4 Interactive Activities for Online Tutorials

 

Why Does it Matter?

Interactive activities in online tutorials help create a sense of community and engagement, similar to face-to-face learning environments. These activities support students to develop critical thinking skills, participate in meaningful discussions, and learn to collaborate effectively. By applying the principles of social, cognitive, and teaching presence, we can establish a dynamic and inclusive online learning experience for all students.

What does it look like in practice?

In this section:

• Community of Inquiry Dimensions
• Dialogue & Communication
• Multiple Means of Engagement
• Collaboration

Community of Inquiry Dimensions

As discussed in the chapter, Building Online Communities with Your Students, we aim to facilitate online courses in which students can experience a sense of community, similar to face-to-face contexts. There are several inter-related dimensions that contribute to that sense of community; as an educator and leader, you will need to consider how you establish and share your social, cognitive and teaching presence (Anderson et al., 2001).

• Social presence is the effort the educator puts into creating a ‘degree of comfort and safety’ for students, so they can take the risk to participate in discussions. Your communication should foster care, connection and community.
• Cognitive presence is what you do as a teacher to help students develop critical thinking skills related to the study of the content of your course.
• Teaching presence helps to build a ‘community of inquiry’ in online classrooms. It involves ‘devising and implementing activities to encourage discourse between and among students, between the teacher and the student, and between individual students, groups of students, and content resources’ (Anderson et al. 2008, p345).

Some points to remember:

• You are in control – students will look to you for leadership – have clear instructions on what you want students to do in a session
• Use a calm and conversational tone
• Be concise with your words but don’t use acronyms unless your students are familiar with them
• Check you’re not speaking too fast, take breathing pauses
• If you’re running out of time don’t rush because this could undo your good work

These points are a good foundation for you to remember when engaging with your students in any space, but especially online. We established this foundation in the previous chapter on Building Online Communities with Your Students. In the following sections, we are going to expand on these points and offer some application ideas. Let’s start from 3 practical ideas that are easy and effective to assist you with engaging your students in an online tutorial:

• Dialogue & Communication
• Multiple means of Engagement
• Collaboration

Dialogue & Communication

One of the most important components in any educational process is dialogue. Dialogues include instructor-learner discussions, instructor’s guidance and feedback, learner-learner discussions and feedback and guidance from other learners.

For asynchronous discussions, you can use an interactive online discussion board (Forum, Padlet or Blog) or messaging software such as Moodle Dialogue or email. For synchronous discussions, you can use video conferencing software such as Zoom or text-based chat in your LMS.

Asynchronous discussion

With asynchronous tools, such as a course forum, you can participate actively by answering queries, providing feedback and posing a conflicting view to elicit students’ thinking or reflection. Discussion forums are among the most used asynchronous activities in online courses. Many educators see them as a way of “replacing” tutorial discussions then get annoyed when students don’t engage with the forum as effectively as in a face-to-face situation. However, there may be several reasons why students fail to engage in asynchronous discussion. Here are a few factors to consider:

• There are too many forums! If your course “only” has two forums a week and the other three courses students are taking “only” have two forums per week, it’s not hard to see how fast forum overload could occur. Only use a forum to stimulate discussion,  provide feedback or answer queries.
• Why do I have to participate in this, it’s boring? The question/topic you have put up for discussion might not be open, relevant or interesting enough to stimulate discussion. Make the question/topic authentic and relevant to what the students are currently studying. Open-ended questions are best because they can foster debate and critical thinking.
• What am I supposed to do? Make sure your students are clear on what you are asking of them. How long or short should their post be? Do they need to reply to a peer’s post? If so, why? What feedback should they provide? Are they allowed to argue their position if it differs from another person’s post? What is the netiquette for your course? What feedback will you provide to them?
• Why do I have to add references? Asking students to provide citations and use formal structures can turn discussion posts into mini essays. It’s certainly appropriate to ask students to support assertions and arguments with evidence, but temper that with the purpose of using the forum. The forum should be used to foster discussion, reflection and debate, not write an essay!
• Where are you? Be present. In a tutorial, if you wrote a question on a whiteboard and left the room and never came back – would you really expect people to engage? The same goes for a forum. If you want your students to engage, then you need to engage with them! A study by Shank (2001) recommends that instructors contribute at least 10% of discussion postings in online forums. Remember, you are the driver, not the passenger! If you are time poor, use a mini-weave to summarize information and viewpoints. You’ll find information on the mini-weave activity in the Giving Good Feedback Online chapter.
• I have nothing to say because the teacher has already said it all. Be present but don’t dominate the forum. You don’t need to respond to every single post especially if you have a large class of students. You also don’t need to give students the ‘answer’ – guide them to where they can work things out for themselves. Make sure you keep the discussion focused by providing a topic or viewpoint and get your students to research and discuss their agreement/disagreement with your viewpoint.  You can re-frame the questions to redirect the discussion if things get too heated!

Synchronous interaction

Most of us have been using videoconferencing software, such as Zoom, over the last several years because of necessity and are now familiar with these tools. Many videoconferencing platforms provide similar features. They can usually support video conferencing meetings, audio conferencing, webinars, meeting recordings, and live chat. They also offer a range of features such as polls, breakout rooms, whiteboard, text chat, emoticons, along with the ability to share presentations and videos that provide a wealth of engagement options with students.  There are several ways you can effectively open a dialogue between yourself and students using videoconferencing tools:

• Icebreakers: Icebreakers are a great way to get students engaged right from the beginning of the online tutorial. You can have a bit of fun with the icebreaker while also putting students at ease and promoting student-to-student engagement.
• Polls: You can use a poll to start a discussion by asking a question or making a statement and then asking the class to discuss. You can also use a poll to ask your icebreaker question. It is easier to add your poll prior to your tutorial session in the videoconferencing tool, so it is ready for use in class.
• Question prompts: You can use question prompts as a scaffolded way to help learners focus their attention and for you to monitor their learning as they elaborate on the questions asked, the issues discussed or the problems to be solved (Ge & Land, 2003). Question prompts are designed to promote connections among ideas within a lesson and to access prior knowledge and experiences to promote connections between the lesson and that knowledge (Inquiry based learning). Different types of prompts can be used for different purposes. For example:
  • Questions with yes/no or single word answers may be useful for quick checks of students’ understanding; however, they don’t really promote open conversation.
  • Questions that check students’ understanding may also require them to explain, recap or summarise.
  • Open-ended questions. These “what”, “when”, “where”, “why” and “how” questions can bring a range of responses which might not necessarily have been anticipated by yourself and really engage students in sharing their views. A question like “how does the idea that ____ apply to _____?” is much more likely to stimulate discussion than “what is the answer to question 16?”.
  • Questions can be conceptual as well as factual. In some cases, you may want to hear students’ ideas and hypotheses; in other cases, you’ll want them to stick to facts and evidence-based statements.
  • Probing questions can be very useful to challenge students’ thinking and encourage them to move beyond their comfort zone. Examples include: “why are we doing it this way?”, “what would happen if…?”, “what does this mean?”, “what are some alternatives to this?”, “what are we going to do next?”, and “what are some of the problems with this?”, “what kind of evidence do you need to support that argument?”.
  • Broad questions encourage students to participate. For example, “what do you think about this?”, “how do you think we might go about this?”.
  • Use interpretive questions (connective, cause and effect or comparative questions) and evaluative or critical questions (requiring a judgement to be made).
  • Ask questions that identify what students know and how much preparation they have done so that they know you take an interest in their learning.

(This list has been adapted from Davis, 1993 and McKeachie, 1999)

Multiple means of engagement

Dialogue and discussion are not the only means of engaging with students. Multiple means of engagement is one of the three Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles. It refers to the need to motivate learners in diverse ways and provide them with multiple mediums of demonstrating their knowledge. For example, when setting a task, you can give students a choice to either write a response, prepare narrated slides, draw an image, create a poster, create a website, submit an audio/video recording or construct/create their idea. Being flexible with how students engage with the course material gives them the opportunity to learn in their own preferred ways and present their task/research/assessment in a format that has meaning to them. Being flexible with how students show their understanding creates learners who know how to access and present information in multiple mediums (Byrnes et al., 1995). In an online space, there are several ways you can provide opportunities for multiple means of engagement. These include the following:

• Pre-tutorial activities: You could ask your students to research a particular topic before attending the tutorial then get them to showcase their findings during the tutorial. They could provide research from a paper, a book, a newspaper article, video clip, website or other relevant source. Giving them options for how they present their research will help keep their interest and they will be more likely to complete the activity. You can then use their findings as a springboard to discuss the topic in more detail during the tutorial.
• Engagement using built-in interactive tools. As we mentioned previously, videoconferencing software often provides multiple ways for you to engage your students. When teaching your online class, you can use a Poll or get students to use emojis, their voice, or type in the chat to answer questions or show whether they agree or disagree to questions asked or points raised. Most tools also have a whiteboard function that you and your students can use to collaborate or brainstorm ideas. Using the built-in tools is easy and quick to use on the fly. They are a great option for instant interaction and engagement.
• Lived experience: “Anecdotes can produce an emotional and simple response that decreases stress and anxiety in a classroom” (Lee, 2009). We often forget that we are a fountain of knowledge and experiences. Sharing those experiences, stories, examples or anecdotes can assist you to illustrate course concepts and add a ‘human’ element to your teaching. An anecdote doesn’t have to be a story or lived experience; it can be an image, a drawing, a series of images or a video. Humour can also play a part when using anecdotes. Very often a humorous story or image can help cement a concept in student’s minds more easily (Lee, 2009). Don’t forget your students in this scenario! Students may have their own lived experience that they can share with the class and help their peers understand a concept or topic more easily. By sharing their experiences, they will be fostering trust and building their online community.
• Problem solving: Many research studies have shown that solving authentic problems helps learners to see the meaningfulness and relevance of what they learn (Brandsford, Brown, & Cocking, 2000). Unlike traditional direct instruction, learning by problem solving begins with the presentation of an authentic problem around which the learning will be centred. These problems can serve as springboards for inquiry, information-gathering and reflection on theoretical concepts and relationships, industrial standards, norms and practices and culture. Giving students a problem to solve can also be a good bonding experience and provide an opportunity for online students to come together and get to know each other.

Collaboration

In this instance we can broadly define collaboration as “a situation in which two or more people learn or attempt to learn something together,” and more specifically as joint problem solving (Dillenbourg, 1999, p. 1). The term “collaborative learning” refers to a teaching method in which students at various performance levels work together in small groups toward a common goal. The students are responsible for each other’s learning as well as their own; therefore, the success of one student helps other students become successful (Morze et al., 2016). But learning success is not all for the students.  Morze et al., 2016 suggests that once student motivation becomes visible to teachers, they are encouraged to introduce increasingly engaging interactive ways of teaching. The challenge then becomes choosing the most appropriate interactive design for the tutorial. Here are some ways you can use collaboration in an online tutorial.

• Group/team work: We all know that working in groups is a necessary experience for students before entering the work force. Unfortunately, most students hate group work in class; however, groupwork online, if done properly, can be a different experience. Learning in groups should be an active process, and students should construct and build upon their own knowledge. Tasks that you assign them should require planning, decision making and providing/interpreting feedback (Lai, 2011). When setting tasks, make sure your students have enough time to think and share (analyse and reflect) and they should feel that the task has meaning for them (authentic learning related to the content). Videoconferencing software is an ideal tool to use for group work and provides a ‘safe space’ for those students who don’t normally participate in face-to-face contexts. You can use break-out rooms to assign students into groups, and once they are within their group they have a modicum of privacy to work on the task you have given them. We would recommend using the ‘assign automatically’ function so there is a random mix of students in each of the groups.
• Assign roles: Another thing you might like to implement is getting students to assign roles within their groups. They should assign tasks to several group members – one person to take notes (scribe), one person to facilitate the group discussion (group leader), one person who observes the group dynamics and guides the group toward a consensus (strategist/analyst), and one person to present the groups ideas/answers to the class (presenter). Having roles can alleviate a lot of stress within the group when members have a clear idea of what is expected of them. These roles should be switched each time students are in groups so everyone gets a turn at each of the roles.
• Cloud-based documents are any documents (e.g. Microsoft Word/PowerPoint/Excel files) that are uploaded and stored in the cloud (e.g. Microsoft OneDrive). Most institutions will have a preferred cloud-based system, for example Microsoft Office or Google Classroom, which all staff and students will have access to through the university licensing system. When assigning a group of students a task, you can get them to use a cloud-based document for collaboration. It is easy to set up a template for them with the task on the document and share the link to the document with them before the tutorial. During the online tutorial they can then download the document and work on it in their groups. See Using Cloud-based Documents in Your Teaching for detailed guidance on this topic.
• Whiteboard: As previously mentioned, videoconferencing software usually offers a whiteboard that you can use for collaboration in your tutorial.  Students can use the whiteboard in breakout groups as well to record their thoughts/findings. You can download a copy of the whiteboard (pdf) to keep a record or share with others. You can also share your whiteboard online with other users who are online at the same time. On the whiteboard you can add text, add images, draw, add sticky notes, highlight and change colours. To find out more information on what the Zoom whiteboard can do – visit the Zoom website.
• Problem solving: We have already touched upon problem solving as a way of engaging your students, but it can be a more rewarding experience for them when they are assigned to a group, rather than having to individually solve a problem or answer a question. You may need to help your students develop effective problem solving skills; this guide by the Center for Teaching at Vanderbilt University will provide you with ideas on how to support these skills in your students and encourage independence. Problem solving in groups should initially be ‘guided’ by yourself, but make sure you don’t interfere or hamper students’ learning by ‘hovering’ or telling them the answer. Use a scaffolded approach because this takes into account students’ prior knowledge and connects their experiences with the new knowledge. You will find that over time, your students’ need for your support or guidance will dwindle, as they become more comfortable with sharing their ideas and knowledge with each other (Wittwer & Renkl, 2008).

Knowledge Check – What did you learn?

To reinforce your understanding of using interactive activities for online tutorials, try answering the following questions:

 

What does it all mean for me?

Reflect on your current online teaching practices. Identify one new interactive activity from this chapter that you can implement in your next tutorial. Plan how you will introduce this activity to your students and consider any potential challenges you might face.

References

Anderson, T. (2008). Teaching in an online learning context. In Theory and Practice of Online Learning (2nd ed., pp. 343-365). AU Press.

Bransford, J. D., Brown, A. L., & Cocking, R. R. (2000). How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School. National Academy Press.

Byrnes, R., Lo, B., & Dimbleby, J. (1995). Flexible assignment submission in distance learning. In Tinsley, J.D., & van Weert, T.J. (Eds.), World Conference on Computers in Education VI. WCCE 1995. IFIP — The International Federation for Information Processing. Springer, Boston, MA.

CAST. (2018). Universal Design for Learning Guidelines version 2.2. Retrieved from http://udlguidelines.cast.org Accessed 24 January 2023.

Dillenbourg, P. (1999). What do you mean by ‘collaborative learning?’ In P. Dillenbourg (Ed.), Collaborative-learning: Cognitive and Computational Approaches (pp. 1–19). Elsevier.

Ge, X., & Land, S.M. (2003). Scaffolding students’ problem-solving processes in an ill-structured task using question prompts and peer interactions. Educational Technology Research and Development, 51(1), 21-38.

Gillies, R., & Khan, A. (2009). Promoting reasoned argumentation, problem‐solving and learning during small‐group work. Cambridge Journal of Education, 39(1), 7-27.

Gross Davis, B. (1993). Tools for Teaching. Jossey-Bass.

Lai, E.R. (2011). Collaboration: A literature review. Pearson Publisher, 11, p. 2016.

Lee, S.G. (2009). The use of anecdotes in teaching the introductory statistics for the prospective teachers. Honam Mathematical Journal, 31(4), 541-558.

McKeachie, W. (1999). Teaching Tips: Strategies, Research and Theory For College And University Teachers. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co.

Morze, N., Pavlova, H., Makhahchashvili, R., & Smyrnova-Trybulska, E. (2016). Teacher-student collaboration : challenges and opportunities. In E. Smyrnova-Trybulska (Ed.), E-learning methodology – implementation and evaluation : monograph (pp. 51-72). Katowice : University of Silesia in Katowice, Faculty of Ethnology and Sciences of Education in Cieszyn.

Wittwer, J., & Renkl, A. (2008). Why instructional explanations often do not work: A framework for understanding the effectiveness of instruction explanations. Educational Psychologist, 43(1), 49–64.