I attended the Annual Learning and Teaching Conference 2008, NTU's internal learning and teaching conference.
I attended a session on engagement and interaction with e-learning methods. Within this there seemed to be an assumption that the students who were engaging (in this case, posting to an online forum) were fine, were learning and we should worry about the ones who are not interacting. The seminar focussed in part on how to encourage interaction between students and with the tutor.
I do not think that because a student is not interacting it means they are not learning.
In my last two classes I have had two students listening to me when I lecture. One is outwardly keen and talkative and operates the calculator and helps the process along. The other shrinks into his chair when I talk to him. Afterwards, they both work through the exercises at a similar rate and do similar things right and wrong. They have both learned the technique (and in mathematics I have the luxury of instant feedback when they get the questions right or wrong). I am not concerned at all about the student who doesn't talk back to me or ask questions "in group". He is obviously benefiting from observing the interaction between myself and the other student.
I understand that if both students were asking informative questions I would feel more confident they are following what I am saying, that in a larger group that would become more acute and that in a subject without the instant feedback of a problems class this might be all the feedback I am going to get from them, but I would not be comfortable putting this student in a position he isn't comfortable with and potentially running over his preferred learning style just to satisfy my sense of whether the students are understanding me.
It reminds me of myself in school. I was not one of the students who would naturally talk in front of the class. When a question was asked I would generally not put up my hand (unless no one else did). Generally, at my first parents evening with a new teacher in maths or science I would be reported as "too quiet" and told that it was vital I speak up more in class or I risked falling behind. I never took this advice. At the second parents evening with that teacher (some time later; usually after some summative assessment) it would be reported that I was a little quiet but obviously a strong student destined to do well. After the teacher had some test results, it seems to me, they were content with my progress. In the absence of such results all they had is whether I was speaking up in lessons, so this is what they based their opinion of my academic abilities on. The one is not necessarily a good indicator of the other and though I can see some cases where it might be the best available it should not be relied on.
