Three aspects of traditional online learning environments--the linear nature of discussions, the lack of visuals, and limited ownership of ideas and knowledge—challenge authentic engagement and deep learning. This session highlights research on student and faculty experiences using a new discussion platform and uncovers the possibilities of online learning.
Even as technology has revolutionized the way people communicate--with visuals now essential to human-understanding and self-expression--traditional online learning environments have failed to meaningfully adapt to these foundations of modern communication.
Three aspects of traditional online learning environments--the linear nature of discussions, the lack of visuals, and limited ownership of ideas and knowledge—challenge authentic engagement and deep learning.
The linear design and layout of traditional discussion boards fail to promote authentic discussions. Discussions are most often characterized by compulsory posting of discrete ideas, which seldom add new knowledge to the discussion or create meaningful connections amongst students or ideas.
The inability to decipher any individual post's place within the discussion further challenges the effectiveness of traditional discussion forums. Schwartzman and Morrisey (2010) suggested that discussions should be viewed "more as symphonies with each participant serving a distinctive instrumental role to encourage departure from the solo approach of each student making posts with minimal engagement of cohorts” (p. 59). In practice, however, discussions are characterized by “message posting more so than actual dialogue” (Denne & Wieland, 2007, p. 281).
Yet, even given a more natural and visually-connected approach, traditional discussions are limited by the nature of the online learning environment itself. Owing to the organizational, hierarchical structures of online learning environments, ideas posted to a discussion reside only in that discussion. The idea is isolated from all other elements of the learning process. Likewise, the discussion, each module, and each course is each housed in its own container with no easy ability to transition ideas without or throughout the learning environment more generally.
Given the continued growth of online education (Allen & Seaman, 2018) and the inherent limitations of traditional online learning environments in general and online discussion forums specifically, the researchers were interested in: a) learning how faculty perceived their institution's current learning management system, and b) creating solutions to the most obvious and important limitations of creating engaging, authentic, and meaningful online learning experiences.
This presentation is based on findings from two recent studies: a) faculty from institutions across the U.S. were surveyed about their satisfaction with their school's current learning management system; and b) faculty and students shared their experiences using a new discussion platform that creates visually-rich interactions to enhance the learning experience.
In the first study, while expressing their dissatisfaction with their schools' current LMS generally, faculty specifically cited traditional LMSs as failing to meaningfully help them: 5) generate new ideas and knowledge; 4) have meaningful discussions with students; 3) make connections between ideas, between modules, and throughout a course; 2) identify emerging themes and ideas in discussions; and 1) visualize how discussions are growing and taking shape.
In the second study, faculty and students shared their experiences using Pretzl--a cloud-based discussion platform that helps create authentic, visually-rich interactions to bring learning to life for students and instructors.
Pretzl was created specifically to overcome the shortcomings of traditional online learning environments and discussions--namely their linear nature, lack of visuals, and limited ownership of knowledge.
Learning in Pretzl begins when instructors shape their discussion. The Pretzl platform offers a growing library of discussion modes to choose from--including debates, video-based discussions, and microchats. Instructors and students can share more than just words in their posts, capturing, uploading, or embedding videos and images, and creating interactive polls. As the discussion grows, Pretzl's Burst Viewer creates a graphical representation of the conversation, each post adding a new layer and a potentially new starting point for the discussion. Users' ideas are automatically saved to their own multi-media portfolio, which allows users to store, share, and create images, videos, blogs, and podcasts. Each individual's growing portfolio of ideas then becomes part of the Pretzl community’s inspiration ecosystem--empowering users to search for new ideas and create and share new knowledge throughout platform.
Common themes identified in the research into user experiences with Pretzl focused on: a) the effects of visualization on the learning process, b) the fidelity of discussions, specifically as compared to discussions in traditional learning management systems and online discussion alternatives, and, c) overall engagement and satisfaction.
While the research studies forms the foundation of the proposal, the presentation itself will be about interacting with the platform to demonstrate its effectiveness to the audience.
Minutes 1-3: Problem/Solution
This segment will spotlight the research on the problem and the research on the solution
Minutes 3-5: High level overview
This segment gives a high level overview of how the system operates and demonstrates how its core functions address the challenges posed by the research
Minutes 5-10: Participation in the system
During this segment of the presentation, participants will be invited to engage in a real-time discussion in Pretzl, demonstrating the capabilities of the system, sharing more information about the studies (created and stored within the system), and soliciting feedback and ideas about the system.