Meaningful interaction in web-based learning: A social constructivist interpretation

Interaction is an essential ingredient in any learning process. However, every interaction does not lead to increased learning. When interaction has a direct influence on learners' intellectual growth, we can say the interaction is meaningful. The precise meaning of meaningful interaction is strongly related to the learning theories underlying the development of particular learning environments. The primary goal of this paper is to re-conceptualize online interaction in terms of meaningful learning based on the learning theory known as social constructivism. Analyzing interaction through this theoretical framework may yield design principles needed to improve the quality of Web-based learning environments. A secondary goal of this paper is to present the implications of meaningful online interaction for researchers and developers.     

Perception of boys’ mother-son social interactions: Disruptive boys’ behaviors and involvement in learning tasks

This study focused on the relationship between social perception and children’s involvement in learning tasks. The interaction between disruptive boys’ (n=32) perception of the competence attributed to them by their mother, the mother’s behavior (verbal and physical intrusion) and the child’s involvement in learning tasks was observed in a laboratory setting. Boys were asked to solve easy and difficult tasks on a personnal computer under the supervision of their mother. Observations of mother-child interactions showed that disruptive boys with a negative perception of the competence attributed to them by their mother, were less involved in the difficult task than boys who had a positive perception. Mothers of the boys with a negative perception showed more verbal intrusions in the easy task and more physical intrusions in the difficult task than the mothers of boys with a positive perception. Mothers’ verbal intrusion, physical intrusion and boys’ involvement in the task discriminated 75% of the boys with a negative social perception. These results seem to indicate that disruptive boys do not constitute an homogeneous group and that a significant variation in their involvement in a learning task is related to their perception of the competence attributed to them by their mother.     

The bibles of the research scientist

Considerable attention has been focused on the relationship between nonverbal communication behavior and student perceptions of the teacher. One important observation is that teachers frequently emit nonverbal messages that contradict their verbal ones, but the effects of this modal discrepancy are not well understood. In the present study, vocal cues are isolated as the nonverbal behavior for study. The interaction of vocal cues and verbal messages is examined with respect to its impact on teacher credibility. The results indicate that the students’ perceptions of sociability are influenced by perceived discrepancy between words and attitudes. Perception of competence, on the other hand, appears to be dependent on positive vocal cues.     

Nonverbal learning disability,school behavior,and dyslexia

The aims of the study were to investigate whether children showing a low nonverbal/high verbal (LNV) WISC-R profile are more likely to exhibit behaviors conducive to school failure than children with a low verbal/high nonverbal (LV) profile, and to examine the relationships among these behaviors, the LNV/LV profiles, and reading ability. The 65 subjects included 27 LNV and 38 LV children, aged 5 to 11 years. Results confirmed earlier findings (Badian 1986) that LNV children are perceived by their teachers as significantly poorer than LV children in many behaviors associated with school success. There was a dichotomy, however, between LNV good and poor readers. All LNV subjects displayed problems in organizational skills, but those who were dyslexic were poorer in social behavior (e.g., acceptance of criticism and peer relationships) than either LNV good readers or LV good or poor readers. It was concluded that children with a low nonverbal/high verbal profile and a probable right hemisphere dysfunction, who appear to be dyslexic in the early school years, are at high risk for both social behavior problems and school failure, and that these children are a more high-risk group than poor readers with a low verbal/high nonverbal profile.     

多媒体辅助英语阅读教学的语言输入优势

培养学生交际能力是大学英语专业阅读教学的目标，为了实现此目标，学生需要大量语言和非语言材料的输入，而传统阅读教学中存在着语言、特别是非语言输入量不足的问题。结合多媒体辅助阅读教学的经验，分析了这种教学在语言输入方面优于传统教学的一些特点，从中得出结论：多媒体辅助阅读教学、能提高语言和非语言材料输入的质和量、更好地帮助学生英语交际能力的发展。     

Becoming a youth activist in the internet age: a case study on social media activism and identity development

This paper draws on a case study of one youth activist, and explores connections between social media activism, identity development, and critical education. Justin Rodriguez, a 17-year-old high school student in Newark, New Jersey, leveraged social media and texting as organizing tools and garnered support for a school walkout to protest education budget cuts. Drawing on the Listening Guide interview method and Justin’s narrative of his experiences, the study explores the question: Does social media activism have implications for how we understand the development of youth activist identities? The findings suggest Justin’s development as a youth activist was mediated, not produced, by social media activism; and Justin developed as a youth activist through various forms of interaction that included social media and face-to-face relationships. The paper also explores the supports provided by adult mentors that were important in Justin’s development as an activist, including education for critical consciousness and opportunities for Justin to participate in civic venues.     

Using Facebook groups to support social presence in online learning

Building interpersonal connections in asynchronous online learning is important, but it is harder to achieve compared to face-to-face learning experiences due to its mostly text-based nature. Facebook is a popular social media platform and has been used as an outside-class communication space in formal learning contexts to supplement cognitive and affective aspects of learning. In this study, we used Facebook groups as supplemental social spaces in two asynchronous online master’s-level courses to understand if it impacted students’ perceptions of social presence (i.e., copresence, immediacy, and intimacy), learning interaction with faculty and peers, as well as sociability of the online learning environment. The results indicated that students felt more positively about social presence and learning interactions with other classmates and their instructor and perceived the course as having more sociability after they joined the class Facebook group. Findings have implications for supporting social impression formation in online learning.     

An observational study of social exclusion under varied conditions: gender and developmental differences

To investigate social exclusion, 146 dyads of close friends (N = 292, ages 10, 12, and 14) were observed as they played a board game with a same-gender confederate actor, trained to be a difficult play partner. Verbalizations and gestures were coded for verbal and nonverbal social exclusion, verbal aggression, and verbal assertion. The results indicated few developmental differences. For verbal responses in the presence of the actor, boys were more socially exclusive and verbally aggressive than were girls. Girls engaged in more nonverbal social exclusion in the presence of the actor than did boys. Girls' socially exclusive behaviors were unrelated to other negative behaviors and more strongly related between friends in the actor's absence.     

Online social support as a buffer against online and offline peer and sexual victimization among U.S. LGBT and non-LGBT youth

In today's technology-infused world, we need to better understand relationships youth form with friends online, how they compare to relationships formed in-person, and whether these online relationships confer protective benefits. This is particularly important from the perspective of peer victimization, given that social support in-person appears to reduce the odds of victimization in-person. To address this literature gap, data from a sample of 5,542 U.S. adolescents, collected online between August 2010 and January 2011, were analyzed. The main variables of interest were: online and in-person peer victimization (including generalized and bullying forms) and online and in-person sexual victimization (including generalized and sexual harassment forms). Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth were more likely than non-LGBT youth to have online friends and to appraise these friends as better than their in-person friends at providing emotional support. Peer victimization and unwanted sexual experiences were more commonly reported by LGBT than non-LGBT youth. Perceived quality of social support, either online or in-person, did little to attenuate the relative odds of victimization for LGBT youth. For all youth, in-person social support was associated with reduced odds of bully victimization (online and in-person) and sexual harassment (in-person), but was unrelated to the other outcomes of interest. Online social support did not reduce the odds of any type of victimization assessed. Together, these findings suggest that online friends can be an important source of social support, particularly for LGBT youth. Nonetheless, in-person social support appears to be more protective against victimization, suggesting that one is not a replacement for the other.     

Verbal discussions about social problem-solving between friends and non-friends

In the field of developmental social psychology there is a consensus concerning the social nature of intelligence. In spite of the important empirical investigations in this field over the last fifteen years, the influence of the quality of a relationship on joint problem-solving and learning is still poorly understood. This explorary study investigated the influence of socio-affective context on the interactive modalities surrounding social problem-solving discussions conducted with 32 dyads of 8-year-old Swiss francophone children. Sociometric interviews with children and teachers were carried out to identify the following naturally-ocurring socio-affective contexts: reciprocal friendship (RF), asymmetrical friendship (AF) and reciprocal absence of friendship (“reciprocal non-friendship” RNF; excluding enemies). Comparisons of verbal exchanges and dyadic performance across the three groups suggests that reciprocal friendship facilitates collaboration and the organization of collective work. Two rival hypotheses opposing socio-affective proximity (reciprocal friendship) and socio-affective distance (asymmetrical friendship and reciprocal absence of friendship) are discussed with respect to the influence of social interactions on social problem-solving.     

Toddlers' emerging ways of achieving social coordinations with a peer

14 peer dyads were observed longitudinally at 16, 20, 24, 28, and 32 months to assess developmental changes in social coordinations (both action-to-action thematic relations and extended games). Each child's movements through the playroom, actions upon play material, vocalizations, verbalizations, and gestures were coded for their relation to the concurrent or immediately prior behavior of the peer: Unrelated, Tangential, Coordinated, Interfering. There was a marked increase with age in acts coordinated with those of a peer, and imitations of the peer's nonverbal actions accounted for most of the developmental change. The use of words to direct the peer in a coordinated way increased with age but remained infrequent. Developmental change in the frequency of games paralleled that for imitative acts, and imitative acts both established and set the theme for most of the games. Thus, imitating another's nonverbal actions is a core behavioral strategy for achieving social coordinations during the developmental period preceding reliance on verbal communication in peer interaction.     

Visual processing of verbal and nonverbal stimuli in adolescents with reading disabilities

This study investigated whether a group of children with reading disabilities (RD) were slower at processing visual information in general (compared to a group of children of comparable age and a group of children of comparable reading level), or whether their deficit was specific to the written word. Computerized backward masking and temporal integration tasks were used to assess the speed of visual information processing. Stimulus complexity (simple, complex) and type (verbal, nonverbal) were varied, creating a 2 x 2 matrix of stimulus conditions: simple nonverbal, complex nonverbal, simple verbal, and complex verbal. Adolescents with RD demonstrated difficulties in processing rapidly presented verbal and nonverbal visual stimuli, although the effect was magnified when they were processing verbal stimuli. Thus, the results of this study suggest that some youth with reading disabilities have visual temporal processing deficits that compound difficulties in processing verbal information during reading.     

A model of home learning environment and social risk factors in relation to children's emergent literacy and social outcomes

The quality of the home environment is widely recognized as a strong contributor to young children's emergent literacy and social competence and to their subsequent educational success. The present study examined the relationships between family variables (socioeconomic status (SES), social risk factors, and home learning variables) and children's emergent literacy competence and children's social functioning. The sample for this study was obtained by randomly selecting 48 classrooms within three Head Start programs and, then, randomly selecting five girls and five boys from each class. The final sample consisted of 325 families for which information about both child and primary caregiver was obtained from multiple sources (teacher, outside assessor, and primary caregiver). A mediational model was hypothesized and tested using structural equation modeling. The findings are consistent with the hypotheses that family social risk and home learning experiences mediate the association between SES and Head Start children's school readiness in the areas of emergent literacy competence and social functioning.     

Monitoring online communication: can the development of convergence and social presence indicate an interactive learning environment?

More units of study are being offered flexibly, using distance education and online facilities, as a consequence of recent educational developments in higher education, with learner expectations of being able to study when they like and where they like, as well as increasing class enrolments and more students studying remotely or part‐time. However, the quality of the learning experience and the efficacy of placing learning activities that require student interaction and discourse in an online environment have been questioned. The concerns raised by educators regarding placing learning activities online are often about the types of learning environments that are being created and the tools available to support student communication in a virtual learning environment. Asynchronous computer‐mediated communication is one means of allowing students to communicate independently of time and place, and to communicate questions, opinions and queries when transferring interactive learning activities to an online environment. The use of threaded, online discussions that allow asynchronous communication has been criticised for not producing the perceived benefits for learners and educators. This paper assesses the use of asynchronous computer‐mediated communication and the degree of convergence and level of social presence as indicators of developing highly responsive and interactive learning environments in the context of an inquiry‐based learning activity, using a case study approach with problem solving and self‐directed research.     

Theoretical foundations for enhancing social connectedness in online learning environments

Group social structure provides a comfortable and predictable context for interaction in learning environments. Students in face‐to‐face learning environments process social information about others in order to assess traits, predict behaviors, and determine qualifications for assuming particular responsibilities within a group. In online learning environments, however, negotiating social information and maintaining social connectedness can pose challenges for participants. Nonverbal strategies one typically uses for enhancing communication and overcoming ambiguity – such as an approving smile or a questioning brow – must be approached differently while learning online where fewer sensory communication channels are typically available. We present the theoretical foundation for how social information processing and group structure theories may be combined to assist instructional designers in further examining the social system perceived by the online learner. We propose a framework for thinking more systematically about the development of group social structure in online learning environments.     

Inclusive dyslexia-friendly collaborative online learning environment: Malaysia case study

Currently available web page accessibility guidelines focus more on reading and writing, with inadequate attention to other aspects of online learning such as computer-mediated communication. This study aims to explore the engagement of Malaysia secondary school students with dyslexia and students without dyslexia on various synchronous and asynchronous communication interaction technologies in an online collaborative learning environment. Multiple case within subject qualitative study was employed to investigate the engagement of students using a semi structured interview guideline. The findings revealed that (1) text chat is unsuitable for learning discussion for all learners, (2) forum affords self-paced and organized formal discussion for most learners and (3) video conferencing is suitable for interactive face-to-face, verbal discussion for most learners.     

培养英语教师的课堂非言语交际能力

在日常生活中人们通常重视言语交际的作用,往往忽视了这样一个事实：在面对面的人际交往中,大多数的信息是通过非言语的方式传递的。当前,既然我们英语课堂教学的最终目的被定义为培养学生的话言交际能力,那么,作为交际能力的重要组成部分,非言语交际能力不应被忽视。英语教师,作为英语知识的传播者,首先应该具备非言语交际能力。     

Role of social presence and cognitive absorption in online learning environments

This article investigates the relationships between social presence, cognitive absorption, interest, and student satisfaction in online learning. A hypothesized structural equation model was developed to study these critical variables that may influence interaction in online learning environments. Contrary to expectations, the study determined that social presence does not impact satisfaction directly. However, the study concludes that while social presence is related to student satisfaction, its impact is not direct but rather mediated by cognitive absorption. In addition, the study clarified the impact of students’ interest on social presence, cognitive absorption, and satisfaction. The results of this study indicate that interest affects social presence and satisfaction directly. Additionally, interest appears to influence satisfaction indirectly through social presence and cognitive absorption. Contrary to expectations, this study did not reveal any significant relationship between interest and cognitive absorption.