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Learner-centered interactions determine the look and feel of online courses, influencing the way learners experience them. In this chapter we investigate considerations related to three types of interactions: learner–content, learner–instructor, and learner–learner. Learners interact with content through the course structure and layout. They also interact with peers who may be cast in the role of community members, there to provide social support, or they may be more prominently cast as information providers and/or collaborators. The learner is at the center of both content and peer interactions. Instructor interactions set expectations for learners and facilitate learner interactions with content and peers. Instructors are instrumental forces in bringing about connections between learners, enabling the social presence necessary for collaboration. Instructor interaction may also be relational, enabling individualized connections between learners and the instructor. Redesign decisions center on creating a course structure that fits the learner and content and results in a satisfying course experience. We use the power of metaphor to bring into focus the most relevant considerations. In the end, we illustrate the redesign of a single course through the lens of three separate metaphors to demonstrate how metaphor shapes the process, bringing together design and interaction decisions to create unique and elegant course designs.

E-learning programs exist in a wide variety of formats. Without a framework for distinguishing between different e-learning programs, it is a challenge for researchers to compare their effectiveness or identify characteristics of e-learning that contribute to learning effectiveness. Based on general theories of learning, we develop a typology that compares e-learning programs in terms of the nature of the learning interactions they provide for learners in three dimensions: degree of interaction, learner control of interactions, and informational value of interactions. The typology dimensions apply to learner–instructor, learner–learner, and learner–instructional material interactions. We also discuss important theoretical implications of the typology. First, we show the utility of the typology for comparing the effectiveness of different e-learning programs. Second, we apply the typology dimensions to develop a theoretical framework for e-learning research that provides a foundation for examining factors that influence learning effectiveness in an e-learning program. The framework identifies e-learning program characteristics, learner characteristics, and contextual factors that impact learning effectiveness in different e-learning environments. It also shows how the typology dimensions align with learning goals to influence learning effectiveness.

Media considerations are pedagogical rather than technological in nature. In online courses, we use technology to enable learner interaction. In this chapter, we focus on a process through which we identify media that will help bring our course to life. Technology tools come and go, quickly. While some specific tools are suggested, it is the process by which to identify and select media that is enduring. We begin with a discussion of media-enabled course activities that are used to guide the selection process. The 10 activities are organized by type of interaction they represent and the media characteristics they require. Media have affordances or functions that can be matched with identified course activities to meet learner interaction needs. These needs help to narrow the scope of our selection decisions. After exploring a variety of functions and tools, we exemplify the media selection process. We extend the work started in previous chapters by identifying media needs in light of design and interaction decisions under the playground and symphony metaphors. In so doing, we demonstrate how the phases of the redesign process inform our technology choices.

This chapter examines student responses to the usefulness of online course materials available through WebCT in an introductory accounting unit. Of particular importance was whether students felt that WebCT provided the key interactive opportunities for effective teaching and learning as outlined by Moore (1993). Results showed that students overwhelmingly felt that WebCT was useful and provided efficient interactions between the content and the learner. WebCT also has the potential for effective interactions between the instructor and the learner. Among learners, however, these are yet to be fully realized. Given the dearth of research in this area, the findings have implications for faculty members, students, and university administrators.

Course redesign is a creative process that involves the four sets of considerations set out by the DIME model. In this chapter, we highlight key considerations related to design, interaction, media, and evaluation and describe the interconnections of the decisions within the model that make the process iterative. In addition, we suggest supplementary matters for your consideration. Specifically, we explore matters related to career and course management. Career considerations are strategic level concerns related to course redesign that have potentially long-term implications. Course management considerations are tactical level suggestions aimed at making your course implementation a success. Issues and suggestions are grounded in experience.

Evaluation is the process by which we estimate how things should go, explore how things are going, and determine how things went in terms of course redesign. In this chapter, we examine formative and summative methods for assessing student learning and establishing teacher effectiveness and course quality. Evaluation is a subjective, value-laden process. To introduce the rigor needed to make it meaningful, evaluation should be multifaceted, planned in advance, made transparent to learners, and employ valid and reliable methods. Moving courses online presents both opportunities and challenges for evaluation. We explore ways to implement assessment to make full use of the advantages of technology while mitigating the problems associated with online delivery.

Distance learning has proliferated significantly in the last 20 years. This chapter considers some of the issues and implications when teaching and learning moves from an in-person to a distance mode. It begins with a brief history of distance learning, considering both the technologies used and the dominant pedagogical approaches employed. This is followed by a survey of the impact of Michael Moore's theory of transactional distance, which considered the consequences of separating the learner from peers and instructor. Contemporary work on Moore's contribution includes transaction and participation, activity theory, and transactional presence. A second major aspect of distance learning has been the attempt to introduce social presence into learning environments. The history of social presence is explored, as are its levels and consequences for the learner. Contemporary aspects of social presence reviewed include communities of inquiry. While Web 2.0 has spectacularly resulted in connectivity, it remains unclear as to whether this automatically resulted in more strongly connected learners. Connectivist approaches are considered and distinctions made between technological connectivity and pedagogical engagement. It is argued that the full and exciting potential of Web 2.0 in distance learning requires a commitment to the distanced learner, balancing learner autonomy and teacher presence, promoting meaningful social engagement, and meeting the specific needs of the distance learner.

Online learning continues to grow year after year and majority of the growth is seen in public institutions of higher education. The purpose of this book chapter is to acquaint the readers to group-based learning in an online environment as an innovative practice for engaged learning. Diverse facets of group-based learning are discussed such as role of instructors, role of learners, challenges of group-based learning and finally role of social media in designing such group-based learning projects. A comprehensive prototype application of a group-based learning project walks the readers through applying group-based learning in their respective courses at the undergraduate and/or graduate level. Finally some instructor designed rubrics for assessing group-based learning are shared for effective assessment of a group-based learning project.

The aim of this chapter is to introduce a pedagogical framework, the dialogic shamrock, for collaborative learning through technology, which is not a replacement for other learning theories rather it is a synthesis of the literature which draws upon learner centric, constructivist, and sociocultural perspectives and is related to the concepts of online learning and collaborative technology including Web 2.0 in higher education. The examples of use focus on the learner as participator in curriculum design. The dialogic shamrock and examples of use presented test the framework and are intended to help educators across the educational sector to understand the key concepts to encourage learners to work collaboratively supported by technology within a socially blended learning framework in a social learning context.The framework is not intended to be prescriptive rather to act as a guide for educators who seek to use a blend of technology and class-based activities to engage learners in collaborative social learning contexts.