Learner-Learner Interaction

[dejonghed07]

Learner Interaction promotes engagement, cognitive presence and retention in online courses. Research into the effectiveness of interaction with classmates is described on pages 13-14 of Learning Effectiveness Online: What the Research Tells Us. Out of the three types of interaction (learner-content, learner-learner, and learner-instructor), we find that learner-learner interaction usually requires the most focus when redesigning on-ground courses for the online learning environment. Interaction between students that occurs naturally in on-ground courses takes planning and design in the online environment. 

Ideas for Learner-Learner Interaction

• Brainstorm ideas together rather than individually
• Create concept maps together as they learn new topics throughout the course 

coggle.it
bubbl.us
vue.tufts.edu
canva.com mind maps
lucidchart.com
brainpop.com

• Review each other's work and provide ideas
• Locate examples of course topics (articles, websites, images, videos) as a team or with a group and share them with the class
• Create study guides, flash cards, games, or poll questions then share with each other and the class

PollEverywhere 

Socrative

Kahoot

Quizizz

• Teach each other course topics through image, audio, and/or video 
  Padlet
  Flipgrid
• Write a collaborative paper or create a poster, video or presentation as a group or with a partner
  Google Drive Collaborations: Google Docs, Sheets and Slides
  Office 365 Collaborations: Word, Excel and PowerPoint
• Create collaborative, visual assignments that achieve the same learning objectives as quizzes but are created with a peer or in a group

Canvas Collaboration Tools & Features that we suggest to instructors as they design for learner-learner interaction

• Chat (Links to an external site.)
• Collaborations (Links to an external site.)
• Conferences (Links to an external site.)
• Groups (Student Teams) (Links to an external site.)
• Peer Review Assignment
• Peer Review Discussion

Third-Party Collaborative applications that will embed within Canvas 

• Third-party apps that will embed on a Canvas page include Padlet and Coggle. 
• Eduappcenter.com (Links to an external site.) includes free apps, such as an app to embed a Twitter Feed.
• Embed widgets from social media sites. laurakgibbs provides examples and instructions: How to Use Twitter Widgets (not the Twitter App) in Canvas. Embedding the Twitter widget allows students to share images and videos. 
• Microsoft OneNote Class Notebook

Please suggest any other ideas and tools that promote Learner-Learner Interaction! 

[laurakgibbs]

Thank you for this nice list,  @dejonghed07 ! I was glad to see Padlet mentioned here. I think that is a wonderful alternatives to the discussion board with a much more "we're here together" visual feel than the discussion board allows!

Re: Twitter, the last time I looked at the EduAppCenter Twitter tool, it did not support images or video media, but you can embed real Twitter widgets to include the media (which is also something I like about Padlet; Canvas discussion boards do not make it easy right now for students to share media). I have links here on how to do real Twitter widgets in Canvas:

Twitter4Canvas CanvasLIVE Slides – Teaching with Canvas 

Happy Co-Learning 🙂

And of course I have a growth mindset cat for that:

Growth Mindset Resources: My peers can be my teachers. 

[dejonghed07]

Thanks, laurakgibbs‌! I didn't even think of using social media widgets in Canvas, even though I have embedded them within websites. They are more visual! Allowing students to share media is a huge benefit of using the widget instead of the app.

[laurakgibbs]

AGREED! I've always just built my classes outside the LMS because, before Canvas, all our LMSes were closed... now that we have switched to Canvas, I am really enjoying the process of learning which services integrate nicely with Canvas. Learning how to put javascript-widgets (like Twitter, Flickr, Pinterest) into the Files area and then iframe into the Pages was a big breakthrough for me, and that was thanks to help from people here at the Community. 🙂