As interfaces in web-based instruction evolve, interface mediation will most likely increase rather than decrease over time. This is particularly the case as instructors begin to develop their own libraries of shareable content objects that they re-use for multiple sections and variations of their online courses. Further, time constraints and frequent upgrades with respect to software, hardware, and connectivity make it more difficult for instructors to dedicate time and resources to programming. Given the situation now and ones projected for the future, it is more vital than ever that instructors understand not only how, why and when the interface mediates instruction, but how to work within the phenomenological realities to assure effectiveness and satisfaction.
| Instructor Action with Respect to Interface | Locus of Potential “Locked” in Interface | Outcome of Instructor Effort with Respect to Interface |
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| Instructor needs to help students make sense of the acquired knowledge; create categories, and help students arrange and group the material they are covering in class so that they fit within a clearly understood schemata which incorporates an explanation of how and why certain elements are considered important and others are not; a rationale for the hierarchy. | HIERARCHIES OF KNOWLEDGE |
Students are able to reproduce a clear diagram that demonstrates their understanding of the major categories of knowledge, the subcategories, and the ways that the categories interact with each other, and the outside world (vis-à-vis research and student experience) to create an enriched and enriching learning experience for all participants. | |||
| In learning activities and applying knowledge to “life,” students will be compelled to acquire skills, usually under the tutelage of the interface / instructor combination. The instructor helps the student gain an understanding of which skills are useful & helps avoid the pitfalls of “going it alone” and thus become seduced by “fun” (albeit less productive) activities and skill-building opportunities in the learning space. | HIERARCHIES OF SKILLS |
Learners demonstrate that they can use the skills needed to negotiate the class, and to apply them in appropriate ways. | |||
| The instructor models synthesis and critical thinking by providing guided questions, directed activities, and by posting images and text that require students to make meaningful connections. The instructor also provides guidance to help students reach outside the immediate content and bring life experience and research to the course content within the learning space. This can be scaffolded (as a platform and/or springboard) to deeper understanding of the course content, and appropriately applied knowledge. | GUIDED SYNTHESIS AND CRITICAL THINKING |
Learners (students) are able to post activities and send work that demonstrates that they have achieved “active learning” – which is, in short, discourse that shows an engagement with the ideas contained in the following four venues: course documents, outside research, student collaborative input and response, instructor input and response. Ideas and concepts processed by learners take the declarative knowledge contained in the course concepts and take them to a new level of abstraction, application, or paradigm / model development (which takes specifics and converts them into universals). |
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