Learner-Content Interaction: The Silent but Active Participant

Heather Kanuka
Ph. D. Candidate
University of Alberta

Until relatively recently, distance education was grounded in an ‘independent learning and content dissemination’ paradigm facilitated through the use of study guides, readers, and textbooks. The focus was clearly on effective and efficient content dissemination. Within the last decade, however, distance education has moved from a content dissemination paradigm to an ‘interactive, collaborative, and community of learners’ paradigm inspired, and made possible, through the use of networked communication technologies. The new paradigm has moved the focus from content development and dissemination to meaning making and constructing knowledge through social interaction and language. Evidence of this new trend can be found in much of the current literature in distance education. Yet, in spite of this shift, it seems undeniable that the learner’s time continues to be spent interacting with the content—irrespective of whether it is interacting with the content with other learners, the instructor, or independently—content is, and always will be, basic to all forms of education. On this basis the content dissemination paradigm is deserving of re-examination. Specifically, distance educators continue to need to pay careful attention to the design and development of course content, but it should be done in ways that facilitate its use for not only independent learner interaction, but also learner-learner and learner-instructor interaction. Thus, the design and development of the course content is a very important consideration in not only facilitating learner-content interaction, but also in directing and fostering the learner-learner and learner-instructor interactions.

Learner-content interaction

All forms of learning, distance or otherwise, have always been dependent on some form of content as the basic teaching material. Good pedagogical practice will include instructional strategies that support learner interaction with the content. Much of the instruction in distance education is concerned with making interaction with the content as effective as face-to-face instruction (Juler, 1990). According to Moore and Kearsley (1996) to achieve this, three kinds of interaction should be practiced by distance educators: learner-learner, learner-instructor, and learner-content. When considering how to facilitate these three kinds of interaction, educators tend think of each independently. However this independent view of interaction fails to acknowledge that when learners interact with other learners and their instructors they are interacting about the content; the content is a silent but active participant (Juler) that is always present in interactive learning processes. Although conceptually we can deal with each kind of interaction independently, in reality all three are interrelated.

It may well be, according to Juler (1990), that the literature which reveals that there is no significant difference between technology-mediated learning and face-to-face learning (such as Russell, 1997), could be attributed to the powerful impact of the content in the learning process rather than delivery methods. Irrespective of whether or not we can make this conclusion about delivery methods, one conclusion we can make for certain is that course content is basic to all forms of learning and that interactions learners have with the content are as important as the interactions with their instructors and co-learners. Moreover, interactions with co-learners and instructors are about the course content.

What is learner-content interaction?

Learner-content interaction is where there is an active intellectual participation between the learner and the subject matter.

What forms can content interaction take?

Content interaction in distance education can be provided in a variety of forms including study guides (course notes and workbooks), readers (reprints, manuals, and related articles), and textbooks.

Readers and Textbooks

From a teaching and learning perspective carefully selected textbooks and readings can be a powerful medium in distance education. As the primary means of content dissemination print can convey information, arguments, concepts and ideas in ways that are highly structured and logically progressive using concrete illustrations to ill-structured presentations that are deliberately misleading and vague using abstract ideas and presented from multiple perspectives. Even though communication technologies are rapidly being adopted into distance learning, textbooks and readers will likely continue to be the dominant teaching medium in distance education.

Readers and textbooks are one way print-based materials that have been, and continue to be, the most prevalent teaching technology in both face-to-face and distance education (Bates, 1995; Moore & Kearsley, 1996; Willis, 1993). There are a number of commonly cited reasons why textbooks and readers are the primary source of content in distance learning. These reasons include: ease of distribution with low delivery cost, ease of use, non-threatening to learners and instructors, and have been reviewed by publishers for quality and accuracy of content. Probably the most important advantage of readers and textbooks, however, is that they are self-sufficient and ubiquitous resulting in the most easily accessed information source. Specifically, readers and textbooks do not need additional equipment to make them accessible to the learners. This makes readers and textbooks dependable, portable, and convenient to use.

Although the advantages of using textbooks and readers continue to outweigh the disadvantages there are a few commonly cited disadvantages: the subject matter is—more often than not—presented from one point of view, it is often a passive and individual means of learning, there is an inability to provide adaptive and immediate feedback, an inability to identify misunderstandings, and it is reliant on a specific level of literacy.

Study Guides

Study guides in distance education are developed by the instructor to provide sequencing for the course content and/or advanced organizers and presentation of additional content not covered in the textbook or reader. Study guides also provide an opportunity for instructors to state their course objectives, opinions, and philosophical orientations.

When developed creatively, a study guide can serve as much more than just an advanced organizer and the provision for additional course content; it can provide an opportunity for instructors to overcome some of the disadvantages cited above for textbooks and readers. Specifically, study guides can provide an opportunity for the instructor to move the content from a passive textbook presentation to an interactive presentation between the learner and the instructor whereby the instructor can deliberately attempt to elicit responses, opinions, and critical dialogue from the learner through the material presented. Examples of ways to achieve these kinds of learner-content interactions will depend on the technology used for the study guide.

What technologies support content-based interaction?

The technologies most typically used to facilitate content interaction are either print based technologies or, more recently, web browsers. This presentation is concerned with writing for content-based interaction using web browsers. Irrespective of the technology used, learners benefit from content interaction in a variety of ways including increased learner interest, higher cognitive processing (Milheim, 1996) and the manipulation of abstract concepts, or what Piaget (1970) refers to as the ‘formal operational’ stage of intellectual development.

Organizing the learning materials for learner-content interaction

How learners will process and interact with the study guide will be influenced by how it is organized and written. Research has revealed that care needs to be taken with the organization of the content and reading if learners are to process the subject matter at a deep rather than surface level (Marland, et al., 1990). This can be achieved in a number of ways including the use effective writing for study guides. Effective web-based study guides use an active voice, shorter sentences, smaller words, reflective questions, and dynamic web pages.

Conclusion

Effective distance education includes an ability to make the content being taught stimulating and interesting, presented at the right level of understanding that is also engaging, the use of valid assessment methods, and the provision of the highest quality of feedback on the learners’ work. In the end, however, it is the level of the interaction that will determine the quality of a learner’s educational experience, whether it is face-to-face or distance education using the web. Good pedagogy will forever have a human component that includes interaction in the learning process. Effective use of the web as the delivery platform for study guides can result in improved information dissemination, active learning, collaboration, and communication in distance education courses. When integrated with other technologies, such as computer mediated communication and video and audio conferencing, web based study guides can be used to facilitate learner-learner interaction, learner-instructor interaction, and learning communities.

References

Bates, A. W. (1995). Technology, open learning and distance education. New York: Routledge Studies in Distance Education.

Bates, A. W. (1997). The future of educational technology. Learning Quarterly, 1(2), 7-14.

Juler, P. (1990). Promoting interaction; maintaining independence: Swallowing the mixture. Open Learning (June), 24-33.

Marland, P. et al. (1990). Distance learners’ interaction with texts while studying. Distance Education, 11(1).

McCormack, C. & Jones, D. (1998). Building a web-based education system. New York: Wiley Computer Publishing.

Milheim, W. (1996). Interactivity and computer-based instruction. Journal of Educational Technology Systems. 24(3), 225-233.

Moore, M. G. & Kearsley, G. (1996). Distance education a systems view. New York: Wadsworth Publishing Company.

Piaget, J. (1970). Science of education and the psychology of the child. London: Longmans.

Ramsden, P. (1992). Learning to teach in higher education. London: Routledge.

Russell, T. L. (1997). The "No Significant Difference" Phenomenon as reported in 248 Research Reports, Summaries, and Papers (4^TH Edition). [online]. Available: http://www2.ncsu.edu/oit/nsdsplit.htm

Willis, B. (1993). Distance education: A practical guide. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Educational Technology Publications.

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