Abstract
Designing interaction components in Web-based courses is important to ensure an effective learning environment. The author provides a definition of interaction and describes four types of interactions: learner-content, learner-learner, learner-instructor, and learner-interface. Finally, strategies to enhance the four types of interaction when developing and delivering Web-based course are discussed.
One form of distance education that is proliferating is the use of a Web-based medium for learning. Web-based courses have several significant advantages over the traditional classroom course. First, unlike the traditional classrooms where synchronous meetings require students and teachers to gather at the same time to interact and participate in learning, Web-based courses usually do not require a face-to-face interaction component. Second, because students may not need to meet at the same time to participate in course work, the Web-based format is convenient and flexible. Finally, courses offered via a Web-based platform negate the need to travel to a specific place (eg, library, classroom) to access coursework.
A Web-based course generally is delivered entirely via the Internet. This is a distinction from a Web-enhanced course that uses the Web as a supplemental learning medium. Furthermore, Web-based instruction (WBI) can be conducted without the need to have students and teachers present together at the same place/time. 1 Consequently, students can participate in course work wherever an Internet connection is available. The absence of the temporal or spatial restrictions found in the traditional classroom may make Web-based courses more appealing to students who have busy family lives or hectic work schedules. Such freedom provide students with more flexibility regarding when and where they choose to partake in their studies.
In the traditional classroom setting, students and instructors must be present physically at the same time during some portion of the course. The physical presence allows both students and instructors to have not only a visual impression, but also a real, concrete physical sense of each others' presence. The Internet format excludes physical interaction-which may have an impact on learning. 2 In the Web-based classroom, this visual and physical stimulation must be simulated through electronic means. Additionally, courses delivered in a Web-based format require students to learn the course content and to interact with the technology through which it is delivered. The combination of the absence of face-to-face meetings, the asynchronous nature of a Web-based course, and the necessity of learning the technological medium create challenges when developing the necessary interaction component of Web-based classes.