University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Bridging the Distance: Using Interactive Communication Tools to Make Online Education More Social

Cunningham, Paige D.

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/103584

Description

Title
Bridging the Distance: Using Interactive Communication Tools to Make Online Education More Social
Author(s)
Cunningham, Paige D.
Issue Date
2017
Keyword(s)
  • Distance education
  • MOOC courses
Abstract
Distance education offers geographically or time-constrained students access to the full depth and breadth of higher education offerings. Yet, distance education has significant drawbacks, including limitations to communication abilities, feelings of separation from instructors and peers, and an increased likelihood of dropping out. Educational informatics researchers argue that learning is a socially constructed activity, and thus students need to be able to communicate in order to develop a learning community. Consequently, historically, disconnected distance-learning practices were problematic for many students. As distance education has evolved to include a range of online offerings, including for-credit online degree programs and massive open online courses (MOOCs), new technologies have arisen that can make these challenges easier to surmount. Current literature suggests that faculty-encouraged use of both course-based and external Web 2.0 interactive tools may help students in online degree programs to succeed and feel connected to other students and faculty while participating in their distance-education courses. This paper examines the literature on distance education in order to provide a context for future research into communication patterns within MOOC courses, particularly within longer sequences of MOOC courses, and the role of student motivations on student-communication expectations and needs.
Publisher
Johns Hopkins University Press. The School of Information Sciences at Illinois. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Series/Report Name or Number
Library Trends 65 (4). Spring 2017
Type of Resource
text
Language
en
Permalink
http://hdl.handle.net/2142/103584
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1353/lib.2017.0020
Copyright and License Information
Copyright 2017 Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

Owning Collections

Library Trends 65 (4) Spring 2017: Spanning the Information Sciences : A Celebration Marking Seventy Years of the Doctoral Program in the School of Information Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign PRIMARY
Library Trends 65 (4) Spring 2017: Spanning the Information Sciences : A Celebration Marking Seventy Years of the Doctoral Program in the School of Information Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Edited by Alistair Black and Emily J.M. Knox.