In Search of Interactive Online Learning: Using Learning Objects & Authoring Tools

Online learning is not easy to define.

Well, it IS learning/instruction that takes place online....

But online learning can have many different faces.

"Details, details..." by Andrew Butitta is licensed under

CC BY-SA 2.0

My husband, for example, is taking an online course in motorcycle repair.

My first thought was - you can learn how to repair a motorcycle by reading about it? Without physically working on one?????

hmmmm....   This type of program would be a great chance to use videos, interactive "stuff"....  I can learn a lot about teaching online while he learns how to repair his motorcycle.

Nope...on both counts.  While he has learned a lot, it is not through the course.  The course is set up as a glorified correspondence course - with the reading delivered online.   He logs in, prints out a 60+ page lesson, prints it, reads it and marks his "text," takes an online test, then starts the process again...

No videos..nothing to show an engine doing whatever an engine does... nothing spiffy...no bells...no whistles...

Nothing engaging or persuading one to learn... His interest in the course has definitely waned .... something I do NOT want to happen to students in my own courses...

For several years, now I have experimented with different ways of making my online courses more interactive. Almost 10 years ago (Adcock, et al., 2006; Duggan & Adcock, 2007; Duggan, et al.,

CATHIE

2006), a colleague and I created CATHIE (Computer Agent Teaching Helping Interactions Effectively). CATHE was an animated agent used to teach and assess human service students' level of empathy as they interacted with her in a variety of online scenarios.  CATHIE would present an issue, the student would select a response, triggering a response from CATHIE and so forth. Each student response received feedback, and responses were scored based on their level of empathy on the Carkuff Empathy Scale. Responses did improve as students participated in this simulation, and they reported enjoying the opportunity to interact online. We were constantly tweaking how to provide such training quickly and easily, and at an even more interactive level.  We even added eye tracking to see what the students were actually watching on screen and whether or not they were reading the feedback for each of their responses. We hosted CATHIE within Blackboard, which, again, requited a great deal of assistance from IT to assist the two programs in "talking" to one another. Eventually, funding drifted (this was a very expensive endeavor), but I have kept that program alive in my mind, looking for ways to replicate  and enhance this work in a cost effective manner, hoping to expand the concept to teach leadership and crisis management skills. We spent hours designing the flow of the  framework, and I spent evenings recording my own audio, crafting scripts, and recording  friends and family members reading the various scripts.

This leads me back to my experimenting with a variety of ways of adding interactivity to my classes.....

My History

Jeopardy (2009)

     When teaching a master's level course in research design I searched for a way to review material with students in a face-to-face setting, wanting something different from a lecture or spelling bee type of approach. Searching online, I found a Jeopardy game template using PowerPoint and decided we would play it in class as review for a midterm. The students loved it! They asked for more.... Unfortunately I spent 20+ hours creating that 20 minute activity, and I just didn't - and still don't  - have that much time to create something novel. (Click HERE for a link to Jeopardy templates.)

Hyperlinks and Action Buttons in PowerPoint (2010)

     The above activity taught me how to use hyperlinks within PowerPoint, so I started creating online modules to hang in Blackboard for my doctoral students in their online Qualitative Research course. I learned to create a Table of Contents, quizzes, links to videos...all sorts of ways of presenting material to supplement what they were learning in their text. I could set up responses to questions and when students selected a response, a hyperlink took them to the feedback...no scoring, but at least it was interactive. The following video shows how to create interactive quizzes in PowerPoint:

 eXe (2010)

      A good friend of mine suggested I look into eXe as a way to deliver content in a more interactive manner...and I fell in love!  Here was a way to provide a very neat and clean  module filled with supplemental content, videos, audio, and quizzes. When I posted modules designed in PowerPoint and those designed in eXe, asking students to tell me their preference, responses were evenly split. While I could create quizzes, the quizzes could not be scored, so this provided more of a chance to read, learn, and reflect upon one's learning.... but no way to  assess and no way to individualize the content. eXe offered an improvement, however, in delivering content in some way other than pages of text...now, if there was a way to add that to PowerPoint's hyperlinks....  (Click HERE to learn more about and to download eXe.)

Camtasia (2010)

          While I was experimenting with using PowerPoint to create interactive modules, I discovered Camtasia and started using this to narrate my PowerPoints (turning them into videos) and creating online modules to supplement course reading...not too interactive. Students could, however, control how they progressed through the videos as Camtasia allowed me to publish them with tabs/table of contents allowing students to move through the videos at their own speed. (Click HERE to learn how to create a table of contents for video navigation.)

Learning Objects

     How the terms have changed...  I was crafting "learning objects" before they were given that name.

     PowerPoint  - yes, again - has an option to create a vertical slide, and I used to create those as a type of poster with images and interactive links. I realize that the education (and business) world is tired of PowerPoint, but it is an extremely versatile tool...and one that doesn't require an additional purchase! (Click HERE to learn how to make a poster with PowerPoint.)

     Microsoft Word has the same ability and makes a great poster with graphics and hyperlinks to webpages and videos. The following video explains how to make a poster using Microsoft Word:

Thinglink
 

Capture of an actual Thinglink.

     This free program allows me to create an interactive image (i.e., a learning object) quickly, including text and links to videos and to websites. (See examples of  Thinglinks:  Fundraising in the Community College,  Setting a Constructive Climate, The Style Approach to Leadership,  Situational Approach to Leadership, and  Handling Conflict.)  Thinglink  (thinglink.com) provides a great way to organize content for students and is somewhat interactive. While I like to use this as an organizational tool for my modules, I can envision an assignment for my community colleges students to create an interactive map of their campuses, perhaps for posting on their community colleges' website as an introduction to their college campus.  Another assigment might be to have them create an interactive map of their community colleges for faculty and staff, explaining the location and the various units on their campus.  This would be a great assessment tool for the end of EDU 604: The Community College and American Education.

VoiceThread

     One of my favorite discussion tools, VoiceThread (voicethread.com) is easy for students - and faculty - to learn how to use...and a paid account allows for private postings, very important for my students who are watching their digital footprints. As I ask students to reflect upon their own experiences and their workplaces, privacy is paramount. VoiceThread allows students to explore the topic with one another, requiring they listen and respond, thereby honing their oral and listening skills, necessary skills for administrators Students have also used VoiceThread as a private reflective journal and for their own presentations when asked to lead a class discussion.

Prezi

     Prezi (prezi.com) is an alternative to PowerPoint, allowing students to review material at their speed. I have embedded videos, audio files, images, and a variety of links, and students have remarked that they enjoy prezi due to its individual approach. One of my students,, however, complained of motion sickness when viewing a prezi, so when I do use a prezi, I now provide a pdf of the prezi file and a list of separate links... just in case. Students like prezi for their own presentations. Along with using it for content delivery, I have used it to create an online program orientation, in presentations off campus when I talk about the Community College Administration program, and when leading a discussion on Climbing the Ladders of Success: Necessary Skills and Competencies for Effective Community College Administrators.

Piktochart

     Piktochart (piktochart.com) allows the user to create infographics, reports, banners, or presentations - all of which can be interactive. I have, so far. used it to create an infographic on the Community College Administration program which I then posted on  the program Facebook page and tweeted (@CCA_AVL). I have a variety of assignments in mind to introduce students to Piktochart.

Future Assignments Using Learning Objects

For icebreakers, I often have students describe where they work and what they do, introducing both the student and his or her job to the other students in the class.Taking this a step further to include some learning objects might be quite interesting:


EDU 604: Community College and American Education - Students could create a marketing piece to depict/explain their individual units.  They could use Thinglink, Piktochart, Visual.ly (http://visual.ly/), or Venngage (venngage.com).  The piece should be designed to be shared on their community college's website, Facebook page, and twitter feed.  This assignment could have several components: (1) creating the piece for a student audience, (2) creating the piece for a faculty/staff audience, and (3) creating the piece for a business & industry audience....or they could choose 2 of the 3 audiences.

Another possible assignment for this course could be to have the students create a cover for their unit's Facebook page using canva.com.

EDU 610: Organization and Culture in the Community College - Students could use Thinglink, Piktochart, Visual.ly, or Venngage to create a poster/infographic depicting Schein's Three levels of Culture.

They could also create a motivational poster for their office, using Piktochart, Visual.ly, or Venngage.

EDU 621: Design and Development of Curricular Programs focuses on curriculum design, so students could design an infographic using Piktochart, Visual.ly, or Venngage to market their proposed program to the target population or to make a presentation to their community college's curriculum committee.

EDU 631: Design & Development for Student Support and Development Programs - so many possibilities here.... Students could set up a Facebook page for an orientation/student success course and use Canva to create a FB cover.

or....They could also craft an infographic using Piktochart, Visual.ly, or Venngage to present information on their institution's student services while targeting a specific student population.

or... They could use Piktochart, Visual.ly, or Venngage to create an infographic regarding student services to give to faculty and staff.....

Interactive Learning Objects

I have lots of ideas here.

First, I want to use Camtasia to gradually rework all of my current videos to integrate quizzes and  tables of content, giving the students the opportunity to proceed more at their own space, skip what they already know, and quiz themselves on what was presented.  I have the original files of the videos so revamping them to add these items (and Creative Commons copyright information) as I move each course into our new LMS should work - I just have to allow the time for it.

Interactive Scenario-Based Learning Objects

I teach leadership, and leadership is a component in every class the Community College Administration students take. I want them, however, to have some practice in leading and particularly in handling conflict in the workplace. This means I need to create a new version of CATHIE or find a program that will help me create something similar. I want a series of interactive scenarios where students respond to a leadership issue/crisis/problem by interacting with a video/program. EDU 620 Higher Education Leadership and EDU 610 Organization and Administration of a Community College are perfect for such activities. I would give students the opportunity to deal with a problem employee...but in a safe online environment. These problem-solving and interpersonal skills need to be practiced, but handling an employee incorrectly can become a legal issue or cause a variety of emotional issues, so honing these skills in the safety of an online setting can be very useful. The student would be given a scenario with an employee in conflict (i.e., unhappy at work, bullying others, poor workforce performance), and the student would be led through a series of events and steps to deal with the "problem"employee. The student would choose from a list of opening conversations, and that opening would determine how the employee responds (audio, of course!).  Then the student would have more responses (with responses receiving feedback on the screen), with student responses again determining the employee response. This could continue until a peaceful resolution, a lawsuit, or not much at all happens :-) Students would then reflect upon the experience and their choices, possibly opting to try it again.

(click HERE to see  a video that is similar to what I want to create.)


I will need a program with branching capability, along with audio, and possibly video. I need the capability of complex student interactions where students have  the opportunity to make mistakes and to learn from them. Ideally, this would need to be visible on iPads, tablets, mobile devices, and in our LMS. Based on my review of various products, I believe I could do this using Articulate Storyline, but the $1400 price tag is a bit much. Adobe Captivate also would meet my needs, and the $300 student/teacher pricing is tempting. I already have Camtasia, but I am not sure that it meets my needs.

For the moment, I will proceed with gradually updating/revising my videos to increase their interactivity...and perhaps ask for Adobe Captivate for Christmas...

References

Adcock, A.B., Duggan, M., Nelson, E. & Nickel, C. (2006). Teaching Effective Helping Skills at a Distance: The Development of Project CATHIE. Quarterly Review of Distance Education, 7(4), 349-360.

Duggan, M. & Adcock, A.B. (2007). Pedagogical Agents Teaching Helping Skills in an Online Environment: A Pilot Study.Journal of Interactive Online Learning 6(1) 56-71.

Duggan, M. H., Adcock, A. B., Nelson, E., &Nickel, C. (2006). Creating a web-based environment to enhance helping skills. Human Service Education, 26(1), 82-98.