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Making interactivity count: best practices in video conferencing.

Article Excerpt
Distance education opportunities continue to gain popularity. As postsecondary institutions compete for students, an emphasis on delivering programs and courses effectively through distance technologies is essential to maintain enrollment figures and attract interest in distance learning programs and courses. In order to deliver courses that are effective, educators need to concentrate on factors that contribute to the effectiveness of the delivery method. One such factor involves emphasizing interactivity in distance learning environments. Educators interested in maximizing interactions may inadvertently focus on the quantity of interactions believing that this will contribute to increased interactions with students. However, delivering courses in that manner may leave educators wondering why this approach does not measure up to expectations. This article provides educators with a source of best practices and strategies that accentuate the "quality" of interactions in a video conferencing environment.

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With the multitude of technological capabilities available to educators today, the potential to create distance learning environments that emulate the traditional classroom and maximize interactions has become practicable. As learners search for universities that offer distance learning courses, institutions of higher education and instructors are facing increasing pressure to provide educational programs that will increase student enrollment figures and captivate learners' attention.

Universities recognize students' needs for distance learning options, as the development of distance learning courses are on the rise in higher education (Murphy, 1999). "In a recent national survey, researchers found that the public increasingly expects educational opportunities to be available off-campus" (Christenson et. al., 1995). The National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES), (2000) revealed that enrollments in distance education classes have more than doubled, increasing from 753,640 in 1994-1995 to 1,632,350 in 1997-1998. To remain competitive educational institutions are trying to meet this demand by increasing online and other distance learning course offerings. As the growth continues, the need to create distance learning courses and programs that are effective should not be overlooked. To retain students in the courses and programs, distance learning instructors will need to identify methods and strategies that capitalize upon learner satisfaction (Murphy, 1999). A critical predictor of satisfaction with distance education is the students' perception of overall interaction in the class (Fulford & Zhang, 1993). In an effort to deliver programs that are effective for all learners, the literature has identified a need to understand the implications of interactivity in a distance learning environment and its impact on an individual's learning. Interactions in a distance learning environment that include learner-learner, learner-instructor, learner-content, and learner-interface contribute to the overall effectiveness of the course and the satisfaction of all learners (Zirkin & Sumler, 1995).

Educators developing distance courses may overlook technology's impact on interactions. Hillman, Willis, and Gunawardena (1994) maintained that learner-interface acts as a "confounding intermediary" in other types of interactions. This article examines the impacts of technology upon interactions in video conferencing, and how it influences learner-learner, learner-content, learner-instructor, and learner-interface interactions.

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

Claims have been made that the level of interaction in a traditional classroom can be duplicated and that students' experiences in the distance environment are similar to experiences in a regular classroom (Simonson 1994; Sorenson & Baylen, 1999). However, distance education has an ever-present obstacle in which the instructor is often not present. This transactional distance can impact the level of interactions in the course and create an "informalization" of the learning environment (Moore, 1993; Burkhart-Kriesel, 1994). This informalization could decrease the overall effectiveness of the course. Distance learning instructors may want to identify various methods and strategies that permit them to maximize interactions and ensure learner satisfaction. Sorenson and Baylen (1999) declared, "By looking at interactivity in the distance environment, educators can identify instructional strategies that are effective and student behaviors to encourage" (p. 4).

The following research questions were presented to identify effective strategies or best practices...

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