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Resources for Moderators and Facilitators of Online Discussion

Deliberations on teaching and learning in higher education

A prerequisite to the use of computer mediated communication (CMC) when facilitating online instruction is access to a high level of computing power and a reliable telecommunication infrastructure. After saying that, I want to emphasize in the strongest way that when developing and delivering instruction, whether online or not, the use of technology is secondary to well-designed learning goals and objectives. What distinguishes online instruction from entertainment or recreation is the purposefulness of the designers and developers in provoking certain intelligent responses to the learning materials, context, and environment.

Asynchronous Learning Networks --a term coined by Frank Mayadas of the Sloan Foundation signifies any technology enabled collaborative learning environment using remote resources that can be accessed from anywhere at anytime and yet create a community of learners who are actively interacting, sharing ideas, learning and helping each other learn.

This article describes an ongoing informal study of a distance learning course that uses multiple emerging interactive media to increase and enhance students' participation. (The co-authors are, respectively, the course instructor and a doctoral student in education who took the course and conducted research on students' participation patterns.) First, we present the conceptual context underlying our vision of interactive media for learning; next, we describe the design of the course and the educational interactions this fosters; then, we analyze the learning outcomes that result from this instructional strategy; and finally we discuss the evolution of emerging interactive media. This structure parallels the "scholarship of teaching" framework presented in Randy Bass's article.

ONLINE LEARNER'S PREFERENCES FOR INTERACTION.