Week 10: Oct. 29th Online Interactivity, Engagement, and Social presence

For this week readings, Ms Swan’s paper, “Learning effectiveness online…” is particularly a good one that should not miss. She proves that there are differences between online learning and F2F learning. In her article, she spent a lot of space to talk about interaction with content, interaction with instructor, interaction with peers, and interface interaction by using various examples of online institutions or programs. She gathered models to study cognitive presence, social presence, and teaching presence. In the social presence, it’s very intriguing to see the finding, “when fewer affective communication channels are available to transmit immediacy via conventional vocal and non-verbal cues, participants in mediated communications will increase their verbal immediacy behaviors to the extent needed to preserve a sense of presence.” They argue that to maintain or restore equilibrium, learners will adjust each percentage of affective communication channel and verbal immediacy themselves. The other idea I remembered especially is vicarious interaction that plays a role as important as direct interaction in online learning. I never thought about its importance before and finally realized that developing something ignored by people or something we are unconscious about is worth and meaningful.

One of MBA study is about RTC's real-time. A real-time case interactivity allowed students to share their best thinking with the company leadership during the company’s decision-making process. It just likes a real world case study shifting to online. I understood a lot how it worked and what online learners think and feel through this paper. The reasons stated in this paper also gave me an overlook for why change from traditional case study. The Internet presents an opportunity to revamp the case method. It’s no doubt that the Internet provides students easy access to business news and information. It is also possible to provide the detail and background necessary for a well-informed decision analysis through Internet. Most important of all, students' expectations are changing. More students have work experience and expect a practical, realistic curriculum. Maybe this is why people nowadays tend to enroll in MBA online courses and it might be the answer to the question why everyone wants to have online MBA case study from 2005.

Dr. Bonk showed us a “Network Movie” made by Peter Finch. The actor shouted and aroused people who are listening to the channel to say with him, “I am mad as hell and I cannot stand it anymore” times after times. We shouted the sentence in the atrium as well. Cool~ I like that! People fear the new technology, television at that time (which is normally accepted nowadays) will occupy our live, and we will lost… I can understand the kind of feeling fearing changes and feeling uncertainty to every application of emerging technology. Applying my reflection to the movie, I should always keep in mind that remember to think about online interactivity, engagement, and social presence, thereby decrease distrust and uncertainty of online learners moving towards the future.


Reference:

Swan, K. (2003). Learning effectiveness online: What the research tell us. In J. Bourne, & J. C. Moore (Eds.). Elements of quality online education, Practice and direction. Sloan Center for Online Education, 13-45. http://www.kent.edu/rcet/Publications/upload/learning%20effectiveness4.pdf

Theroux, James, Carpenter, Cari, & Kilbane, Claire. (2004). Experimental online case study for a breakthrough in student engagement: Focus group results. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, 8(3), retrieved July 1, 2007, from http://www.sloan-c.org/publications/jaln/v8n3/v8n3_theroux.asp