TOWARDS INTERACTIVE LECTURES
IN DISTANCE EDUCATION
Herman Koppelman
School of Computer Science, Open University of the Netherlands, PO Box 2960, 6401 DL, Heerlen, The Netherlands
Keywords: Distance Education, Interaction, Interactive Lecture, E-learning, Podcasting.
Abstract: In the last decades many studies in computer science education have emphasized the role of interaction
promoting techniques. The context is usually face-to-face education. In this paper we focus upon a well-
known example of such techniques, the interactive lecture, and discuss how to adapt it to be useful in
distance education. We discuss two key factors. The first is the role modern technology can play to support
the interactive lecture in distance education, podcasting in the first place. The second is the use of well-
designed problems. We discuss the characteristics of well-designed problems, and their importance in
distance education.
1 INTRODUCTION
During the decades that the discipline of computer
science has been taught, a lot of pedagogical
knowledge has been built up. In contemporary
computer science education interaction promoting
techniques play a dominant role. These techniques
stimulate students to perform activities in interaction
with each other and with the instructor. Several
examples can be found within the context of active
learning, such as interactive lecture, minute papers,
and role playing (McConnell, 1996). Many benefits
have been reported in the context of face-to-face
education, among them that students enjoy the
learning process more and are more likely to
continue (Sowell, Chen, Buhler, Goldman, Grimm
and Goldman, 2010).
Almost always the context of research or
experience reports about interaction promoting
techniques is face-to-face education. An interesting
question therefore is: is it possible to adapt
interaction promoting techniques that are known to
work well in-class, to be useful in the context of
asynchronous distance education?
This question is of importance, because lack of
interaction is a key problem for distance students. As
many times has been observed (Lee and Chan, 2007;
Lonn and Teasly, 2009) distance education is often
experienced as a lonely activity, and as a result
many students are confronted with motivational
problems. It is well known that distance education
students feel more isolated and less member of a
group, compared to students in face-to-face classes.
They have fewer possibilities to interact with fellow
students, which can decrease their motivation and
enthusiasm. Another problem is the perceived lack
of contact with and timely feedback from the
instructor (Lee and Chan, 2007).
In this paper we select the technique of
interactive lecture, as a case study, and elaborate
how it can be adapted to be useful in (asynchronous)
distance education.
The interactive lecture is a well-known active
learning technique in face-to-face education (Davis,
2009; Lau, 2007; McConnell, 1996). The bottom
line is that students interact with the instructor and
with classmates. A characteristic approach for
computer science instructors is to give a mini-lecture
in which a new concept is introduced and to offer
students immediately thereafter a problem to force
them to think about the concept.
In section 2 we describe the interactive lecture in
the context of face-to-face education in more detail.
Section 3 focuses upon two key elements in adapting
this technique to asynchronous distance education:
the role modern technology can play, podcasting in
the first place, and the use of well-designed
problems.
467
Koppelman H..
TOWARDS INTERACTIVE LECTURES IN DISTANCE EDUCATION.
DOI: 10.5220/0003964304670470
In Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Computer Supported Education (ESEeL-2012), pages 467-470
ISBN: 978-989-8565-07-5
Copyright
c
2012 SCITEPRESS (Science and Technology Publications, Lda.)
2 INTERACTIVE LECTURE IN
FACE-TO-FACE EDUCATION
In the computing science community several reports
exist in which experiences with interactive lectures
are described. For example, Lau (2007) uses active
learning sheets in a course on Reasoning about
Imperative Programs. The instructor hands out a
sheet of questions at the beginning of the lecture.
The students complete these sheets while listening to
the lecture. The questions cover the key points of the
lecture, but do not take too long to read, understand
and answer. An example is: given are a loop and a
loop invariant, and the question is: is the post-
condition of the loop invariant correct. For formative
feedback, the instructor gives the answers to the
questions at the end of the lecture.
Students can give feedback with paper and pencil,
but the use of more advanced tools can be
appropriate. For example, Carter (2009) describes
the use of in-class assignments in the context of an
introductory computing course. Examples of
assignments are multiple choice questions on simple
code comprehension and code completion tasks. He
used an electronic device to allow students to
respond to multiple choice questions. The student
reactions were assembled and assessed. Aggregate
responses were shown to the class in real time,
followed by discussion and immediate intervention
if necessary, for example by working through the
solution to the assignment or giving a mini-lecture.
This technique tends to increase the level of
engagement, because it also might involve students
who may be reluctant to respond to questions
verbally.
The approach can be extended to stimulate
students to be active before the class. Davis (2009) for
example gives her students before the class starts
‘warm up’ exercises in two design courses. These
exercises ask students to apply new concepts to real-
world problems, to explain concepts in own words, to
compare methods, to produce small design artefacts
such as a scenario or use case, and so on. Answers to
these exercises have to be submitted before the class,
so that the instructor can integrate them into the
lesson plan, to make lessons ‘just-in-time’.
Carter (2009) presents a slightly different
approach. In his classes students were offered a
number of screen casts (PowerPoint presentations
with voice-over) that presented some relevant
programming concepts. Students were asked to
study them prior to attending the classes. The classes
started with multiple choice questions that aimed to
assess students' understanding of the concepts
presented in the screen casts. Answers were
discussed ‘just-in-time’ in-class. The assessments
allow the instructor to focus subsequent class time
on concepts that students find particularly difficult.
As a result of applying this technique students
understood the material more thoroughly (Carter,
2009; Davis, 2009).
3 INTERACTIVE LECTURE IN
DISTANCE EDUCATION
Distance education with asynchronous
communication can be implemented in several ways.
In this paper we distinguish two opposite
educational settings.
In the first setting students follow courses purely
individually, according to their own schedule. They
have access to an Electronic Learning Environment,
with facilities as a bulletin board and forums, they
can contact an instructor by e-mail, but they have no
direct interaction with fellow students.
In the second setting students can participate in
an asynchronous virtual class. They study according
to a schedule designed by the educational board.
They are stimulated to interact with each other and
with the instructors in several ways, for example to
discuss relevant topics in discussion groups. For
each course a strict schedule is used, describing
which learning units in which week should be
studied. A standard approach might be to have a
block of 10 weeks for each course.
We will discuss a few key elements in
transforming the technique of interactive lecture to
both educational settings.
3.1 Use of e-Learning Tools
In a face-to-face setting the interactive lecture
consists of two kinds of alternating activities:
activities performed by the instructor and activities
performed by the students. This idea can be applied
to distance education. The activities of the instructor,
usually a series of face-to-face mini-lectures, can be
replaced by podcasts covering the same subjects. An
essential element of these podcasts is that each of
them results in relevant questions about the
presented subject, which invite students explicitly to
start discussions.
In a virtual class setting the students are
stimulated to discuss the questions within their class,
for example by using a blog or a forum. Of course,
this discussion should be subjected to a strict and
clear schedule, to support the discipline of the
CSEDU2012-4thInternationalConferenceonComputerSupportedEducation
468
participating students. Discussions about specific
questions should not drag on for days and days, but
for example should be restrained to the same week
in which the subject has been scheduled. This
discussion should be moderated by the instructor.
For formative feedback, the instructor can go over
the answers at the end of the discussion and give
feedback, for example again in the form of a
podcast.
If students follow courses purely individually, the
questions as posed by the instructor can be multiple
choice questions, which can be answered by using a
suitable interactive tool (for example Blackboard
offers this functionality). In this way the students
can get feedback immediately, based upon the
chosen alternative. Because students are not in a
position to pose additional questions immediately,
instructors can give links to relevant parts of the
printed or electronic course materials. It is also
possible to have asynchronous discussions, but
without any time schedule, in the same spirit as for
example interesting discussions are held about TED-
talks (www.ted.com/talks).
In all cases the questions the instructor poses
should be well-designed, for various reasons which
we discuss in the next section.
3.2 Well-designed Problems
Educational research confirms that well-designed
problems are important for asynchronous
communication in a virtual class, maybe even more
than in a face-to-face class. In a study among a large
number of instructors experienced in asynchronous
discussions, Beaudin (1999) identifies carefully
designing questions as the most important technique
to keep discussions on topic.
The technique of designing good questions is
key to good teaching and learning. ( .. ) Good
questions promote active participation of the
learner by stimulating various levels of thinking
and/or by creating cognitive dissonance. ( … )
Keeping the learner focused through the use of
well-designed questions will assist learners in
reaching the learning objective. (p. 51)
But when is a problem well-designed? We discuss
relevant qualities of well-designed problems in the
context of computer science education.
First we want the students to be active and
interact with each other. For that reason the problem
should provoke discussions. If the answer to the
problem is simply yes or no, or in another way
unambiguous, no interesting discussion is likely to
happen. One way of provoking discussions is to give
open-ended problems, i.e. problems that have
multiple solutions. Such problems lend themselves
well to active learning, as the presentation of
alternate solutions makes students think critically
about which solution they feel is preferable.
Another way of provoking discussions is to use a
problem-partial solution approach. A problem is
offered to a group of students, and also a solution. In
computer science this solution is in many cases a
model, a program or a diagram. The solution is in
one way or another incomplete or incorrect. It might
for example have different kinds of flaws, some of
them serious, others less serious. Or it might have
parts for which alternatives exist. This approach
usually produces many relevant discussions. This is
especially the case if the solution is in several ways
incomplete and incorrect. Students supplement each
other’s comments. Many times students complete
the solution in an incorrect way or even see non-
existing errors. This usually results in animated
discussions.
Another relevant quality of a well-designed
problem is that it should have the appropriate
complexity. In a face-to-face class, the instructor
might give a hard problem, unintentionally or to
challenge the students. If it is too complex for the
students, this usually does not cause frustrations. An
experienced instructor perceives this immediately
and can give hints or ask supporting questions. But
in an asynchronous context instructors are much less
flexible. It is less easy for the instructor to perceive
that a problem is too difficult, and it definitely takes
much more time. Meanwhile many students might
already have had frustrating experiences, trying to
solve a problem that exceeds their knowledge.
Therefore the complexity of the problem should be
carefully monitored. By the way, this is not a plea
for not offering challenging problems in an
asynchronous setting. All kinds of problems can be
offered, but the students should know in advance the
level of complexity.
A third relevant quality of a well-designed
problem is that it should provoke well-known
misconceptions of the students. Misconceptions
happen, whether the instructor likes it or not. It is
better to be explicit about them, than to keep silent.
Therefore it should be considered as positive if those
misconceptions arise in the discussions. This gives
the instructor the opportunity to combat them
effectively. Hopefully fellow students discover and
combat them, but if this is not the case it is up to the
instructor to react.
Computer science is a discipline that makes
heavy use of mathematical notations, diagrams and
TOWARDSINTERACTIVELECTURESINDISTANCEEDUCATION
469
graphics to describe all kinds of artefacts. If
appropriate tools are not available for students, or
take too much time to use, because of lack of
experience, this needs not to be a problem.
Nowadays other response media are available.
Students can just make a paper-and-pencil version of
the artefact, make a picture of it, and upload the
result as a contribution to the discussion. Or they
might produce a short podcast, if they feel that is an
appropriate way to give an explanation or express
doubts about their solution.
4 DISCUSSION
In this paper we discussed how to apply the
technique of interactive lecture to distance
education. We focused upon two key elements: how
to design problems that are appropriate for distance
education, and the use of e-learning tools,
podcasting in the first place.
Podcasting in education is relatively new, but its
use is rapidly increasing and becoming popular.
Instructors are only just beginning to discover the
power of it. Podcasting is mainly used in face-to-
face education, to record and upload lectures. It is a
simple way to allow students to view lectures
whenever and where ever convenient. But podcasts
might also be highly beneficial in distance
education.
There is much debate about the effects of
podcasting in face-to-face education, and the
question of possible educational benefits remains to
be answered (Lonn and Teasley, 2009; McKinney, et
al., 2009). About possible benefits of podcasting in
the context of distance education even less is known.
There are claims that podcasting can be effective in
reducing feelings of isolation and in promoting a
sense of belonging to a community, and therefore is
able to increase distance students’ motivation (Lee
and Chan, 2007). But the evidence seems rather
anecdotic.
Instructors are just now beginning to realize the
power of new technologies in (distance) education.
In many cases it is not clear how to use them within
pedagogical frameworks, and in which ways they
can lead to new student learning opportunities. What
we need, therefore, are experiences and more
research, which might result in a description of best
practices of integrating new technology in
pedagogical approaches within distance education.
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