Education, Distance Online Education and Interaction Introduction This review examines literature relating to distance education, online education, and online interaction. Online learning, while perceived by some as a new phenomenon that owes its existence to the expansion of the Internet, has actually been on the minds and in the practice of some in higher education long before the boom of the Internet in the 1990s. Many educators were exploring online delivery of instruction, using technologies such as bulletin board systems and e-mail, in the 1970s and 1980s, years before most people had even heard of the Internet. These early adopters viewed these new computer-mediated communication (CMC) technologies as a way to improve or extend distance education opportunities to students who cannot or choose not to enroll in traditional classes. These CMC technologies are also seen as a way to create additional learning opportunities for their students in traditional classes. Theories relating to how people interact and communicate with each other via these technologies are appropriate for understanding and improving online education. Distance Education Verduin and Clark, (1991, p. 8), citing Rumble (1986), note that, The term distance education may have first appeared in the 1892 catalogue of the University of Wisconsin and was reportedly used by the director of the University of WisconsinExtension, William Lighty, in 1906. They go on to state that a definition of distance education is, any formal approach to learning in which a majority of the instruction occurs while educator and learner are at a distance from one another (Verduin & Clark, p. 8). This definition is typical in that it specifically situates learner and instructor at a
physical distance from one another. For instance, Berge and Collins (1995) define distance education as, the delivery of the educational process to receivers who are not in proximity to the person or persons managing or conducting the process (p. 14). In most cases, this model creates images of solitary learning, individuals poring alone over texts and completing assignments that would be seen only by a distant instructor. These early forms of distance education made use of text-based materials and the postal service to deliver those materials to students. When interaction between the instructor and the student existed, it was in the form of text messages relayed by the postal service. This came to be known as the correspondence model of distance education (Verduin & Clark, 1986). This correspondence model of distance education persisted for many years and was adapted as a format for other media, including television and radio in the United States and Australia (Lewis, Whitaker & Julian, 1995, in Berge & Collins, [Eds.]). In these distance-learning initiatives, television or radio transported educational content from the instructor to the student. If there was interaction between the student and instructor, it was usually in the form of text carried by the postal service. In this model, there is little opportunity for students to interact with each other. Another model of distance learning exists. Sometimes called the multimedia model and occasionally also referred to as a factory model because of its division of labor in the design of the delivery system, the creation of content and the development of the high quality multimedia resources are the primary content transmission vehicle. (Lewis et al., 1995, in Berge & Collins [Eds.], p. 15). The British Open University system follows this model. Interestingly, while the materials used in this system of distance education can serve as stand-alone resources, students in the British Open University often gather
together in study centers and thereby have opportunity for face-to-face interaction. Meyen, Tangen, and Lian (1999) note that the development process used to create online instruction requires content matter expertise provided by the faculty member and technical expertise which is most often provided by a technical developer. They point out that the process draws upon experiences and techniques drawn from previous development of CD-ROM, television, film and other media, although the technologies used in creating and delivering online content are different in many ways from those previously used. Transitioning from Distance to Online Education Distance education has been gaining an increasing role in American education. This is clear from the findings presented by the National Center for Education Statistics in a 1999 report that states, distance education appears to have become a common feature of many postsecondary education institutions and that, by their own accounts, it will become only more common in the future (Lewis, Snow, Farris, Levin, & Green, 1999, p. vi). This same report shows that 78% of public four-year institutions and 62% of public two-year institution report that they have some distance education offerings (Lewis et al., 1999, p. iii). This report notes that the difference between distance education and online education is sometimes hard to extract from the data. However, they state, The percentage of institutions using asynchronous Internet-based technologies, however, nearly tripled, from 22 percent of institutions in 1995 to 60 percent of institutions in 1997-98 (Lewis et al., 1999, p. vi). From this, it seems that distance education is becoming online education and online education is becoming an important part of the course catalogue in more and more institutions. Others make similar
observations about online learning. McIsaac and Gunawardena (2001) wrote on online education, What was once considered a special form of education using nontraditional delivery systems is now becoming an important concept in mainstream education (McIsaac & Gunawardena, 2001, in Jonassen [Ed.], p. 403). Online education is different than distance education because it relies on specific technologies, namely online communications technologies. The activity of education is largely about communication, and educators have recognized that these new technologies supporting communication are superior to those of earlier forms of distance learning. Many have begun working to exploit the new technologies for teaching and learning. One of the things that makes these new technologies superior to postal delivery, for instance, is that these new communication technologies offer the possibility of making distance learning more like traditional learning, more interactive and therefore, perhaps, more accepted by mainstream academia. Interaction Recognizing that the increased interaction possibilities that exist because of the capabilities of the technologies used to support online education need to be better understood, some have discussed ways of conceptualizing and researching these interactions. Moore (1989) proposed three types of interaction that should be considered in distance education: learner-content interaction, learner-instructor interaction, and learner-learner interaction (p. 1). Obviously, learner-content interaction is essential and has always been a part of distance learning. As Moore (1989) states, The oldest form of distance teaching that aimed to facilitate interaction with content was the didactic text (p. 2). Online education certainly has no shortage of methods for facilitating learner-
content interaction, but it can be argued that online learning methods dont offer vastly different options for learner-content interaction than other forms of distance learning. Text has always been a part of distance learning. Previously, the text was presented in the form of print on paper and with online methods it is frequently text on screen. Online learning methods allow for streaming audio and video presentations which can be a way to ensure learner-content interaction, but distance learning offered similar options through the use of radio, television, cassette recordings, video recordings and laser disks. It might even be argued that these older media offered higher fidelity than is currently available with Internet technologies. Radio and television offer very rapid access to materials. There is no need to wait for postal delivery of a unit of learning. However, in order to interact with radio and television content, learners had to schedule time to be in proximity to a radio or television at time of broadcast. Technologies such as audio and video recordings offered more flexibility to students. Not only could students interact with content at a time of their own choosing, but these technologies also allowed students to stop, restart, and even repeat their access to content. the However, delivery modes such as audio and video recordings required delivery of the physical object that held the content. Online methodologies may have an advantage since access to content is potentially as timely as that provided by radio and television, as well as having the flexibility of recordings so that students are able to interact with content at time of their choosing. Learner-instructor interaction is, regarded as essential by many educators, and as highly desirable by many learners... (Moore, 1989, p. 2) and is worthy of consideration in its implementation in distance learning. In correspondence models of
distance education, learner-instructor interaction might have been an aspect of the instructional design through exchange of materials between the learner and instructor via postal delivery. In some models, two-way radio and the telephone have been used to make learner-instructor interaction possible. Moore (1989) points out that, The frequency and intensity of the teachers influence on learners when there is learnerteacher interaction is much greater than when there is only learner-content interaction (p. 3). While it may be argued that some forms of distance learning offer more individualized learner-teacher interaction and thus the interaction has greater meaning, the time delays caused by slow delivery of printed materials may reduce that effect. Where synchronous technologies such as two-way radio and telephone might be used, the time delay would not be a factor. The importance of interaction to students has been reported in empirical studies. Baynton (1992), in a study of learner control, found that interaction themes emerged in responses to open-ended items (p. 25). These themes included responses that indicated that students do look to instructors or tutors for, encouragement, support, and recognition (Baynton 1992, p. 26). Learner-instructor interaction is certainly facilitated by Internet technologies that make it possible for instructors to easily communicate in a number of media, asynchronously and synchronously as necessary. It may be that the range of communication tools that support interaction has made it possible to more closely replicate traditional educational practices and thus has led to a greater acceptance of online learning in academe. This view is consistent with Keegans (cited by Moore, 1990) premise that one of two approaches to distance learning is, Distance education is a teaching mode. With the development of new communication technology it will gradually merge with conventional provision so
that the distinctions between the two become blurred (p. 12). McLuhan (1969) observed, One medium of expression modifies another, as one language is changed by contact with another (p. 60). It seems that as face-to-face classes adopt more online methodologies that are associated with online learning, and as online learning replicates practices associated with face-to-face learning, online learning will become even more accepted. It seems that this is especially true because the possibility exists for learnerlearner interaction in online learning. Moore (1989), called learner-learner interaction, a new dimension of distance education and predicted that this new dimension would be a challenge to the practice in the 1990s (p. 4). In illustration of this, Moore (1989) cites Phillips, Santoro and Kuehn (1988) and their use of, distance education techniques, using recorded video and computer interaction to achieve higher performance in group behaviors than they had been able to obtain in live groups (p. 4). This acceptance of these communication technologies in traditional face-to-face education practices has no doubt helped make online learning seem more like traditional education than previous forms of distance learning. Learner-learner interaction is also more an important part of instructional design, both in distance learning and in face-to-face learning, because of increased acceptance of learning approaches such as constructivism, which is a teaching approach that emphasizes learner self-construction of knowledge through experience. Examining interaction may be an important way to better understand some aspects of distance learning, including online learning. The research in this area has yielded some interesting findings. Fulford and Zhang (1993) found that overall
perceptions of interaction were highly predictive of student satisfaction in an interactive television-facilitated distance learning setting (p. 14). Interestingly, this study found that overall perceptions of interaction were a better predictor than perceptions of personal interaction. That is to say that students who perceived that the class was interactive were more satisfied with the class even if they themselves did not perceive that their interaction in the class was especially high (Fulford & Zhang, 1993). This is interesting since it would suggest that instructional designers not only need to consider interaction as an important part of a distance learning environment, but that they also need to consider making interaction apparent to all learners, even those who are not experiencing high levels of interactivity. Another ...