Brief Description
The learning activities are supported with clear instructions, facilitate regular and substantive learner interaction with the course instructor and peers, and promote active learning and engagement.
Supporting Resources
Learning Activities
A learning activity consists of one or more tasks to be completed by the learner, should have one or more learning objectives associated with it and may or may not be assessed. For example, a self-check quiz or non-graded reflection may be an effective non-assessed learning activity. Throughout the course, students are expected to complete learning activities that engage them with the course subject matter in order to help them achieve the course goals and objectives. In a well designed course, activities are planned so that students will be engaged in multiple ways with the course material, the instructor, and each other.
It is important that learning activities engage students in various ways, including class discussions, team projects, research assignments, case studies, simulation exercises, practice quizzes, written exercises, peer reviews, etc. A key consideration for course activities is to have the interaction reflect the student’s voice and/or choice. In doing so, it gives students an opportunity to contribute to the learning community along with agency in choosing learning activities that best align to their learning preferences.
Explanation of Learning Activities within the Syllabus
The syllabus for an online course is typically more detailed than that provided for a resident instruction course, as it serves as an important vehicle for communicating course information, practices, and procedures that might have traditionally been stated verbally in a face-to-face classroom. The online course syllabus goes beyond adhering to Penn State Policy 43-00 by providing key information beneficial to students prior to starting the course including brief explanations of typical learning activities within the course, instructional response time and availability, and sometimes alignment of the learning activities to that of the objectives and assessments in the course.
You may want to consider notifying students of the following to describe instructor response time and availability in order to provide clear communication to the student:
- e-mail and discussion forum posting turnaround time
- time required for grade postings
- degree of instructor participation in specific discussions
- instructor availability via other media (phone, Zoom/Microsoft Teams, etc.)
- exceptions to normal standards
An example of an instructor’s plan for interacting with learners stated in the syllabus includes: “Communication and Response Time: I will respond to your email within 24 hours between Monday – Friday. I may sporadically check email over the weekend. I will return all grades within one to two weeks with one week being the ideal.”
Regular and Substantive Interaction
Online courses should be designed to provide learners with opportunities for regular and substantive interaction with their course instructor and peers. Earlier in this article it was touched upon about aspects of these types of interactions from the peer interaction perspective of focusing on including collaborative activities such as class discussions, team projects, and peer reviews. In the previous section, it was also touched upon about regular interaction with the instructor including the plan for instructor response time. In addition to regular interaction with the instructor, substantive interaction with the instructor is also needed within online courses. Substantive interaction is aligned with course objectives, amount of course content or subject matter, purpose and level of the course, and activity or assessment evaluation criteria.
Additional Resources
Additional resources for learning activities and learner interaction include:
- Quality Matters at Penn State: General Standard 5: Learning Activities and Learner Interaction – Includes sample language that can be used in a course that explains the instructor’s plan to interact with students.
- Pedagogical Approaches with Canvas
- Tools and Tips for Teaching and Learning
- Educause Course Activities and Assignments
This resource was created by Penn Ralston-Berg, Amy Kuntz, Donna Bayer, Danielle Harris, Brett Bixler, and Renee Ford. For more information about our quality standards, see Penn State Quality Assurance e-Learning Design Standards.
Page Contact: Penny Ralston-Berg