The Importance Of Interactivity In Online Learning

Technology is a part of everyday life and being integrated into more and more fields every day. Computers and the Internet are used in every aspect of our daily lives. With that being said online learning has become more and more prevalent. Most colleges and university have an online learning presence in order to extend the university reach and to help better serve the students who can’t make it into a physical classroom. In this article, Read Only Participants: Communication in online classes, authors Nagel, Blignaut, and Cronj (2009) takes on the argument that participation is a key reason for a student to be successful in the class.

From this study, results of both success and failure were discovered and documented. From the aspect of success, the following results were found: First, classes that had online discussion helped students that would normally be introverts in a traditional class, to be active in discussions. Second, this type of class helped to improve

Hence, if a person takes any other online class they will not be afforded such interaction. Additionally, in order to partake in such a class one does not simply need to buy the typical classic course tools such as a textbook, pencil or pen and a notebook. Rather, this type of course also requires one to purchase or own a headset with a microphone or a webcam. The reason for this is because one uses it to communicate and further access the class’s various visual aids, see the teacher’s face, and observe the instructor’s body language.

Student engagement is a great part of the learning process in online courses. The professor can aide in active student participation by providing timely feedback and learner expectations. Online discussions often fall flat- are shallow, superficial, fail to engage students and result in frustration —for students and the course instructor (Wang & Chen, 2008).

The advancement in technology is becoming a great benefit in the classroom. More students are learning to use their creative side, which is encouraging individual learning and growth. Through technology, students find it is easier for them to work together with others. The group members can join together over the internet and they don’t have to be in the same room. As there continues to be new improvements in the various types of technology, it is helping the student prepare for the real world.

This section of the encyclopedia talks about what students and teachers can contribute to online learning environment. It talks about who the average online learner is and the online relationship between the student and the teacher, and the student and their peers. Above all the author stresses that thinking differently is important to make online education work.

While the number of e-learning courses are expanding and being delivered across the internet, it is rapidly increasing a student's knowledge. During the e-learning process it is known that the effects of technology, pedagogical, and characteristics on student learning is taken in effect. These characteristics are found when the educator reflects and makes effort in creating a classroom that is meant for student engagement. However, each classroom environment can be associated with student learning if the educator makes themselves a guide. The amount of time that the students put into their education is important because of the different levels of technology and its sophistication. This is important to know and understand because of the teaching methods that can lead to expertise that may be the main criterion for successful teaching in an e-learning environment. It is also important that educators spend more time creating instructional skills for groups and developing all types of discussions and questions that lead to engagement, which can foster intimacy down the line. Faculty need support and engagement too so that they can make investments to ensure that the online course community can have offerings that are technological and pedagogically encouraging to student learning

As an individual responsible for training or educating adult learners your feedback from those students or participants is sometimes lacking. In a training environment many participants treat them very loosely because there are no consequential test following the training and most times there is very debriefing from direct supervision; instead meeting notes tend to follow for reference. The location of those notes tend to be the most important information to the participants. In contrast, the lecture hall in an educational setting tends to have a greater percentage of engaged attendants. Students tend to participate more due to sense that is actually a part of their grade. Dr. Geis did admit that online does have less engagement than the traditional classroom but still greater than a corporate training session. In the en it was concluded that personal interaction has more engagement; however, students have a much greater retention and expectation from teaching or training.

With the enhanced development at a fast pace, the experience of online classes could also obscure the classroom experience. With developing multimedia applications, an online class has better comprehension of the class content. Technology has made it probable for all the tools involved in a face-to-face class to be incorporated in the online classroom. For instance, through webcam, the student can communicate with the lecturer on topics they do not understand. Students also

However, advocates of classroom learning believe the online method isolates the students from one another as well as their professor minimizing the overall value of taking the course. They also claim that students learn better when working together with their instructor and their fellow classmates. Students learn better when they are given the opportunity to ask questions, join in class discussions, and they move the process of learning forward through their participation. Face-to-face advocates firmly believe that this kind of interaction is not possible over the Internet; and for many types of education, e-learning will never meet the potential of live human interaction in the classroom. An article in the New York Times titled, “Second Thoughts on Online Education,” backs up the points made above. A recent research published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, comes to the conclusion; “A rush to online education

Education has undergone significant changes because of the development of information and communication technology over the 21st century (Lin & Jou, 2012:2). As a convenient and inexpensive way to gain knowledge while pursuing higher education, online learning, a form of training or teaching that takes place over the Internet, has been considered as an alternative to traditional classroom learning (Zhang et al, 2004). This essay will argue that even though online learning has benefit such as flexibility which could outweigh traditional learning, traditional classroom learning might still not be entirely replaced. This essay will discuss positive and negative aspects of online and traditional learning in terms of four criteria:

Learning is more than just receiving information. Traditionally learning was to be in campus, where students would interact with one a another, there were no other ways for learners to get educated beside going to the classroom and listening to the instructor. Nowadays the Internet has brought different ways for people to receive information, such as getting education and degrees online. A few years ago online education was never thinkable, and yet it has become to reality and it is widely expanding with popularity. Online education is a type of educational instruction that delivers learning to individuals to their own homes, and it is getting very popular among nontraditional student and others. Individuals prefer online education

Therefore, with the viewpoint of the writers it elaborates that mobile devices, internet and graphical games are the three types of e-learning that has created curiosity, a sense of social interaction and eagerness to learn new thing among students and the content of these technologies are based on recent curriculum. This helps a student to follow well defined instructions and to share opnions and discussions online for better assessment.

“From a psychological point of view, L.Desev (2003) defines interactive pedagogy as the interacting and interrelation between students in the process of communication, in which the process of teaching and studying acquires a dynamic and open character. “Interactive is described as people working together and having an influence on each other as per the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Therefore, interactive Pedagogy is a pedagogical approach having students’ participation as the main principle and relating to the interactions between teachers, students and the learning environment.

As university professors are being presented with new types of students, there is a call to integrate advanced technology into their course design, and ultimately, educators must lead the way and use the technology in a fashion that positively aids their students: “technology should be used with the needs of the learners in mind and with the goal of improving student learning as the focus” (Russo et al. 2014). If this idea is implemented and acknowledged correctly, then many advantages can arise that enhance student learning in university classrooms. The first benefit of instructors introducing advanced technology into their teaching is that technology connects with students, which ultimately arouses their interest because technology as a whole is a relevant and important part of student’s lives. When students are interested and engaged in the class material they become motivated to pay attention and focus on what they are being taught, which leads to an improved retention rate of information. This relates to the DVD that West, Pudsey and Dunk-West created for teacher to give to their students to work within their learning, and they found that it “easily assimilates into their everyday life world” (2010). Another advantage is that the use of technology supports collaboration skills within students. Erin Murphy (2010) conducted an experiment centering around educators use of Audience Response Systems, commonly