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"Deep" thoughts
do mandatory online activities help students leave surface-learning behind?

By Mark Notess, Lisa Neal / May 2006

TYPE: OPINION
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One of us (Lisa) was just in Montreal where many restaurants have mandatory coat checks because of the weather. Montreal's main attraction was a conference, CHI 2006, which had assigned student volunteers the task of blogging conference sessions. Mandatory coat checks and blogging arguably benefit the coat owner/writer, as well as others, but both are usually self-motivated, not mandated, activities. These policies left us thinking about when, why, and how to oblige student participation in online course activities and how this may impact learning.

In an online course, participation may take the form of a blog, discussion forum, or other medium. Such participation may be entirely optional, encouraged, or required. Instructors sometimes mandate a style of participation—such as to have students post their thoughts and then iteratively read and comment on other students' responses—or even offer illuminating examples of both thoughtful and less compelling "me too" posts.

While online instructors can mandate certain behaviors, they can't force students to learn. We all operate under the assumption that a carefully crafted assignment increases the likelihood of learning. And given the online world's lack of traditional communication channels, many instructors require student participation in hopes of increasing accountability and engagement. But does any of this help an unmotivated student learn?

A helpful framework for thinking about this problem is the deep vs. surface learning distinction. As learners, we are always deciding whether to adopt a deep or superficial approach to completing assignments. As instructors, we naturally prefer, hope, and even imagine that our students will always adopt a deep learning strategy, sucking the marrow from the toughest assignments. Yet, as current or former students, we know we often fall short of this ideal, choosing instead to cram for the test or skim the readings, spending as little time and effort as we can to achieve the grade we hope to receive. This distinction applies equally well to corporate e-learning, where an employee may just do the minimum necessary to achieve a certification or check off the compliance item, then quickly shed any concepts or skills picked up along the way. Faced with busy, efficiency-oriented students, we must accept that a student's choice of a deep or surface-learning strategy is beyond our control. Yet, we can be glad that the student's choice is often open to our influence. An online instructor can increase the likelihood that students will choose a deep learning strategy through these approaches:

  • Be transparent in your own deep engagement with the course content. Are you still a learner yourself? Do you still care? In an online environment, you have to find new ways to make your enthusiasm contagious. If you're committed to being the "guide by the side" rather than the "sage on the stage," share your own experiences, insights, and passion for learning as part of that guidance.
  • Make sure your course is well organized, paced, and communicated. Otherwise students can become disappointed, discouraged, or frustrated—even cynical—which can lead to surface approaches to learning.
  • Develop activities that are authentic—that feel more real than contrived, and that feel important and relevant to the student. Where possible, let real-world constraints and evaluation play a part, such as when a group of students works with a real client to solve an actual problem.
  • Let students have some choice so that they can increase the relevance and authenticity of course activities and have more control over and ownership of the learning process. Choice may apply to the selection of course readings, or the type and topic of assignments.
  • Select activities that cannot be completed without application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. Challenge shallow responses early so you can raise the standard of discourse.
These five suggestions won't apply in all situations, but they provide a good foundation for guiding online students toward deep learning. What has worked for you? Please add your own suggestions below.

Authors

Lisa Neal is Editor-in-Chief of eLearn Magazine and an e-learning consultant.

Mark Notess is a system development manager and usability specialist for the Digital Library Program at Indiana University.

©2006 ACM  06/0500

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The Digital Library is published by the Association for Computing Machinery. Copyright © 2006 ACM, Inc.



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ADDITIONAL READING

    Lisa Neal
  1. How to get students to show up and learn
  2. Predictions for 2002
  3. Learning from e-learning
  4. Q&A
  5. Blended conferences
  6. Storytelling at a distance
  7. Q&A with Don Norman
  8. Talk to me
  9. Q&A with Diana Laurillard
  10. Do it yourself
  11. Degrees by mail
  12. Predictions for 2004
  13. "Spot Learning"
  14. Q&A with Saul Carliner
  15. When will e-learning reach a tipping point?
  16. Online learning and fun
  17. Five Questions... for John Seely Brown
  18. Five questions...for Shigeru Miyagawi
  19. 5 questions... for Richard E. Mayer
  20. Designing usable, self-paced e-learning courses
  21. Want better courses?
  22. Just "DO IT"
  23. Five questions...
  24. Formative evaluation
  25. Senior service
  26. Blogging to learn and learning to blog
  27. My life as a Wikipedian
  28. Five questions...for Elliott Masie
  29. The stripper and the bogus online degree
  30. Five questions...for Lynn Johnston
  31. Five questions...for Tom Carey
  32. Not all the world's a stage
  33. Five questions...for Karl M. Kapp
  34. Five questions...for Larry Prusack
  35. Five questions...for Seb Schmoller
  36. Do distance and location matter in e-learning?
  37. In search of simplicity
  38. eLearning and fun
  39. Everything in moderation
  40. The basics of e-learning
  41. Is it live or is it Memorex?
  42. The Value of Voice
  43. Predictions for 2006
  44. Five Questions...for Christopher Dede
  45. Why do our K-12 schools remain technology-free?
  46. Music lessons
  47. Learn to apologize for fun and profit
  48. Of web hits and Britney Spears
  49. Advertising or education?
  50. Five questions…for Matt DuPlessie
  51. Back to the future
  52. Serious games for serious topics
  53. Five (or six) questions...for Irene McAra-McWilliam
  54. Learner on the Orient Express
  55. Predictions For 2003
  56. Mark Notess
  57. Usability, user experience, and learner experience
  58. Preliminary heuristics for the design and evaluation of online communities of practice systems
  59. Of hot tubs and Beowulf
  60. Online learning for seniors
  61. Interview with Anya Kamenetz
  62. Books by the chapter?
  63. Tools for designing learning
  64. Not Dead Yet
  65. The e-Learning Rules of Engagement