Abstract:

The first part of this paper discusses about following questions related to interaction in distance education: defining and valuing interaction; goals of interaction, different classifications of interaction, and relation between interaction and communication. There are authors that define interaction in different context, as instructional exchange, computer-mediated communication, or social/psychological connections. What is the difference between interaction and interactivity? Moore and Kearsley (1996) described three forms of interaction in distance education: interaction between students and teachers, interaction between students, and the interaction of students with content. Anderson and Garrison (1998) have expanded the discussion on interaction to include three other forms of interaction: teacher-teacher, teacher-content, and content-content, while Hillman et al. (1994) described the learner-interface interaction. Many authors have emphasized interaction and communication as central to any concept of distance education. Among them, Baath, who is particularly associated with an emphasis on two-way communication, and Holmberg with his theory of interaction and communication, also known as theory of guided didactic conversation.

The next part is dealing with interaction dependence of many factors, including: technology, time, number of people, and location (distance); degrees of interactivity etc. Different technologies allow various degrees of interaction. Interaction can be synchronous or asynchronous—at the same time, or at different times. The author is trying to find out what types and amounts of interaction would be more effective in different forms of distance education. The other important thing is how to facilitate different types of interaction. Moreover, how to make different types of interaction to be stimulating, engaging and enjoyable for both students and teachers.

Later, the author proposes answers to the following questions: How we can compare interaction in traditional (face-to-face) education and interaction in distance education? How new technologies can improve the quality of different types of interaction? How we can combine different types of interaction in a proper way? What are the main benefits of interaction? etc.

The final part of this paper includes some conclusions and recommendation related with interaction in distance education. Interaction is foundational to effective learning both in traditional education and in distance education. It is important learners to be able to interact with each other, with resources of instruction, and with their teachers. Interaction should be available, appropriate and relevant. Distance education organizations need to design and organize courses to ensure that there is each type of interaction and that they provide the type of interaction that is most suitable for the various teaching tasks for different subject areas for learners at different stages of development.

Keywords:

Interaction, distance education, communication.