also revealed that significant improvements in test scores were not apparent regardless of whether or not amusing visual stimuli were used. The findings imply that showing funny images as a stimulus enhances students' affective states in student-teacher interactions during online learning activities.Keywords: positive visual stimuli, in-class question, online learning, synchronous learning platform , funny image
IntroductionAlthough students are familiar with watching video on demand, they lack experience in formal synchronous learning (Cole, 2009;Warden, Stanworth, Ren, & Warden, 2013). As noted by Warden et al.'s (2013) nine-year action study, creating social interactions within a virtual space that emulates a physical classroom remains challenging. In other words, we cannot expect that simply making technology available to teachers and students will automatically translate to selfdirected learning (Y.-M. Huang, Huang, & Wu, 2014; Y.-M. Huang, Huang, Liu, & Tsai, 2013;Sieber, 2005). Therefore, as the instructor does in a conventional physical classroom, synchronous online classes must also be well managed in regard to motivating students to participate (Warden et al., 2013).In order to keep abreast of student learning in a physical classroom, using in-class questions is an efficient instructional strategy. This strategy prevents one-sided communication and gives teachers an opportunity to fulfill student needs (Y.-M. Huang, Liu, Chen, & Wen, 2014;Woolfolk, 2004). Moreover, learners exposed to in-class questions will concentrate their attention on the course unit and have a chance to immediately integrate newly learned knowledge into their existing base of knowledge (Chan, Tam, & Li, 2011). In summary, in-class questions are considered to be an effective instructional strategy to remarkably promote class interaction between teachers and students (Williamson Sprague & Dahl, 2009).Moreover, some studies have found that discussing in-class questions in synchronous learning is beneficial. N. S. Chen, Wei, and Huang (2013) found that synchronous questions (such as quizzes, chat rooms, and oral communication) can provide timely and interactive feedback leading to both improved teaching and learning. Teachers can collect instructional information though synchronous questions that allow immediate changes in the pedagogy applied during instructional activities in order to advance real-time adaptivity to the level at which learners are understanding the material being taught at the time. Students receiving immediate feedback have opportunities for reflection and can therefore improve their performance. Also, Yang (2011) pointed out that a key element in successful learning through computer-mediated communication is to engage students in student-teacher interactions for online learning activities. Yang (2011) thus proposed a study for engaging students in online learning by developing in-class questions intended to enhance student-teacher interactions. & Robson, 1998). In other words, test anxiety and pressure are pa...