Fostering online student interaction using the OB3 web application for online study

Abstract

The School of Midwifery at CPIT in Christchurch is undertaking an action research study on midwifery students and blended learning that commenced in 2010. This paper focusses on one aspect of this research which is the student’s experience of social isolation whilst working through the online component of the blended delivery. In response the teaching team initiated an intervention as a result, and replaced the existing content authoring software tool with a system that enables students to engage and interact with each other more effectively. We subsequently adopted the OB3 web application which has ameliorated this problem to a large extent. This paper sets out to explain why the OB3 web application was chosen and what effect this has had in terms of the student’s learning and the educators’ teaching experiences.