Involved but not engaged? Dynamic camera manipulations as resources for communicating participation in video-mediated educational interactions

Using multimodal conversation analysis, the present study investigates what interactional accomplishments result from ‘dynamic camera manipulations’ that participants employ in video-mediated educational interactions. The data come from an online English language course and an online crisis management training course. The findings show that the camera manipulations are often employed at transitional moments in interactions to set grounds for the current or forthcoming participation in the groupwork. By swivelling, setting, and flipping the camera, participants display involvement in an activity happening in their physical space. By adjusting the camera angle towards the talking heads arrangement (lifting, tilting, zooming or panning the camera), participants communicate increased involvement as well as engagement in the groupwork activity at hand. Overall, the camera manipulations constitute an important resource for communicating participation in the video-mediated learning environment.