Week 10. Interactive and Collaborative Learning

The reflection of the Week:

   This week, we discussed about interactive and collaborative learning. I would like to start my reflection by asking a question, which is “How can we establish interactive and collaborative learning on the Web.” If we look at the traditional classrooms, it is easy to create collaborative learning through discussions, brainstorming, group works, and using tools together in the classrooms. Also, traditional classrooms put students in real environment that allows them to interact, help, support and give feedback immediately each other.  

   So how can we establish interaction and collaborative learning in online learning environments? This lecture and readings of this week demonstrated nicely how to create interactive and collaborative learning environment for online courses. I think one of the important to create collaboration and interaction on the web is that learners should have a virtual workspace (classroom) that can provide them to work, discuss, and make decisions together.  Also, these kinds of virtual workspace allow them to share and download files, see and talk with each other.

   In order to get prompt feedback, real time chat sessions are an effective tool. Also, I think real time chats make easier to understand and save time in terms of comparing to communicate via emails. Furthermore, real time chat sessions decrease the immediacy between instructors and students and increase the social learning.

   However, there are some challenges and factors affecting the quality of interaction and collaboration for online course. For example, people who take online course should have technical skills to fix problems if occurred. The other factor is incompatibility of time and location because difference schedule of each person may make them to have real time chat session.

The example of the Week:

Breeze is an online system that allows users to see, hear and talk each other; make presentations and real time chat sessions; exchange files; make discussions and brainstorming. Breeze is an effective and efficient communication tool that creates interactive and collaboration learning for online users.

The Quote of the Week:

Instructor immediacy and student immediacy positively influence and enhance participant mutual understanding, while, at the same time, creating an overall social climate which increases interactivity among participants in online discussions.

   So we can use the Breeze to decrease physical distance and increase to immediacy between instructors and students in order to enhance participant mutual understanding.

Reference: Park, Y. J., & Bonk, C. J. (2007). Is life a Breeze?: A case study for promoting synchronous learning in a blended graduate course. Journal of Online Learning and Teaching (JOLT), 3(3), 307-323

 The picture of the Week:

 These pictures are nice examples of indicating how to establish interactive and collaborative learning with using technology between students and professors IU and University of Houston.

(These pictures are taken from the presentation of week 10 0f R685)