Online courses which include interactivity are more engaging and effective for learners. Interactivity gives students the opportunity to practice new skills and receive feedback while working at their own pace. It’s one of the features of learner-centered instructional design, rather than content-centered design.
William Horton, author of Designing Web-Based Training, says “Interactivity boosts learning. People learn faster and develop more positive attitudes when learning is interactive.”
Four principles of effective interactivity are outlined in Michael Allen’s Guide to e-Learning:
- Context
- Challenge
- Activity
- Feedback
The first place interactivity was added in PLS’ online courses was the Getting Started guide which is part of every course. Interactive tutorials are provided to help new students familiarize themselves with the Blackboard environment. Students are given an environment that looks like Blackboard (Context), but provides step-by-step directions to guide them through the process. Students click buttons and type text similarly to what they would in an actual course (Activity), providing practice that is very close to the “real thing” (Context). If they click in the wrong place or enter text incorrectly, feedback appears to show them the right action (Feedback). The Challenge level in this instance is fairly low because the audience is beginners with the software and the tutorials let them jump in without any prior experience.
You can try a very basic example of interactivity here. This doesn’t really have any context, and there’s not much challenge (although I recommend you check out the About page before doing the activity). It does, however, quickly demonstrate both activity and feedback. This activity will open in a new window and requires the Flash player.
If you’d like to see some much more extensive online interactivity, check out the great work done at Edheads. This is one of my all-time favorite examples of online learning; it’s very engaging and a lot of fun. The activities are appropriately challenging, and everything has a context so you aren’t just memorizing isolated facts.
Have you found a great example of online interactivity? Is there an existing PLS online course where you think adding interactivity could improve the course? Let us know in the comments.
