Social Interaction in Online Learning

1. Social Interaction in Online Learning Situationalities that affect the effectiveness of specific instructional methods Brian J. Beatty, Indiana University Presented at the IT Institute, Utah State University - August 29, 2001

2. Overview • Background – Why this topic? • Literature – What is the knowledge gap? • Method – How to find out? • Results (preliminary) – What are the answers? • Questions – yours and mine

3. A “Call to Action” Based on the findings of our work, the Commission believes a national mobilization is necessary, one that evokes a response similar in scope to other great American opportunities or crises: Sputnik and the race to the moon; bringing electricity and phone service to all corners of the nation; finding a cure for polio. … The question is no longer if the Internet can be used to transform learning in new and powerful ways. … Nor is the question should we invest the time, the energy, and the money necessary to fulfill its promise in defining and shaping new learning opportunity. The commission believes that we should. We all have a role to play. It is time we collectively move the power of the Internet for learning from promise to practice. (p. iii-vi) Web-based Education Commission (2000)

4. Growth in Online Learning • 1960’s – 1980’s – 1990’s – today • Training trends • Education and training 9% of GDP • $1B – 2000, $10B – 2003, $360B – 2003 (WW) • Education trends • 50% - 1995, Internet > ITV – 1998 • Are we ready?

5. Importance of Social Interaction • Social learning theories – students learn (best) when engaged in learning activities with others. • “Learning is a social act.” (Bruner, Dewey, Hutchins, Lave & Wenger, Salomon, Vygotsky, Wertsch, and others) [but is it always?]

6. Instructional Design Theory • More than learning theory (how students learn) • ID theory provides “…explicit guidance on how to better help people learn and develop.” (Reigeluth 1998) • “Instructional theory fitted specifically to the online environment is critical.” (Khan 1997) • Not only what to do, but when to do it (and when not to do it)

7. Situationalities • Methods, conditions, outcomes, and values • Methods – approaches to facilitating learning, under the control of the instructor • Conditions – aspects of the learning context that affect the effectiveness of the learning, not under the control of the instructor • Outcomes – effectiveness, efficiency, and appeal • Values – beliefs about learning that affect the choice of instructional method (Reigeluth & Merrill, 1979; Reigeluth, 1983, 1998, 1999)

8. Literature • Online learning • Social learning theories • Interactivity and Social Interaction • Situationalities in case studies • Research Questions

9. Online learning • Where did it come from? • Distance education (Moore, Kearsley) • More interactive than paper! • More convenient than ITV! • Extending the classroom (Harasim) • Class never ends! • Perpetual discussions!

10. Social learning theories • Social constructivism • Learning is the construction of new understandings through the social negotiation of meaning. • Authentic, relevant • Problem-centered • Collaborative – peers, experts, resources • Sociocultural approaches • Learning happens first on the social plane, and only then on the internal plane. • Scaffolding - ZPD • Collaborative – peers, experts • Contextualized in the social, cultural and historical milieu

11. Interactivity and Social Interaction • What is “interactivity?” (a “messy” concept) • Several ways to think about interaction • Moore’s three levels (Moore 1989) • Interactivity taxonomy – social vs. instructional (Gilbert & Moore 1998) • Impersonal, interpersonal, and “hyperpersonal” (Walther 1996) • Working Definition: Social interaction is …

12. Working definition Intentional communication between two or more participants in the learning environment.

13. Existing Design Guidelines • Often there is discussion of values and goals • There are always many suggestions of methods • Occasionally there are reports of effectiveness of various methods • What is missing? • Almost never is there an explicit discussion of conditions that affect the effectiveness of the recommended method.

14. Research questions • What are the best combinations of social interaction methods to use, for different conditions and values, in order to achieve specific learning goals? • Can these methods and conditions be arranged in a useful classification scheme, a “situationalities framework?”

15. Method • Case Survey • Interviews • Surveys

16. Case Survey • Used to “aggregate diverse case studies together under a common conceptual framework so that findings will be cumulative” (Lucas, 1974) • “survey” each case, asking the same set of questions • selecting cases (source, recency, content/usefulness)

17. Interview • Semi-structured, active interviews (Holstein & Gubrium 1995) • Purposive sample of 5 case authors • Who can tell me the most relevant information to help clarify the framework?

18. Survey • E-mail survey asking for review and comments regarding the framework. • Comprehensive “sample” of all case authors. • What will I learn? • Do they agree with my conclusions? • Can they suggest additional cases? • Do they think the framework can be helpful?

19. Results (preliminary) • Status: 25 cases selected, 15 cases surveyed • Characteristics of OLE’s being studied • A Sample Case • Common values and goals • A sampling of the framework (draft) • Continuing - next steps

20. Common case characteristics • Setting • Level – primarily graduate level • Content – Instructional design, Teaching with technology, Distance education “how-to’s” • # of students – 5 to 30 • Technologies • CMC discussions (asynch and synch) • Email, Web-pages, telephone, desktop video

21. Sample Case • Zhang, P. (1998). A case study on technology use in distance learning. Journal of Research on Computing in Education, 30(4), 398 – 420. • Values: Discovery learning, Learner-centered education, Enforcement - instructor retains some control • Goals: Students work collaboratively on projects, participate in peer evaluation, and choose specific social interaction methods from a range of options.

22. Sample Case (continued) • Method: Provide a space for students to create their own web pages in order for them to share information and exchange files with other students. • Condition: Students need to know how to create their own web pages using HTML programming language or web page creation software such as Netscape™ Composer. • Effectiveness: Only the students with the requisite skills were able to use student-created web pages to exchange files among collaborative group members.

23. More Sample Case • Method: Provide a class file transfer protocol (FTP) site for file exchange. • Condition: Class participants do not share the same email client and cannot reliably download files from a website. This method is not recommended if other, simpler, file sharing options exist. • Effectiveness: FTP was not used by students to exchange files among themselves, but was useful to the instructor as a way to distribute and collect a class survey.

24. Even more! • Method: Provide Internet Relay Chat (IRC or chat) as an option for project group coordination, clarification and decision-making. • Condition: Students must have skills in discussion control and IRC client use. • Effectiveness: The students who used IRC were able to coordinate group decisions successfully. However, only a small number of students used IRC; the rest chose to coordinate all group communications through e-mail.

25. And more … • Method: Students use email to turn in assignments and coordinate group project work. • Condition: The number of students and assignments must be kept small in order to keep the volume of email at a manageable level. • Effectiveness: Email was the most popular form of interaction. However, the overuse of email can quickly generate a huge volume of emails to which the instructor (and other students, in some cases) must respond.

26. Last one! • Method: Broadcast course announcements via listserv (automated email list). • Condition: Students must be able and willing to check e-mail regularly. • Effectiveness: This method was more effective than posting announcements to the class web page because students checked e-mail more frequently than they visited the class web page.

27. Common themes in values and goals • Building learning communities • Collaborative learning • Learner-centered • Critical thinking • Meaningful discourse • Supportive learning environment (peer-helping) • Authentic problem-based collaboration

28. Framework … a sampling

33. Continuing on … • Selecting more cases • Analyzing data – what useful sets of conditions emerge? • Selecting and interviewing authors (September) • Who will provide useful information? • Surveying case authors (October) • Goal: creating a useful framework!

34. Questions? • Can I answer your questions?

35. Thank you! Final results expected January 2002 … for more information: E-mail: bjbeatty@indiana.edu Presentation: http://php.indiana.edu/~bjbeatty/present/ITinst2001.html