The Importance of Interaction in Web-Based Education: A Program-level Case Study of Online MBA Courses

Though interaction is often billed as a significant component of successful online learning, empirical evidence of its importance as well as practical guidance or specific interaction techniques continue to be lacking. In response, this study utilizes both quantitative and qualitative data to investigate how instructors and students perceive the importance of online interaction and which instructional techniques enhance those interactions. Results show that instructors perceive the learner-instructor and learnerlearner interactions as key factors in high quality online programs. While online students generally perceive interaction as an effective means of learning, they vary with regard to having more interaction in online courses. Such variations seem to be associated with differences in personality or learning style. The present study also shows that instructors tend to use technologies and instructional activities that they are familiar with or have relied on in traditional classroom settings. When it comes to learning more sophisticated technologies or techniques, instructors vary significantly in their usage of new approaches. The rapid development of computer and Internet technologies has dramatically increased the ways of teaching and learning. Among these new approaches, online Webbased education has become a promising field. In the United States alone, the number of students enrolled in distance education classes has increased from 753,640 in the 19941995 academic year, to an estimated number of 3,077,000 in the 2000-2001 academic year (Lewis, Alexander, & Farris, 1997; Waits & Lewis, 2003). While increasing enrollment is certainly desirable from an administrative perspective, there is a growing concern about program quality. How can universities guarantee quality online programs when in the midst of such explosive growth? What are the exemplary pedagogical experiences that can help establish a high quality online program? These questions are not new in the field; however, answers to these questions are slow in emerging. Many educators point out the importance of interaction in high quality online education. For instance, Shale and Garrison (1990) state that interaction is “education at its most fundamental form” (p. 1). In addition, Palloff and Pratt (1999) argue that the “keys to the learning process are the interactions among students themselves, the interactions between faculty and students, and the collaboration in learning that results from these interactions” (p. 5). A sage in the field of distance education, Moore (1992) points out that increasing the interaction between learner and instructor can lead to a