Student Interaction Online (2024)

Below are specific approaches you can take to build a hospitable online course and foster student-student interaction.

Begin with an Icebreaker

Joanne McInnery and Tim Roberts (2004) suggest incorporating a warm-up stage early in the semester. Having students introduce themselves at the start of class, in a manner unrelated to course work, familiarizes them with one another and the new learning environment. Students can post photos or a video, share something interesting about themselves, or respond to a unique question—a debate of the optimal study snack food, for example.

Browse sampleicebreakeractivities for building community at the start of term.

IncorporateGroup Work

The mere mention of group work can provoke frustration. But a well-structured group project can increase students’ sense of community and help them practice effective team collaboration. To offset possible anxieties, encourage your class to draft rules or guidelines for working together in groups. Develop a rubric, ideally with students’ input, that clarifies expectations for assignments and each group member’s contribution. Transparency in grading will alleviate some of the tension that may arise when a student is graded as part of a group.

Plan ahead which technology students can use to collaborate. You might set up Groups in CarmenCanvas or leverage other Ohio State supported and approved tools. For example, consider OneNote or Whiteboard in Microsoft 365 for collaborative note-making and idea generation, or U.OSU for blogging. For group assignments, students could cocreate graphic, web, or video projects using Adobe Expressor other appsavailable via Adobe Creative Cloud.

Learn more about questions to consider when planning group work in your online course.

Craft Thoughtful Discussions

Discussion boards often get a bad rap, and poorly designed ones can smother rather than stimulate conversation. But in a 2010 study of engagement among online students, Marcia Dixson found that those who felt highly engaged with a course were twice as likely to report the use of discussion boards to connect with peers. A clear prompt or question that encourages critical thinking—combined with a rubric that establishes expectations—can support students to understand what critical engagement with a topic looks like and to practice those behaviors.

A perspective shift regarding discussion boards may be in order. Rather than a static forum that presents a list of opinions, a discussion board can be a collaborative document for generating knowledge. Encourage students to more fully engage with their peers’ posts by adding value to a comment, formulating responses using a yes/and or yes/but approach. Students can affirm a peer’s comment (the “yes”) and then either add to the concept (the “and”) or propose another perspective (the “but”).

"Online discussions quickly become overwhelming in a larger class. I therefore created Groups in Carmen and had students discuss in those groups. Online discussions in Carmen allow everyone to participate in thoughtful and meaningful ways, including the students who do not participate in in-class discussions."

- Mark Moritz, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology

Moreover, online discussions do not have to be conventional or boring. Integrating creative approaches will enliven your discussion board and keep students engaged. For example:

• Post scenarios or case studies for students to analyze
• Ask for predictions about something, rather than reflections or analyses
• Encourage students to connect responses to personal experiences and/or current events
• Have students adopt the perspective of a historical figure or literary character

Explore Additional Considerations for Online Discussions in Facilitating Discussionand Effective Online Discussion Questions.

Open Multiple Communication Channels

Dixson (2010) advocates for the creation of multiple communication channels, in which students have a number of pathways and venues to connect. Incorporating discussion boards, pair and group work, peer instruction, and peer review—or any other means of student-student interaction—accommodates various communication styles and learning preferences. It also gives students more avenues in which to bond, build trust, and find commonalities in learning expectations or goals.

Encourage Social Connection

Including avenues for interpersonal, social connections can also strengthen the bonds within a learning community, ultimately leading to deeper learning (Rovai et al., 2004). For example, set up a study strategies advice thread where students can post study hacks or arrange group study sessions. Informal questions or prompts can be added alongside academic topics in discussion spaces—a recipe swap is a favorite. Ascough (2007) suggests encouraging extracurricular communication, or helping students connect outside of class over shared interests via email or other means.

IncludeCollaborative Writing and Peer Review

Writing promotes critical thinking and learning, and collaborative writing allows groups of students to draw on each other’s strengths in the process. Consider incorporating peer review activities for the proposals, outlines, and drafts you assign. Participating in peer review enables students to:

• Receive additional advice and perspectives on their writing
• Critically assess and offer constructive feedback on others’ writing
• Consider a concrete audience beyond their instructor
• Engage with different writing styles and approaches

Let Students Teach

Inviting your students to teach, such as through student-led discussion boards or student-authored video lectures and presentations, gives them ownership of their learning. The act of teaching prompts students to think explicitly about how to memorize and recall information as well as how to synthesize and translate that information in a manner their peers can understand. Moreover, it helps students feel that they are meaningful contributors to a dynamic community of inquiry.

"Instead of me presenting different education theorists, the students presented them to each other. Later, they had to use what they learned from each other by identifying how their approaches to teaching are supported by multiple education theories."

- Judy Ridgway, Assistant Director, Center for Life Science Education

Use Phased Engagement

Phase your course activities to scaffold student-student interaction in the online environment. The following suggestions are adapted from Rita-Marie Conrad and J Ana Donaldson’s  Engaging the Online Learner: Activities and Resources for Creative Instruction.