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This research explored the existence and importance of interaction in online courses as perceived by online learners and instructors. The study was based on data from online students and instructors in the fall 2002 semester at Mid-Atlantic Community College(1). Two web-based surveys were used to collect data. Eighty-eight of 267 online students completed the survey, for a response rate of 33%. The study was based on constructivist theory which suggested that students learn by actively participating in the learning process through interaction with the instructor, other students, and course materials. This interaction was measured by different online interaction modalities and a five-step interactivity model developed by Salmon. This model suggested that the intensity of interactivity involves five steps: access and motivation, online socialization, information exchange, knowledge construction, and development. In addition, student characteristics (age and gender) and pedagogical variables (online experience and learning preferences) were included. Findings of the survey revealed that students perceived a moderate to high level of availability in a majority of the interactivity modalities. The highest interaction was reported between students and instructor through email communication and feedback on students? work by instructors. In addition, student ratings of the availability of different interaction modalities in online instruction were correlated with their perceptions of the importance of these modalities. Students reported satisfaction with the level of interactivity in their online courses. In contrast, responses to Salmon?s model revealed a high level of unavailability of the various interactivity criteria. The result of instructor survey, based on 13 responses, revealed that online instructors perceive interaction with students through email communication and providing feedback on their work were important. They did not perceive many of the interactivity criteria introduced by this research to be important. Therefore, they reported these criteria as unavailable in their online courses. This study is important because the extent of systematic research on availability and importance of online interaction is limited. (1)- To preserve the anonymity of respondents, this name is a pseudonym. / Ph. D.

The purpose of this study was (a) to determine which student support service resources should be included in an Online Wellness Resource Center (OWRC) available within an online course and (b) to create a paper-based schematic for such a prototype. To address these research questions, a needs assessment was conducted to determine whether learners perceived a need for access to wellness resources. Finding that they did express this need, the assessment then identified the specific wellness resources to include in the OWRC. A schematic was then created for OWRC development, incorporating the results of the needs assessment. The specific contribution of this study is its ability to provide a model that other institutions can follow to establish their own OWRC / Ph. D.

This study investigated self-regulated learning behaviors and their relationships with academic performance in web-based courses. The participants (n = 106) were distance learners taking humanities and technical coursed offered by a community college in Virginia. Data was collected using 28 items from the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire and 5 demographically related items. Data analysis included factor analyses, multivariate analysis of variance, and regression analyses. The employment of self-regulated learning behaviors differed between humanities and technical courses (p = .0138). Time and study environment management (p = .0009) and intrinsic goal orientation (p = .0373) categories reported significant findings in their relationship to academic performance. The factors affiliated with time and study environment management and intrinsic goal orientation were used as predictors in the development of a mathematical formula used to predict academic success in a web-based course. These predictors explain 21 percent of the variance in the academic success rating calculated using the mathematical formula developed from this study. / Ph. D.

This study investigated the perceptions and actions of selected distance educators on academic procrastination in telecommunications-based distance education programs in higher education. Data were collected via mail survey from a sample of 276 telecommunications-based distance education programs identified by two national data sources. Specifically, subjects were asked to provide information on: the extent to which they perceived academic procrastination to be a problem in their program, the data they collected on academic procrastination, and the strategies they used to com.bat academic procrastination. Responses from 143 programs (135 program directors and 297 faculty) indicated that 95 percent of the distance educators believed student procrastination was a problem and 37.5 percent believed it was a serious problem. However, distance educators' data collecting efforts on academic procrastination were neither extensive nor systematic. The data that they reported collecting came from traditional sources and unsophisticated methods of data collection. The sources and unsophisticated methods of data collection. The distance educators did report using a variety of strategies to combat academic procrastination. These strategies had little relationship to the distance educators' perception of academic procrastination or the data they collected on procrastination. Distance educators tended to add more structure and control to reduce procrastination as opposed to rewarding students for early completion of assignments. This study indicated that distance educators were sufficiently concerned about academic procrastination to warrant further investigation. Focus should be placed on comparing programs with low procrastination against programs with high procrastination, perceptions and actions of distance learners on academic procrastination, and determining what data collecting techniques and strategies to reduce procrastination are most effective. / Ed. D.

A need exists for the State of Virginia to have a data network for its televised distance education program. A combination of a terrestrial and a satellite data network can be utilized for the purpose. The network is analyzed and its strengths and weaknesses are presented. A data protocol has been written to control such a network. Delays and throughput of the network have been calculated. The leased telephone line network can be utilized for transferring data from distant class sites to Blacksburg. Six pages of text for 75 off-campus students can be transferred from distant class sites to Blacksburg using this network, in one hour. When the terrestrial network is used for voice and data communication at the same time, a delay of approximately 30 seconds is introduced between two voice connections. This delay is too high for a distance education network. The satellite data network should be utilized for transferring data from Blacksburg to all distant class sites. A very good 19.2 kbps carrier is available with bit error rate (BER) of 1E-6 or less. A very small aperture terminal (VSAT) network has also been proposed for the purpose. / Master of Science

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The purpose of this study was to identify the status and challenges of online distance education programs in post-secondary institutions in Ghana. This study was a replication of a similar study conducted in Kenya in 2009, at the University of Nairobi and Kenyatta University. This present study was conducted with an online survey using Google survey assessment. The survey requested responses from six post-secondary institutions in Ghana. Out of a total of 450 projected student responses, 309 responses were received with a 69% participation rate. A total of 14 responses were received for instructors out of a projected 30 resulting in 47% participation rate. And for administrators, 8 responses were received out of a projected 12 resulting in a 67% participation rate. Overall the study revealed that Ghana post-secondary institutions have established and incorporated online distance education into their programs, offering both online and blended courses. Some of these institutions established regional centers across the country and incorporated foreign instructors into their programs. The survey also revealed that students were satisfied with the overall online distance education program in their institutions which included the level of instruction, feedback and evaluation. However, there were still challenges revealed from the study that included the high cost of education, frequent power outages, school stoppages as a result of instructor strikes and the need to restructure courses to include projects.