A slightly updated version of Interaction across three generations of Distance Education pedagogy

1. Interaction, Learning
and Teaching
Terry Anderson
Professor Emeritus,
Centre for Distance Education

2. * Athabasca University
34,000 students, 700 courses
100% distance education
Graduate and Undergraduate programs
Master & Doctorate
Distance Education

4. “Back to the land
farmer and
woodworker” 1971-
86

6. The Tuft of Flowers
Robert Frost (1874–1963).
I went to turn the grass once after one
Who mowed it in the dew before the sun.
The dew was gone that made his blade so keen
Before I came to view the leveled scene.
I looked for him behind an isle of trees;
I listened for his whetstone on the breeze.
But he had gone his way, the grass all mown,
And I must be, as he had been, -alone,
‘As all must be,’ I said within my heart,
‘Whether they work together or apart.’

7. I thought of questions that have no reply,
And would have turned to toss the grass to dry;
But turned first, and led my eye to look
At a tall tuft of flowers beside a brook,
A leaping tongue of bloom the scythe had spared
Beside a reedy brook the scythe had bared.

8. The mower in the dew had loved them thus,
By leaving them to flourish, not for us,
Nor yet to draw one thought of ours to him.
But from sheer morning gladness at the brim.
The butterfly and I had lit upon,
Nevertheless, a message from the dawn,
That made me hear the wakening birds around,
And hear his long scythe whispering to the ground,

9. And felt a sprit kindred to my own;
So that henceforth I worked no more alone;
But glad with him, I worked as with his aid,
And weary, sought at noon with him the shade;
And dreaming, as it were, held brotherly speech
With one whose thought I had not hoped to reach.
‘Men work together,’ I told him from the heart,
‘Whether they work together or apart’
Robert Frost (1874–1963).

10. Values
• We can (and must) continuously improve
the quality, effectiveness, appeal, cost and
time efficiency of the learning experience.
• Student control and freedom is integral to
21st century life-long education and
learning.
• Continuing education opportunity is a
basic human right.

11. Learning as Dance
(Anderson, 2008)
• Technology
sets the
beat and
the timing.
• Pedagogy
defines the
moves.

12. What’s the Big Deal About
Interaction?
“Learning is experience,
everything else is just
information”.
Albert Einstein

13. Defining Interaction
“Reciprocal events that
require at least two objects
and two actions. Interactions
occur when these objects
and events mutually influence
one another”
(Wagner 1994,p. 8).

14. Value of Interaction
• At heart of engagement and active
learning
• 5 of 7 principles for good practice in
undergraduate education (Chickering &
Gamson, 1987)
• Associated with retention and integration
(Tinto 1987, Schertzer & Schertzer, 2004
• Associated with higher achievement
(many correlation studies)

15. Functions of interaction in educational
contexts:
• pacing
• elaboration
• confirmation
• navigation
• inquiry
Hannafin (1989)

16. MOORE’S THREE
INTERACTIONS
CONTENT
PEERS
TEACHERS

17. (Garrison, Anderson, & Archer, 2000)

18. Comparison
Moore (1989)
Anderson and
Garrison (1998)
learner–content student–content
learner–instructor student–teacher
learner–learner student–student
teacher–teacher
teacher–content
content–content
Distance Teaching & Learning Conference 2011, Madison, Wisconsin
18
Others:
Learner-Interface
(Hillman et al, 1994)
Learner-Environment
(Burnham and
Walden, 1997)
Vicarious Interaction
(Sutton, 2000)
Learner’s view
point
Multi-agents’
view points,
including
nonhuman
agents

19. The Interaction Equivalency Theorem
Anderson (2003)
• Thesis 1. Deep and meaningful formal learning is supported
as long as one of the three forms of interaction (student–
teacher; student–student; student–content) is at a high
level. The other two may be offered at minimal levels, or
even eliminated, without degrading the educational
experience.
• Thesis 2. High levels of more than one of these three
modes will likely provide a more satisfying educational
experience, although these experiences may not be as
cost- or time effective as less interactive learning
sequences.
Distance Teaching & Learning Conference 2011, Madison, Wisconsin
19

20. Interaction Through Three Generations
of Online Learning Pedagogy
1. Behaviourist/Cognitive –
2. Social Constructivist –
3. Connectivist
Anderson, T., & Dron, J. (2011). Three generations
of distance education pedagogy.
IRRODL, 12(3), 80-97

21. 1. Behavioural/Cognitive
Pedagogies
• “tell ‘em what you’re
gonna tell ‘em,
• tell ‘em
• then tell ‘em what you
told ‘em”
Direct Instruction

22. Gagne’s Events of Instruction (1965)
1. Gain learners' attention
2. Inform learner of objectives
3. Stimulate recall of previous information
4. Present stimulus material
5. Provide learner guidance
6. Elicit performance
7. Provide Feedback
8. Assess performance
9. Enhance transfer opportunities
Instructional Systems Design (ISD)

23. Enhanced by the “cognitive
revolution”
• Chunking
• Cognitive Load
• Working Memory
• Multiple Representations
• Split-attention effect
• Variability Effect
• Multi-media effect
– (Sorden, 2005)
“learning as acquiring and using conceptual and cognitive structures”
Greeno, Collins and Resnick, 1996

24. Focus is on the Content and the
Individual Learner

25. Learning Alone
• Maximizes Freedom:
– Space, time, pace,
• Allows and promotes
individualization
• Freedom from “group think”
• Power of auto-didacticism
• Freedom from groups

26. Nature of Knowledge
• Knowledge is logically coherent, existing
independent of perspective
• Context free
• Capable of being transmitted
• Assumes closed systems with discoverable
relationships between inputs and outputs

27. Interaction with Technologies in
1st generation
• CAI, text books, One way Lectures, Video
and audio broadcasts and webcasts with
advancements??

28. Open Educational Resources
Because it saves time!!!

29. Oregon Students
Demanding OER
Participation
http://openoregon.org/

30. Publisher’s Response to OERs
All resources linked to national learning outcomes

31. POERUP Map of OER
Initiatives
http://poerup.referata.com/wiki/Maps

32. Open Online Course
Canto a Tenore!

33. Learning Analytics - Dashboard

34. Big Data & Education
1) Technology: maximizing computation power and
algorithmic accuracy to gather, analyze, link, and
compare large data sets.
2) Analysis: drawing on large data sets to identify
patterns in order to make economic, social, technical,
and legal claims and design interventions.
3) Mythology: the widespread belief that large data sets
offer a higher form of intelligence and knowledge that
can generate insights that were previously impossible,
with the aura of truth, objectivity, and accuracy.
Boyd, d. & Crawford, K. (2013). Critical Questions for Big Data: Provocations for
a Cultural, Technological, and Scholarly Phenomenon

35. 1st Generation
Conclusion
• Interaction is mostly one on one
• Large and important role of student-
content interaction
• OERs and analytics promise to reduce
costs and increase efficiency of
interactions

36. 36
2nd Generation
Constructivist Pedagogy
• Group Orientated
• Membership and exclusion, closed
• Not scalable - max 50 students/course
• Classrooms - at a distance or on campus
• Hierarchies of control
• Focus on collaboration and shared purpose
group
“Creating a successful online community is
dependent on knowing what works in the face-
to-face environment and implementing
effective parallels online”
“Cuthbertson & Falcone, 2014)

37. Constructivist Knowledge is:
• Socially constructed
• Arrived at through dialogic encounters
(Bakhtin,)
• “Dialogic as an epistemological framework
supports an account of education as the
discursive construction of shared knowledge”
– Wegerif, R.

38. • “Is it not pleasant to
learn with a constant
perseverance and
application?”
• 'Is it not delightful to
have friends coming
from distant quarters?’
Confucius Analects translated by Legge:

39. • Increase in learning
outcomes, social skills,
positive attitudes to
learning BUT
• “the need for cooperative
teams to mature implies
that cooperative learning
does not yield an
immediate improvement
…need for patience and
persistence… students
experienced in
cooperative learning”
Hsiung, C.-M. (2012). The Effectiveness of Cooperative Learning. Journal of Engineering
Education, 101(1), 119-137.
Social Constructivist Learning

40. The Power of Synchronous
Learning in Groups
• Immediacy
• Pacing
• Social Modeling
• Comfort level for student
and teachers, but DON’T fall
into classroom lectures.

41. Immersion ??

42. https://voicethread.com/?#u316369
https://voicethread.com/?#u316369.b394099.i4835363

43. Group Management
• Need good tools
to allow group to
work effectively
and efficiently to
build trust and
work effectively
at a distance

44. http://www.collaborativelearning.org/science
gy.html
OERs at work!

45. Social Constructivist Social
Form
• Group based
• Limited in size
– Dunbar’s Max ~150 for a tribe
– Max. 50 persons/section in post secondary
• Mutual awareness of each other
• Teacher domination and dependency?

46. Social Constructivism and
Moocs – Swinnerton et al. 2017
Swinnerton, B., Hotchkiss, S., & Morris, N. (2017).
Comments in MOOCs: who is doing the talking and does it help?
Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 33(1), 51-64.

47. Social Constructivism and
Moocs – Swinnerton et al. 2017
Swinnerton, B., Hotchkiss, S., & Morris, N. (2017).
Comments in MOOCs: who is doing the talking and does it help?
Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 33(1), 51-64.
• Those who comment tend to complete
• Some learners complete without social
interaction
• Instructional design (reuqest for comment
etc) increase participation
• Commentors more likely older, more
educated and have more time

48. 2nd Generation
Social Constructivist Pedagogy
Summary
• Not scalable, Expensive in terms of time
and money
• New group tools enhance efficiency
• Helps teachers and learners transition to
online learning

49. 3rd Generation Connective
Pedagogies
• Heutagogy – Hase, S., & Kenyon, C. (2000). From
Andragogy to Heutagogy.
• Chaos Theory
• Rhizomatic Learning “The community is the
Curriculum” Dave Cormier
• Activity Theory & Actor Network Theory (ANT)
– “systemic interactions of people and the objects that
they use in their interactions.”

50. Connectivist Knowledge
• Is created by linking to appropriate people and
objects
• May be created and stored in non human
devices
• Is as much about capacity as current
competence
• Assumes the ubiquitous Internet
• Is emergent
George Siemens

51. Connectivist Learning
Persistence
Accessibility
Network
Effects
“Connectivying” your course
http://terrya.edublogs.org/2012/12/18/connectivy-your-course/

52. NOT Learning in a Bubble

53. Disruptions of Connectivism
• Demands net literacy and
net presence of students
and teachers
• Openness is scary
• New roles for teachers
and students
• Artifact ownership,
persistence and privacy
• Too manic for some

54. “experience is the outcome of
some sort of interaction of the
individual with the
environment.
Moreover, this interaction
cannot be separated from the
environment (or surroundings)
in which it occurs”.
– Dewey, J. (1938). Experience
and Education

55. The Social Aggregation makes a
Difference to Interaction
• Available from
AUPress – CC

56. The Social Aggregations of
Generation 3 Connective
Pedagogies
• Individuals
• Groups
• Networks
• Sets
3rd Gen. Connectivist
2nd Gen. Social
Constructivist
1st
Gen
C/B

57. Social Forms of Connectivism
Networks and Sets

58. Social Networks
• Facebook, LinkedIn,
• Academia,
• Twitter
• Blogs
• Listservs
• Private
– NING
– ELGG
– Drupal,
– Word Press

59. Set Model of social aggregation
• Aggregation of all people/things sharing
a particular interest, commonality.
• Examples: Set of all graduates of X, all
psychology resources, all physics teachers
• Often set members curat resources with
social involvement limited to votes,
comments, links
• Sets MAY develop into networks or
groups.

60. Most Common Set Tool
Tag Cloud or Twitter Hash Tag

61. Classic Set: Those editing (or
reading) a Wikipedia article

62. Digital Citizenship
http://citizen-ex.com/

64. Slide from Catherine Cronin
Slide from Catherine Cronin

65. Moocs-
Set of all people with content
Interest

66. Set Tools: Pintere.st, Learni.st Google
Collections

67. Engrami
Moving from a Set,
to a Net,
to a Group

68. 68
Connectivist freedoms
• Location
where?
• Subject
what?
• Time
when?
• Approach
how (pedagogy, process)?
• Pace
how fast?
• Sociability
with whom (if anyone)?
• Technology
using what (medium/tools)?
• Delegability
choosing to choose
setnet
group
notional levels of choice once a typical ‘course’ is in progress

69. Connectivist Learning Summary
• Born on the Net
• Focuses on student responsibility for their
own learning and building of their own
learning nets and sets
• Is emergent and can be disruptive
• For advanced learners only??

71. Future of Institutional Educational
Systems
1. who has control,
2. who has ownership of the data
and the technology
3. how well are the technologies
integrated with other toolsets
and the experiences of
learners,
4. what is the nature of the
learning structure in terms of
centralization and
decentralization
Siemens; Gašević &Dawson (2015)
Future Technology Infrastructures for Learning

72. Conclusions
• Interaction is complicated
• Interaction critical for learning
• There is no one model, context, depth,
intensity or aggregation that supports
interaction for everyone
• The Net not only sustains an abundance
of information/content but also a wealth of
interaction opportunities

73. slides available on Slideshare
http://bit.ly/20nqXdt
Terry Anderson terrya@athabascau.ca
virtualcanuck.ca
Skype: @terguy
Your comments and questions
most welcomed!