Strategies for Enhancing Student Interactivity in an Online Environment

Abstract. The number of online courses being offered by postsecondary institutions has increased dramatically and consequently an increasing number of faculty are faced with teaching online courses. Students demonstrate more positive attitudes and higher levels of performance when online classes are highly interactive, but many faculty about to embark in online teaching are not aware of the techniques available to increase the level of interactivity in online courses. This article describes how to establish an interactive online learning environment and provides strategies for increasing student interactivity.     

Quantifying the Effectiveness of Interactive Tutorials in Medical Library Instruction

The goal of this study was to determine whether a passive or an interactive tutorial design improves understanding of key concepts, as measured by pre- and post-test data. The authors also collected data regarding the participants' preference for taking an interactive versus a passive tutorial. The interactive tutorial group improved statistically significantly from pre-test to post-test for all three learning questions. While the passive tutorial group improved from pre-test to post-test on all three questions, the improvement was statistically significant for just two of the three questions. The majority of the participants preferred interactive tutorials (78%) to passive tutorials (22%).     

大学英语教师网络在线培训学习心得

在本文中,笔者通过参加高教司组织的"大学英语教师网络在线培训",结合自己对大学英语一线教学的经验和认识,得出了以下教学的新想法,即:要真正做到"人机交互、课上课下交互";要极大的重视学生听说能力的练习和提高;要强调"常态化的"英语环境。     

OPENING THE GATES

In the light of newspapers’ struggle to maintain readers and viability in the digital era, this study aims to understand better how newspapers in Latin America are responding to this shift toward user-generated and multimedia content. Using a content analysis of 19 newspapers from throughout Latin America, this study found that newspaper websites are bringing citizens into the virtual newsroom on a limited basis, allowing them to interact with each other and with the newspaper but only to a modest degree. Thus, while all newspaper websites have some multimedia content and most have Facebook and Twitter accounts, few allow readers to report errors, submit their own content, or even contact reporters directly. Further, most online newspaper articles include photos, but video, audio and hyperlinks rarely are used. These results further our understanding of how online interactivity is changing the traditional role of journalists and how Latin America is responding to the challenge.     

HOSTING THE PUBLIC DISCOURSE,HOSTING THE PUBLIC

In this paper, we examine the inverse and converging movement of two sets of institutions: news organizations, as they find that part of their mission necessarily includes hosting an unruly user community that does not always play by the norms of journalism; and online media platforms and social networks designed for users to share content, as they find that the content being shared is often much like news, some of which challenges their established user guidelines. We draw on in-depth interviews to understand how each industry is finding itself increasingly on the other's turf and facing the challenges and tensions the other has long coped with, but from its own distinct vantage point. From this we explore the ways in which the roles of news provision and community management are increasingly intermingled—in ways that will continue to have an impact on both news organizations and social media platforms, along with their audiences and users.     

When the Gated Misbehave

This study analyzes online reader comments on top US newspapers’ stories related to former congressman, Anthony Weiner’s, August 2016 sexting scandal. Audience gatekeeping was seen through such discussion themes as gender bias and sexism, political scandals, and sex addiction. The analysis revealed that the majority of reader comments significantly diverged from the news topic, and many comments about US politicians were uncivil. Furthermore, online discussions “drowned out” newspapers’ intended message about Weiner’s inclusion of his toddler son into a sexually explicit selfie. This study argues that online commentary should not be perceived as a dichotomy—a negative or positive development, a contributor or preventer of public discourse—but rather as a continuum of citizen engagement.     

Character sketches: The curious propaganda careers of Mary,Jane, and Willie

This article draws on the concepts of narrative interactivity and closure to investigate three World War II-era print media characters. The analysis details how Al Parker’s Mary & Jane and Norman Rockwell’s Willie Gillis developed a perceived authenticity that invited fans to envision the propaganda drawings as having lives beyond their artistic origins. The essay concludes that the narrative arcs of these characters prefigured the imagined relationships that subsequent generations developed with televised characters.     

围绕"互动"开展探究式教学

根据物理学科教学的特点，以现代研究性学习理论为指导，进行探究教学的研究与实施，在我国基础教育物理课程教学的改革中具有重要意义。开展物理探究教学，需要教师更新教育观念，充分发挥教师的主导作用，真正落实学生的主体地位，实现双向互动，从而培养学生通过自主思考获取知识的能力。     

大学英语口语测试体系的建构与思考

随着全国大学英语教学改革的启动和《大学英语课程教学要求》的颁布,海南师范大学对大学英语测试体系进行了改革,将口语测试纳入每学期的期末考试。分析2006级非英语专业大学生已参加的大学英语(一)(二)(三)的口试,发现口试的话题能够联系学生的生活,但有些试题馈入方式缺乏真实情景,输出形式缺乏交互性,评分标准存在不足。针对以上情况,改进完善大学英语口语测试体系应当在考试设计方面体现交际性,在口语测试效度方面应避免考生背答案现象,提高测试的评分信度,设计客观的评分标准。     

大学英语交互式阅读教学活动对比个案研究

以交互式阅读理论为指导,从分析阅读活动的交互性特点出发,我们尝试性地设计了旨在促进学生和文本之间动态的交互式阅读教学课。笔者就这一教学模式与传统阅读模式进行了为期一学期的教学实践对比,证明交互式阅读能够有效地提高学生阅读理解能力。