Interactivity

Overview

Interactivity has received much attention over the last several years - to the point where the word has become confusing (meaningless??). What exactly is interactivity? What is the goal of interactivity? What is the value?

Interactivity is the process of active student engagement with each other, content, instructor, or software. Interactivity is often discussed as the highest goal of course development - it's not. Interactivity is a means to a greater end - student learning. The most effective learning involves leading students to a point of reflection on content - what does this mean to me? How can I use? Is this better than what I'm doing now? This reflection is the goal of interactivity.

For more information on interactivity, visit the elearnspace authoring page.

Resources

Establishing Connections: Interactivity Factors for a Distance Education Course
"Both academic institutions and businesses are exploring a shift from face-to-face instruction to distance learning. However, without the foundation of a systematic instructional design process to guide course development relevant factors might be overlooked."

Interaction
" Interaction is the topic of much current research in distance education. There is much discussion about the definition of interaction as it is often confused with interactivity. Interactivity is a feature of the medium, which allows the user to experience a series of exchanges with the technology. Interaction is a learning outcome."

The myth of interactivity on the Internet
" Interactivity has become an almost sacred tenet of the Internet. Again and again, we are told that interactivity is what makes the Internet really different. However, interactivity on the Internet is often vastly over-hyped."

How Interactive are YOUR Distance Courses? A Rubric for Assessing Interaction in Distance Learning
"However, we also note great variation in what faculty and students view as "interactive qualities." In order to clarify the role of this important factor and encourage faculty to make their distance courses more interactive, the authors have designed a rubric for faculty to use to determine the degree of interactivity in their own distance learning courses. This rubric is based on information obtained from a review and analysis of a considerable body of literature and research on this topic."

Interact! With Online Learning
"Quality learning materials should be attractive, visual, and engaging. Here are some tips for locating and creating interactive exercises for your own projects."

The Web: Design for Active Learning
"This handbook will present the idea of interactivity as it applies to a cohesive design including high interface, content, and instructional design."

Active Learning on the Web
"Active learning isn't a new idea. It goes back at least as far as Socrates and was a major emphasis among progressive educators like John Dewey. And yet, if you peer into many university classrooms, we seem to have forgotten that learning is naturally an active process. It involves putting our students in situations which compel them to read, speak, listen, think deeply, and write."

Leadership in collaboration: film making and interaction design
"Software development and film production have many similarities. Both involve large numbers of people, working on a limited schedule and budget, with the goal of producing something with unified values and presence. Different sub-teams, with specialized skills, are responsible for separate but converging aspects of development and production. Many project schedules slip. Unforeseen problems often arise. The quality of the result at the end is difficult to predict at the beginning."

Active Learning Online
"Active Learning is a multi-directional learning experience in which learning occurs teacher-to-student, student-to-teacher, and student-to-student."

Funderstanding
" Funderstanding is a team of product development consultants, specialized in the youth market. Our proprietary technology and process helps our clients develop better products less expensively than traditional methods."

Learningware
"Create your own classroom or self-directed gameshow style games, quizzes, tests and surveys using LearningWare's software templates, described below. All are Y3K compliant. Our mission is to make learning fun."

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