4.1. Course Management: Interaction Planning

4. Student-Student Interaction

Research is mixed on the academic value of student-student interaction, but it has been found to improve a student’s sense of community or belonging when student-student interaction is encouraged and frequent, and students are frequently more satisfied with their course experience when student interaction is built in. Here are ideas for online courses:

• Students work in small groups to complete a study guide in a collaborative Google Document.
• Students take a low-stakes Moodle quiz in small group Zoom breakouts.
• Students answer each others’ questions in a Help or Q&A forum.
• A collection of readings can be split among small groups to report back in a discussion forum.
• Peer review can happen in collaborative documents, forums, or using Moodle’s workshop feature.
• Students can discuss topics or explain questions in video discussion boards like FlipGrid.
• Jigsaw-based discussions or projects in forums can create collaborative learning experiences.