Again, please let us know if you have ever heard anyone involved in distance education advocate reinforcing the isolation of students. Indeed, most distance educators are obsessed with overcoming the potential of student isolation and view interaction as a primary goal. Sandra R. Levin and Gregory L. Waddoups discuss the ways in which they create highly interactive learning environments between and among students. Student-selected groups allow students who know one another or work in close proximity to work together on group activities. However, students who are given the chance to self-select group members tend to pick friends or individuals they know which actually narrows their scope of learning, minimizing opportunities to share ideas with other kinds of students.
Some instructors allow students to choose a topic of interest and form groups based on that topic.
Instructors can also assign members to groups to ensure that each group has a particular mix of interests. While this grouping method can provide a wide range of expertise among its members, it can also lead to tension or personality conflicts. Levin and Waddoups have found that using different methods for creating groups throughout the online course provides a good opportunity for students to work with different students to minimize negative group dynamics. This example from Illinois is not particularly unique in the world of online education, but it shows in exquisite detail the deep concern for not just interaction in the abstract but for the different forms of social interaction that can contribute to a high-quality learning experience. There is no necessary relationship.