Student-Centered Social Interaction Online

Credit: Sitthiphong/iStock.com
Credit: Sitthiphong/iStock.com
In my years as an instructional designer at Indiana University, I’ve heard the same complaint again and again across wholly disparate courses and programs: “I would like more and better student interaction in my online courses.” These teachers have used traditional online discussion boards and watched in dismay as their students generated generic, barebones posts and responses designed to meet the minimum requirements for participation rather than to actually discuss a given topic. It’s not surprising, given that discussion boards themselves resemble internet forums from the 1990s, before the advent of smartphones or YouTube. It’s safe to assume that many modern students have never engaged in a traditional, text-based internet forum before taking their first online course. Instructors are asking students to communicate in a medium they have never learned using what must seem strange and outdated tools. Faced with this proverbial hammer and chisel, students engage only as much as is required of them and no more. Though educational institutions have embraced the online space and bought in to the plethora of digital teaching tools and strategies on offer, the primary way students actually communicate online—social media—seems to have been overlooked as a valid part of higher education pedagogy.

To continue reading, you must be a Teaching Professor Subscriber. Please log in or sign up for full access.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Related Articles

I have two loves: teaching and learning. Although I love them for different reasons, I’ve been passionate about...
In a 2023 article published in The Hill, Sarah Eaton, an associate professor of education at the University...
Educators play a pivotal role in shaping students’ academic journeys, and their impact in the classroom extends far...
There are a myriad of answers to this seemingly simple question. Grading probably comes to mind for many...
Fears of disingenuous work, fraudulent and stolen information, and theft of intellectual property have been swirling around education...
Students often struggle academically due to an inability to organize their lives around achievable goals. Students beyond early...

Are you signed up for free weekly Teaching Professor updates?

You'll get notified of the newest articles.

The Teaching Professor Conference 2024

June 7-9, 2024 • New Orleans

Connect with Fellow Educators at The Teaching Professor Conference!