The best place to begin with creating interaction with content for online learning – if you are new to it – is to focus on creating learning activities that are designed to help learners accomplish the learning objectives and are delivered through various media online.
The Internet provides good opportunities for interaction – where the learner interacts with the various information sources offered by the internet and is engaged in meaningful teaching and learning activities. This kind of simple interactive online learning content takes very little time and effort to produce.
Think about what you want the learner to be actually be doing.
Furthermore, when designing interactive learning, it is a good idea to identify who your learners are and what characteristics do they have. Then you can think through what kind of activities would they be familiar with and/or would like to do in terms of online interactive learning.
Here are some example activities:
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Online Quiz or Test
You can use software such as Hot Potatoes to create a variety of quizzes, such as multiple-choice and crosswords. You can also create online tests as part of using a Learning Platform such as Blackboard or Moodle. Technology like this can be used for everything from teaching foreign language to helping students prepare for the CAHSEE.
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Polls
You can poll the learners on a controversial or important issue and use their answers as the basis of an online discussion. Use a free tool such as PollDaddy.
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Simple Input Activity
A form can be inserted into a web page to provide a space on the page for a learner to make notes and then print out their notes with the page.
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Self-Assessment Questions (SAQS)
Learners answer questions based on a textbook reading and then can check their answers with those provided online.
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Internet Search Activities
Learners can search for information and assimilate the information they find into their current knowledge.
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Scenarios
A scenario provides the learner with a context in which course materials are presented and throughout the course you can relate new content to this scenario.
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e-portfolios
Learners showcase their knowledge and practical skills by collecting digital artefacts of learning experiences and achievements. Use a free tool such as www.wordpress.org or www.mahara.org
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Case Studies
Learners are asked to to discuss or work on aspects of a real world problem or process. The background information and questions are made available online.
In Summary
There is a lot to learn when designing interactive content for online learning; it is different from designing for face-to-face learning. But the above tips should be enough for you to get started in creating good activities for online contexts.
This article was first published on my old site: interactivelearningideas.com in 2010.