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Article Excerpt
This analysis examined the contrasts between online and traditional delivery methods in terms of the impact on student learning and satisfaction for similar course material. It built on the work of other researchers who have asked these types of questions for individual courses and relatively small sample sizes. However, this analysis expanded the number of courses under review and has drawn a larger sample of students than previous studies. The analysis sought to control for student and teacher characteristics, course content, assessment procedures, and so forth, and evaluate student's perceptions of interaction in the two delivery modes. It asked questions about whether varied types of interaction make a difference in a student's performance and satisfaction with the course.
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Web-mediated instruction is the fastest growing sector of distance education (U.S. Congressional Web-based Education Commission, 2000). Browser-based delivery has evolved in less than ten years from static HTML pages coupled with email and list-serves to integrated course management suites. Naturally, with the move from the traditional lecture hall to the cyber-classroom, there have been questions regarding instructional effectiveness and efficiency. Some studies of learning outcomes indicate that student performance levels remain about equal but that student perceptions of the course differ (Johnson, Aragon, Shaik, Palma-Rivas, 2000). While these studies have contributed to an overall understanding of the effectiveness of web-mediated instruction, they do little to explore the factors responsible.
One such factor is the level of course interaction. Learning theorist Laurillard (1997) posited that student-teacher interaction is a key component in academic learning. In her "Conversational Framework," she identified four types of activity essential to learning: Discursive, Adaptive, Interactive, and Reflective. Interactive activities refer to the "task/action/feedback" cycle students experience in their own world as they operate on the ideas presented by the instructor. Large class sizes, independent study, and some web-based courses forgo high levels of interaction to achieve instructional efficiency. If Laurillard is right, reduced interaction should result in reduced learning. To date, little empirical research, if any, has been done that correlate distance learning interaction levels with student outcomes. Such research could be an invaluable aid in the design of web-mediated instruction, especially in light of the communication technologies now available in web-ware.
PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
This study investigated course interaction and the impact such interaction may have had on student learning. Specifically, this study addressed the following research questions:
1. When controlling for student and teacher characteristics, course content, and course assessment, is there a general perception that online courses are less interactive than traditional? If so, do students also perceive a difference in the structure or support levels between online and traditional?
2. Does the level of course interaction explain a significant portion of the difference in student performance and student satisfaction? If so, what is the relative importance of each interaction modality (instructor-student, student-student, student-course structure, student support)?
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
Comparative Analyses of Traditional versus Online Instruction
The education literature is replete with comparative studies of traditional versus technologically mediated instruction. Such studies formed the basis of two meta-analyses that synthesizes research to date Clark (1983) and Liao (1998). These meta-analyses compared conventional lecture/demonstration versus interactive multimedia, computer-aided instruction, or computer simulations. Results were mixed. In his review and meta-analysis of comparative research on the impact of media on learning, Clark concluded, "media does not influence learning under any conditions" (p. 445). Liao, on the other hand, in a meta-analytic review of 35 comparative studies, found that hypermedia instruction had "moderately positive effects on student's achievement over traditional instruction" (p. 352). Except for art/music instruction, the positive effect held true regardless of subject area. Unfortunately, these meta-analyses predate or do not include Internet-mediated instruction. Nor do they focus on the factors, other than media, that contribute to differential learning outcomes.
Recent comparative literature on education delivery pits online instruction against the traditional classroom. Johnson et al., (2000) compared the online delivery of an equivalently structured graduate course in instructional design to the traditional lecture format. The same instructor taught both courses using the same content, activities, and assignments. Data on student perceptions of course quality were captured using a hybrid instrument developed from the Distance and Open Learning Scales (Harrison, Seeman, Behm, Saba, Molise, & Williams, 1991) and the Dimensions of Distance Education (Jegede, Fraser, & Curtin, 1995). Course grades and a student self-assessment of skills were used to measure learning outcomes. Study results revealed no significant difference in learning outcomes between the traditional and the online formats. Students in the traditional class tended to be more satisfied with the course and instructor than did their online counterparts.
Student Satisfaction Research
Measuring student satisfaction within the context of comparisons between traditional and online courses becomes closely related to discussions of how interactive technology-mediated online learning is compared to face-to-face courses. As studies of these phenomena have expanded in recent years, the invariable response has been that there is "no significance difference" in either approach to learning. People appear to learn as well through online methods, but they are somewhat...
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