Designing Purposeful Student Interactions to Advance Synchronous Learning Experiences

Synchronous Online Teaching & Blended Learning

Much of the online learning research literature focuses on asynchronous forms of interaction such as discussion boards, blogs or other tools that allow for discussion to occur, but which are typically text-based (e.g., Barab, MaKinster, & Scheckler, 2004; Dede, 2006; Tuapawa, 2016; Wang, 2007). In terms of non-text-based interactions, research using asynchronous video for discussion is emerging and indicates that it supports students' learning and engagement (Borup, West, & Graham, 2012). While the technology for synchronous online teaching is becoming widely available, there are limited research studies about teaching and learning in the environment (Starling & Lee, 2015; Yamagata-Lynch, 2014). Synchronous online teaching can include the use of tools such as video, audio, text-based chat features, breakout rooms and virtual whiteboards while using platforms such as Blackboard Collaborate, Adobe Connect or WIMBA (Shi & Morrow, 2006; Skylar, 2009). We define synchronous online teaching and learning to mean a learning environment in which students and teachers can interact in multiple modes simultaneously including audio, video, visual, and text-based modes of communication, interaction and representation. Similar to Laurillard's discussion of collaborative technologies, we ask “How do we ensure that pedagogy exploits the technology, and not vice versa?” (p. 6).