by technology e.g., the teacher may ask the class questions by posting the question in an online discussion board enabling students to respond in written responses. Interaction is a fundamental component of any educational system as learning requires that the instructor and student must have some form of interaction (Fahy, 2013, p. 103). The following section provides a better understanding of why interaction is fundamental to learning.

INTERACTION AND TECHNOLOGY IN DE

!3

Role of Interaction

Humans are social beings who learn from and with each other. Constructivist learning theories, such as defined by Lev Vygotsky, provide insight into how social interactions facilitate learning (Schunk, 2008). Vygotsky developed a constructivist theory which focuses on three factors that influence the learning process: i) social, ii) cultural, and iii) individual or inherited factors (such as mental or physical disabilities). The social aspect of his theory outlines that interactions between people are necessary for learning (Schunk, 2008). The cultural component of learning reflects the particular context that the learning is taking place in and includes language, the importance placed on education in that culture, etcetera. In addition to external factors Vygotsky identified that individual characteristics impact how one learns. Social interaction is necessary in learning because “… knowledge is co-constructed between two or more people” (Schunk, 2008, p. 244). Increased interaction leads to better educational outcomes. The impact of interaction in asynchronous distance education is illustrated by a meta-analysis completed by Bernard et. al.

(2009) which showed an association between interaction and achievement. Interaction is reciprocal action between two or more people, in the educational context the “action” is the development of knowledge. The following section will describe how technology can support interaction in distance education and thereby support the creation of knowledge.

Technology

Distance education is a means of delivering education to students (Bates, 2005). The use of technology allows individuals to learn where they are when they want to. The main technologies that are used for distance education are print, audio, video, and the internet (Fahy, 2013). Briefly described below is how each of these four technologies facilitates student-student, studentteacher and student-content interaction.

!

Print

INTERACTION AND TECHNOLOGY IN DE

!4

Because print has been available for so many hundreds of years it is easy to forget that it is a technology. The use of print in distance education primarily manifests and books and other reading material which is distributed to students. Print is a perfect medium for distance education as it is portable, easy to produce, and inexpensive (Fahy, 2013, p.140). Because print is so familiar it is a very effective for enabling student to content interaction. Unfortunately print is a one-way medium that does not, easily, facilitate student-student or student-teacher interaction.

Audio

Unlike print, audio is a technology that can be used in distance education either synchronously or asynchronously. Examples of asynchronous audio include radio broadcast to students or recordings disturbed by static media such as a DVD (Fahy, 2013). Providing access to distance education content via asynchronous audio has many of the same advantages and disadvantages as print. It is easily to use and familiar to learners but is a one-way medium that does not facilitate student-teacher or student-student interaction. Synchronous audio technology includes one to one, and one to many tele conferencing. Telephone conferencing between a teacher and student is highly synchronous and easily facilitates student-teacher interaction. Recent expansion in the use of the Internet Protocol for audio conferencing has made it possible to conduct one to many conferencing enabling the participation of an entire class (Fahy, 2013). This application of audio conferencing can facilitate student-student interaction. Using only audio as a means of delivering content does not facilitate relationship building and the two way exchange of information when compared to combining audio and print, or audio, print, and video (Fahy, 2013, p. 149).

Video

Similar to audio video can be used to deliver distance education content either asynchronously or synchronously (Fahy, 2013). Example of the use of video include television broadcast (learning

INTERACTION AND TECHNOLOGY IN DE

!5

television or Homework Hotline type shows) and recordings distributed in static form or online using streaming services such as YouTube. Video shares with audio the same advantages and disadvantages for facilitating interaction. One to one video conferencing (using IP based services such as Skype) have become very accessible and allow for student-teacher or student-student interaction which combines audio and video which should increase relationship and better facilitate meaningful interaction (Fahy, 2013, p. 149).

Internet

The Internet enables the synchronous and asynchronous delivery of distance education content in a variety of formats (text, video, audio, animation, games). When used to deliver text based distance education content the Internet shares many of the advantages of print and provides student-content interaction. Internet technology can be used to present material in other forms and can be used to combine text with audio and video (Bates, 1995). The Internet can also be used as a mechanism for collaboration and interaction. The Internet is often used in distance education to enable asynchronous communication such as emails for teacher-student feedback and support or student-student collaboration. Online discussions forums (such as those incorporated into course www sites or learning management systems) are often used for asynchronous discussion amongst students (Bates, 1995). Internet based applications enable synchronous interaction including text chatting, audio and video conferencing. These applications can enable rich student-student and student-teacher interaction. Each of the technologies described can enable interaction in distance education but no one technology best facilitates student-content, student-student, and student-teacher interaction. It would appear that using a range of technology i.e., print based course material, asynchronous discussion, one to one conferencing, and one to many conferencing collectively increase the opportunity for the range of interactions that learners need.

INTERACTION AND TECHNOLOGY IN DE Conclusion

Interaction is a requirement for successful learning. More interaction leads to better outcomes.

Distance education requires interaction but has in the past been challenged to provide studentteacher and student-student interaction that in person classroom teaching. Technology enables more interaction for distance education and therefore successful learning, by enabling more opportunities for teacher interaction and student student collaborative learning.  

!6

INTERACTION AND TECHNOLOGY IN DE

!7

References

Abrami, P. C., Bernard, R. M., Bures, E. M., Borokhovski, E., & Tamim, R. M. (2011).

Interaction in distance education and online learning: Using evidence and theory to improve practice. Journal of Computing in Higher Education, 23(2-3), 82-103.

Bates, T. Technology, e-learning, and distance education (2005, 2nd Edition). New York; London: Routledge.

Bernard, R. M., Abrami, P. C., Borokhovski, E., Wade, C. A., Tamim, R. M., Surkes, M. A., et al.

(2009). A meta-analysis of three types of interaction treatments in distance education. Review of Educational Research, 79(3), 1243-1289.

Fahy, P. J. (2013). Online Teaching in Distance Education and Training. Athabasca, Alberta: Athabasca University.

Moore, M.G. (1989). Three types of interaction. American Journal of Distance Education. 3(2).

Schunk, D. H. (2008). Learning theories: An educational perspective (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education.

!