Attitudes Toward Interactivity in a Graduate Distance Education Program: A Qualitative Analysis

As distance education schools grow in popularity, contemporary educators are raising important instructional questions about quality of these programs. A vital question involves concerns about the level of interactivity or interaction between students and between teachers and students. Interactivity is a challenging subject because there are few research studies that address the issue. It is a dynamic entity that involves a number of important elements, but the researcher stressed three vital elements: communication, participation, and feedback.

The study highlights research results from a survey of students who were pursuing on-line graduate degrees (masters and doctoral). Important distance education issues are discussed such as feedback from professors and the quality of academic dialog during a computer-mediated class. The text offers a relevant analysis of interactivity that should help distance educators and administrators in their quest to develop programs that meet the needs of todayÍs adult learners.