Understanding Participation in Online Courses: A Case Study of Online Interaction

Abstract

This chapter reports the results of the case study of online interaction. Prior to conducting the case study, the author conducted a pre-study to understand how students and instructors view the problems they face in online courses. After that, the author used Hillman et al. and Moore’s four types of interaction and Henri’s analytical model as a framework to guide the investigation in order to understand the nature of interaction in an online course. The results of this study showed that combination three of the types of interaction and the analytical model help teaching and learning become more effective. Furthermore, this study provides recommendations and practices that would be helpful for online instructors to design and deliver online courses effectively.