You’ve probably noticed that all of the concepts and ideas presented require that the distance educator interact with the learners in the course. This brings us to another very important topic in distance education — that of interaction. The need for interaction in distance education is undeniable. Researchers and practitioners are unanimous in their endorsement of the role of interaction to encourage and motivate learners, to build a sense of community among participants, and to facilitate enhanced student performance in courses delivered at a distance.

As you create meaningful and engaging learning environments for distance learners, make sure to consider the interaction opportunities provided to students. Encourage distance learners to move beyond “just reading” to interacting with the content, instructor, peers, and media. Michael Moore, editor of The American Journal of Distance Education, provides insight into the concept of interactivity in distance education.

Michael Moore on interaction (1:13)
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In their book, Distance Education: A Systems View (1996), Moore and co-author Greg Kearsley identified a key challenge for distance educators:

"The single most important skill that all distance educators must develop is to make their students active participants in their educational program. It is not too difficult to present information over a distance but getting people to participate and making learning active at a distance is much harder" (p. 133).

Online instruction was less technologically advanced when Moore and Kearsley published their book in 1996, making learning an interactive process remains a challenge for educators who design instruction and teach online.

Interaction is a key method for creating active learning in distance education courses. The use of strategies where students “talk” and learn with each other and with the instructor creates human interaction.

Interaction serves a variety of purposes including:

• Communicating course logistics and technical issues.
• Initiating activities that warm-up and soften new social learning groups.
• Introducing concepts.
• Moderating learner-learner dialogues.
• Scaffolding critical thinking.
• Responding to mistakes in thinking or knowledge.
• Reinforcing learner progress.
• Reminding learners of assignment deadlines.

Are some uses of interaction better than others? Not necessarily. Knowing what, when, and how to use interaction is the more important question to answer. The aim is to use interaction this is efficient and educationally effective.

Saying that there should be interaction in a distance education course seems like common sense, since you have interaction in a traditional classroom, but it is something that instructional designers, instructors, and facilitators many times forget. Students expect interaction with the instructor and, hopefully, their peers. And most importantly, without meaningful interaction with the content, the only “learning” that might occur is short-term. 

Let's look first at the types of interaction.

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