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This article focuses on the use, potential benefits, and best practices of interactive visual media in online education and remote learning. We will discuss: What are the main arguments for interactive visual media in online learning? What are some examples and best practices for creating visual learning materials for students? How can students use interactive visual media for documenting and sharing their learning?

Interactive images, videos, and virtual tours can support online learning by providing an alternative to text-based communication. Here are three arguments for why this is the case.

Humans remember pictures better than words (the “picture superiority effect”)

Complete the storyCreate a story and ask students how it should continue. Students can post their ideas on the Padlet. Finally, take some of your students' ideas and complete the story. You’ll have some funny stories!

What is Padlet?

Orientation experiences support students' transition to the first year of college, which is essential for student success.1 This support is particularly important for those students from historically marginalized populations.

hould be holistic

course design features and

Furthermore, it has been shown that students prefer to contact their peer students rather than their tutor when they are struggling with coursework, facing difficulties in assessing facilities and understanding lectures

Researchers also noted that people who interact more in an online course tend to achieve higher marks on exams, as opposed to lurking which is not as successful [12]

Students who are required to collaboratively work online need to dedicate time to get to know each other and therefore are able to accomplish effective communication in an online environment [29]

By Natascha Chtena November 22, 2015 5 Comments   .blog-spacer { display: none; } @media (max-width: 420px) { .blog-spacer { display: block; height:1px; clear:both; } }   googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display("dfp-ad-story_level_pages"); }); Natascha Chtena is a PhD student in Information Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. You can follow her on Twitter @nataschachtena.       One of the challenges I face teaching a daily language class is finding novel and creative ways to maintain student interest throughout my lessons. One of my favorite teaching “tricks” is using music to motivate learning, improve concentration, create a sense of community and help my students absorb material.   Music is a wonderful tool to integrate into your teaching repertoire, especially if you are a foreign language teacher. It has a

The key is to not be too ambitious (unless of course you are teaching a language AND culture class) and to set realistic goals: one song one major point! I usually keep it to seven minutes max, which includes a song, a very short “lecture” and some time for student questions at the end.

  38   SOCiaL-NetwOrKiNg SiteS 2001). This difference in ‘lifestyle’ gives educators reason to believe we shouldincorporate SNS usage into our class-related activities, to capture these students’imaginations and t their thought patterns and socializing habits (Godwin-Jones,2008; Winke & Goertler, 2008).However, although technology is an integral part of neomillennial students’lives, they often do not know how to use technology in ways that would benet them in computer-assisted language learning (CALL) (Dieu & Stevens, 2007;Kolaitis, Mahoney, Pomann, & Hubbard, 2006; Winke & Goertler, 2008). Suc - cessful CALL activities, then, often require a substantial training period at theoutset (Jones & Bissoonauth-Bedford, 2008; Kolaitis et al., 2006), and studentsmay be less enthusiastic about a class’s language and culture projects if the formof computer-mediated communication ( CMC) employed is not the type they areaccustomed to using (McBride & Wildner-Bassett, 2008; Thorne, 2003). A usefulresponse may be to craft CALL activities more to the practices that our studentsare familiar with (Winke & Goertler, 2008). SNSs are an obvious possibility to consider, given their tremendous popularity.If we can get our F

we can get our FL students to interact socially on SNSs, then they may beengaged in more authentic social and communicative behavior than typically hap-pens in classrooms, because “instead of merely simulating other modes of interac-tion, technology mediated communication is, in and of itself, the real thing

  40   SOCiaL-NetwOrKiNg SiteS and sites like it, knowing, socially and technically, how to re-use media in thisparticular way has become foundational for communication and creative expres- sion over the Web” (Perkel, 2008, p. 218). We can call this activity of writing/remixing the self through the manipulationof text and media ‘ self-authorship.’ Within the framework of CALL, this term refers to students authoring their own materials which can then serve as the basisfor learning and lessons. Using student-created materials as the center of a lesson ts with a student-centered pedagogy (Dieu, Campbell, & Ammann, 2006). Self-authorship activities can increase interest and time on task, and they put students in a more active role in their own learning process (Kramsch, A’Ness, & Lam,2000; Nikolova, 2002).Students must take an active role in their learning. They cannot simply be handed knowledge from an expert because understanding is the result of a cre- ative process one must work through over time with other people (Bereiter, 2002). Learning

They create a blended environment where teachers and students engage in both physical and online conversations so that learning is no longer confined to a single means of communication or even an arbitrary class perio

they use their comfort and skills with social media to connect students with the content area on a deeper level.

help students keep tabs on their upcoming assignments and assessments

I use Twitter as a way to provide practice during the days leading to macro-assessments, by providing sample test items, as well as study tips.

f we make activities genuine, our students will be much more inclined to participate, acquiring new knowledge in the process.

nearly a third of American college courses are now taught online.

anguage instructors need to be convinced that online education presents a responsible learning environment for students,

lexibility. S

posting a weekly question and having students respond

"I can basically extend my classroom," he says.

Communicate the public nature of Twitter to parents. Consider an opt-out alternative for students or parents who are uncomfortable with participating in the classroom chat.

assist students in moving back and forth between their own words and technical or course-specific terms. And help highlight particular content with the use of sentence starters.

Do you feel the chat’s objective was reached? What was the most useful part of the chat? How might we improve the chat?