This paper provides a brief review of how interaction is considered within current distance education literature since Moore’s 1989 call for clarity. The following summarizes how human and non-human interaction types have been considered within the context of computer mediated distant education and examines both the Student-to-Content Interaction Strategies Taxonomy and the Community of Inquiry Model as frameworks for future examination of computer mediated interaction within a distance education setting.
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Interaction in Distance Education 1 Running head: INTERACTION IN DISTANCE EDUCATION Interaction in Computer Mediated Distance Education Jennifer Maddrell Old Dominion University IDT 846 Distance Learning – Dr. Morrison April 21, 2008 Interaction in Distance Education 2 Interaction Interaction is a well documented construct within distance education literature. A recent search of the Education Resource Information Center (ERIC) database using the keyword “interaction” returned over 46,000 articles. When additional “interaction” descriptors within the ERIC database thesaurus are considered and filtered, as shown in Figure 1, the number of articles balloons to over 71,000. Figure 1. Interaction – ERIC database search. Within these articles are various prescriptions of how to incorporate interaction into the design of instruction, including within the design of distance education. However, a closer review of the literature reveals a range of conceptions of what interaction is and, in turn, how it should be fostered within an instructional setting. Moore (1989) recognized this diversity and observed that the term “interaction” carries so many meanings it is almost useless as a descriptive construct. This prompted a call from Moore for consensus on the distinctions among three types of interaction which he labeled as 1) learnercontent interaction, 2) learner-instructor interaction, and 3) learner-learner interaction. Interaction in Distance Education 3 This paper provides a brief review of how interaction is considered within current distance education literature since Moore’s 1989 call for clarity. The following summarizes how human and non-human interaction types have been considered within the context of computer mediated distant education and examines both the Student-to-Content Interaction Strategies Taxonomy and the Community of Inquiry Model as frameworks for future examination of computer mediated interaction within a distance education setting. Computer Mediated Interaction in Distance Education Literature Of the 71,000 articles about interaction noted above in the ERIC database, just over 4,100 are tagged as “peer reviewed”. Within those, 91 were linked with a “distance education” descriptor. A review of the article abstracts reveals a clear emphasis on human to human interaction, either what Moore terms as learner-learner or learner-instructor interaction. Bannan-Ritland (2002) reports the same finding in a comprehensive literature review of interactivity in relation to synchronous and asynchronous computer mediated communication. Her review yielded a total of 132 articles of which 83 were deemed primary research and 49 were viewed as conceptual. Echoing Moore, Bannan-Ritland describes the challenge of conducting such a review given the lack of common operational definitions and interpretation of interaction in the educational and distance education literature. While Bannan-Ritland’s review revealed multiple definitions and interpretations of interaction, she did find commonalities across what she terms “learner-human level interactions”, such as patterns and amounts of communication, instructor activities and feedback, and other social exchanges. She grouped the research based on how interactivity was defined within the study, including interaction defined by: a) active involvement by the learner, b) patterns of communication among learners and the instructor, c) instructor-learner communication, d) social, Interaction in Distance Education 4 cooperative, or collaborative exchange, and e) instructional activities or technology. Unfortunately, Bannan-Ritland (2002) reports finding no studies during the time period of her review which focused on learner-content interactions in synchronous and asynchronous computer mediated communication and suggests that prior literature reviews focused on the technology as a delivery medium rather than the construct of interactivity. A current search of the ERIC database using “content interaction” as a keyword phrase supports Bannan-Ritland’s findings. 20 articles were returned and only one study is tagged as a peer reviewed research article. Interestingly, within that article, Thorpe and Goodwin (2006) highlight Moore’s conception of learner-content interaction within distance education, as well as Bannan-Ritland’s previously mentioned observation of the lack of learner-content interaction research. Unfortunately, Thorpe and Goodwin’s survey findings from a sample of 4,512 students at the Open University in the United Kingdom provide little insight beyond a snapshot of the instructional content delivery preferences of the surveyed distance learners. Toward an Integrated Framework for Research and Design Given the emphasis on human interaction within recent research on computer mediated communication, it is of little surprise to find a like emphasis on strategies to overcome the physical and time separation to facilitate social interactions during distance instruction. There is pervasive call within the literature for computer mediated social interaction and “community building” within the distance education setting to foster a greater sense of social membership, presence and learner commitment (Rovai, 2002). However, while human interaction (learner to learner and learner to instructor) is often stated as a desired instructional goal within distance education, social interaction in and of itself not a guarantee of cognitive engagement or of meaningful learning (Garrison & Cleveland-Innes, 2005). Interaction in Distance Education 5 Dunlap, Sobel, and Sands (2007) refer to an “ideal of balanced interaction”; one in which learner to content, learner to learner, and learner to instructor interaction are considered. They offer a “Student-to-Content Interaction Strategies Taxonomy” for the contemplation of learnercontent interaction within a distance education setting in which ten content specific interaction category types are mapped to Bloom’s lower level (remember, understand, and apply) and higher level (analyze, evaluate, and create) cognitive process dimensions, as shown in Table 1. Table 1. Student-to-Content Interaction Strategies Taxonomy. Cognitive Process Dimensions Appl Content Interaction Type Remember Understand Analyze Evaluate Create y Enriching Supportive Conveyance Constructive Triggering Exploration Integration Resolution Reflective Inquiry Metacognitive The content interaction types are a synthesis of the categories presented by Stouppe (1998) and Garrison, Anderson, and Archer (2000) within the Community of Inquiry Model, discussed in greater detail below. Stouppe focuses on four content interactions, including enriching interactions (which allow access to information), supportive interactions (which assist the learner to understand material), conveyance interactions (which demonstrate the concept), and constructive interactions (which require the learner to organize or map knowledge and understanding). In addition, Garrison et al. emphasize interactions which support critical thinking, including triggering interactions(which lead to recognition of a problem), exploration Interaction in Distance Education 6 interactions (which encourage learners to further explore), integration interactions (which facilitate connection of ideas to create solutions), and resolution interactions (which foster application and assessment of solutions). Dunlap et al. included two additional interactions focused on reflective inquiry (requiring deliberation and action) and metacognition (encouraging self-reflection on the learner’s own cognitive process). Dunlap et al. suggest that these content interaction types help to support various cognitive process dimensions. Given Bloom’s established framework which helps designers map learning objectives to cognitive process dimensions, Dunlap et al. propose that their taxonomy of strategies is a means of supporting learning objectives with specific content-interaction strategies. In addition to Moore’s learner-content, learner-learner, and learner-instructor interaction. Anderson (2003) suggests that addition interaction types must be considered and adds three “learner-environment” dimensions of teacher-teacher, teacher-content, and content-content. These six types of interactions are incorporated within the Community of Inquiry Model by Garrison et al. (2000) which recommends an integration of cognitive, social, and teaching presence within a computer mediated distance education setting. According to Garrison et al. (2001), cognitive presence is the ability for learners to construct and confirm meaning most often associated with critical thinking and is linked to the categories of learner-content interaction highlighted previously within Table 1. Social presence is considered the ability of learners to project their own personalities within the distance learning environment as measured in terms of emotion expression, open communication, and group cohesion (Rourke, Anderson, Garrison, and Archer, 2001). In contrast, teaching presence Interaction in Distance Education 7 considers instructional management, including both the design and delivery of instruction (Garrison et al., 2001). The foundation of the Community of Inquiry Model is that neither social interaction alone nor an exchange of information are sufficient, but rather, “quality interaction and discourse for deep and meaningful learning must consider the confluence of social, cognitive, and teaching presence – that is, interaction among ideas, students, and the teacher.” (Garrison and ClevelandInnes, 2005, p. 144). When paired with the Student-to-Content Interaction Strategies Taxonomy proposed by Dunlap et al., a comprehensive framework for future examination of computer mediated interaction within a distance education setting emerges which contemplates multiple levels of both human and non-human interaction. Interaction in Distance Education 8 References Anderson, T. (2003). Modes of Interaction in Distance Education: Recent Developments and Research Questions. In M. Moore and G. Anderson (Eds.), Handbook of Distance Education. (pp. 129-144) NJ: Erlbaum. Bannan-Ritland, B. (2002). Computer-Mediated Communication, E-learning, And Interactivity. Quarterly Review of Distance Education, 3(2), 161. Dunlap, J. C., Sobel, D., & Sands, D. I. (2007). Designing for Deep and Meaningful Student-toContent Interactions. TechTrends: Linking Research & Practice to Improve Learning, 51(4), 20-31. Garrison, D. R., Anderson, T., & Archer, W. (2000). Critical inquiry in a text-based environment: Computer conferencing in higher education. The Internet and Higher Education, 2(2-3), 87-105 Garrison, D. R., Anderson, T., & Archer, W. (2001). Critical Thinking and Computer Conferencing: A Model and Tool to Assess Cognitive Presence. American Journal of Distance Education. Garrison, D. R., & Cleveland-Innes, M. (2005). Facilitating Cognitive Presence in Online Learning: Interaction is Not Enough. American Journal of Distance Education, 19(3), 133. Moore, M. (1989). Three types of interaction [Electronic version]. The American Journal of Distance Education, 3(2). Retrieved from http://www.ajde.com/Contents/vol3_2.htm#editorial. Interaction in Distance Education 9 Rourke, L., Anderson, T. Garrison, D. R., & Archer, W. (2001). Assessing social presence in asynchronous, text-based computer conferencing. Journal of Distance Education, 14(3), 51-70. Retrieved from http://cade.icaap.org/vol14.2/rourke_et_al.html . Rovai , A. (2002). Building Sense of Community at a Distance. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, Retrieved from http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/viewFile/79/153 Stouppe, J. R. (1998). Measuring Interactivity. Performance Improvement, 37(9), 19-23. Thorpe, M., & Godwin, S. (2006). Interaction and e-Learning: The Student Experience. Studies in Continuing Education, 28(Nov), 203.