Not All Interactivity Is Created Equal

Making Interactivity Meaningful

As software tools make it increasingly easier for faculty to build multimedia content with interactive elements, the question arises – how do we make interactivity meaningful for learning? Holding students’ attention is a worthwhile goal for interactivity, but clicking for the sake of clicking may backfire. CATLR looks to research on learning and cognition to answer the question of what makes interactivity in multimedia content meaningful.

 

Activating Prior Knowledge

Researchers agree that new knowledge develops as we integrate new ideas with what we already know (National Research Council, 2000). Successful learning results from prior knowledge that is both accurate and activated, or brought into consciousness from long-term memory (Gick and Holyoak, 1980). To achieve this in an interactive module, you might:

  • Begin by asking a question to get students to think about the topic of the module.
  • Provide a review of previous material in the form of an activity, rather than simply telling students what they learned previously.
  • Begin your module with a thought prompt about common knowledge or experience that might relate to the module topic.

 

Practice and Feedback

Authentic practice and feedback are essential to mastering knowledge and skills (Ericsson, Krampe and Tesch-Romer, 1993). The key to providing authentic practice opportunities is to map interactive elements with your learning objectives. In other words, if you want students to apply concepts to problems, don’t simply ask reading comprehension questions. Here are some strategies to consider:

  • Present a brief scenario and ask a multiple-choice question about how to respond to it. You can provide feedback that covers all potential responses or offers the pros and cons of individual solutions.
  • Use a drag-and-drop activity that asks students to organize concepts into a structure or show relationships among ideas.
  • Design an activity that asks students to find errors in a problem or complete a missing step.
  • Ask students to make a prediction before presenting a set of facts or a demonstration.

 

References

Ericsson, K. A., Krampe, R. T. & Tescher-Romer, C. (1993). The role of deliberate practice in the acquisition of expert performance. Psychological Review, 100(3), 363-406.

Gick. M. L. & Holyoak, K. J. (1980). Analogical problem solving. Cognitive Psychology, 12, 306-355.

National Research Council (2000). How people learn: Brain, mind, experience, and school. Washington, D. C.: National Academy Press.