Week 8 and 9 - Interaction and Engagement

Week 8 was the much needed mid semester break which allowed time for me to think about all the things I had learnt over the past 7 weeks and prepare for the group work. Overall I felt it finished too quickly and we were back this week on Moodle looking at a very interesting topic of engagement and interaction in online learning.The first task required us to design a conceptual map for interaction and engagement in online learning and then after doing the required readings I was asked to add what I thought about interaction and engagement in online learning.

Key Points

Interaction and engagement are crucial for the success of any online course.

3 types of online interactions that promotes student engagement are:

1. Student - Teacher/Instructor Interaction
2. Student - Content Interaction
3. Student - Student Interaction

This can be depicted by a conceptual map that I have designed.

Resources

http://facultyecommons.org/three-types-of-interaction-that-foster-student-engagement/
http://www.educause.edu/library/student-engagement-and-interaction
The following link connects to the quarterly magazine of EDUCASE which is entirely devoted to looking at student engagement
http://www.educause.edu/ero/educause-quarterly-magazine-volume-32-number-4-2009

Reflection

There was a lot to think about this week but the first question I asked myself was if there was any difference between interaction and engagement and whether one can exist without another or whether one leads to another. With the presence of social media there is a lot of noise on the internet and people saying what's on their mind..is this interaction or engagement? If a community of online learners are taking part in the discussion forum are they merely interacting or can  I say that they are engaged in the course. So I set about looking up the definitions of the 2 words. Engage means to participate and become involved in . Interact means to act in a way to have a effect on another. Well, this was not very helpful!!

 Anyways I started to think about this in context of my students at the University..the ones that I teach face to face. These students have known each other from year 1 when they started university and they have become close over the years. So when i divide them in groups for discussion they could seem to be working as one (group cohesion) and look very animated...so high level of interaction but whether they are mentally engaged in an educationally meaningful way let alone leading to deep learning remains a question in my mind.

Having said that, I also feel that being online gives an opportunity for quiet students to have time to reflect and respond in their own time. This is where interaction is very important as to be inclusive and get the learners out of their isolation. I guess it also gives the community of learners some level of equity and level playing field in their course. 

I think that if there is high level of interaction there is bound to be engagement with the course where hopefully the learner is able to derive some meaning and apply that knowledge in practice.

In the Pacific we are very communal and our culture expects us to work together as a group. Working for oneself is almost seen as being selfish. The western education system however forces us to work as individuals and compete with one another to attain better grades or results. So those of born in the Pacific but grow up in the western education system (the remnants of colonialism), we are always conflicted inside. Because being an online learner where interaction is so crucial to remain engaged and motivated it resonates well with our culture of 'talanoa' and working as a group.