Assessment of the quality of interaction in distance learning programmes utilizing the Internet or interactive television: perceptions of students and lecturers

Abstract

WebCT, a web-based virtual learning environment (VLE) and Interactive TV (ITV) are relatively new technologies that are used to deliver distance education at the Faculty of Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University. This study explores how effective current approaches to instructional design and interaction have been in utilizing these two technologies to support interaction and what lessons can be learnt. Five focus-group interviews were held with students and lecturers to assess the perceived quality of student–lecturer/student–student interactions. All students were invited to complete a questionnaire at the end of every module to assess their perceptions of interaction. Interaction was highly valued by students and lecturers participating in distance-learning programmes utilizing either VLE or ITV. Students rated courses using both technologies as moderately interactive. Significant differences between VLE and ITV were detected in student–lecturer and student–student interactions, use of additional modes of communication, instructional design, technological interactivity and social rapport activities. The groups did not differ across a number of likely barriers to interaction and both also reported the need for more flexible and better paced instructional designs.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Bob Mash

BOB MASH currently works as a family physician and is the programme manager for postgraduate distance education courses in Family Medicine and Primary Care at Stellenbosch University. He is the editor of the Handbook of Family Medicine and has special interests in the fields of mental health, chronic care, communication skills and distance education.

Debbie Marais

DEBBIE MARAIS is a registered dietitian, lecturing in community nutrition, and is coordinator of the postgraduate programme within the Department of Human Nutrition (including Master's and PhD and Continued Professional Development opportunities). Her areas of interest lie in education, health promotion and the effective utilization of IT in education.

Stephanie Van Der Walt

STEPHANIE VAN DER WALT is a lecturer in Community Health Nursing Science and Primary Health Care. She obtained her Master's degree with a distinction in 2002, exploring the experience of TB through the eyes of the patient. She is currently busy with her PhD through the Department of Education.

Idilette Van Deventer

IDILETTE VAN DEVENTER currently holds a post of Advisor: Higher Education at the Centre for Teaching and Learning, University of Stellenbosch. Her teaching career has spanned three decades and includes primary, secondary and higher education institutions. Her fields of expertise include teaching and learning in higher education, education management and gender equity.

Margot Steyn

MARGOT STEYN currently holds the post of Advisor: Higher Education at the Centre for Teaching and Learning at Stellenbosch University. Previously she was a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Chemistry at the University of South Africa, a distance-teaching institution. Her fields of expertise include teaching and learning in higher education, design of computer-aided learning materials and research aspects of organometallic chemistry.

Demetre Labadarios

DEMETRE LABADARIOS is a Professor and Head of the Department of Human Nutrition at Stellenbosch University and the Tygerberg Academic Hospital, an elected Fellow of the American College of Nutrition and holds the J. Kinney International Award Committee in Nutrition Research, and the Albert Strating prize for Preventive Medicine of the South African Academy of Science and Arts.