Given a course that could be taught at a distance or in a face to face environment, I would have to come down on the side of the classroom teaching being more effective than distance teaching in most cases. Different skills need to be developed by the teacher to be effective in the distance environment. While it is likely that any teacher can learn and use these skills to be effective in the distance environment, I believe that learner-instructor interaction is the most important interaction in the study of material that is new to the student.

Moore and Kearsley point out the primary obstacle to overcome is that cues classroom teachers rely on to read students are absent from most distant environments. How well can a teacher change an approach or activity to motivate students that are bored or are having problems with the technology or delivery if there is no visual clue that students are having problems? In the distance environment, students' open communication is required. Empowering learners in this way is a good thing, but it is unrealistic to believe that every distance student will open up right away. The authors mention that over time responses can be anticipated and planned for, but a great many things will still get by if there is no face to face contact.

Videoconferencing and class structures that require students meeting at a remote sight with a tutor or site coordinator can increase teacher effectiveness by allowing more student and teacher interaction. Videoconferencing can allow the teacher to see how students are reacting to the material, delivery and technology. Meeting at a remote site allows the site coordinator to fulfill part of their role as the eyes and ears for the teacher. Even if direct visual contact between the instructor and the learner is absent, the site coordinator can offer feedback to the instructor on the learners' reactions. Rather than having to anticipate and plan for all contingencies, this feedback allows the instructor to modify an approach or address problems in a timely manner.

Different approaches to learner-teacher, learner-content and learner-learner interaction can be seen in the review of two distance education courses. Motivation and Productivity is an undergraduate level business course in business communication. It is offered by Athabasca University in Canada. History of Western Civilization: The Ancient World, is an undergraduate level course offered by Foothill Community College in California.

A brief description of Motivation and Productivity taken from an on-line description follows: "Motivation and Productivity integrates theory and practice. It is an applied course, examining the effect of supervisory practices on employee motivation and introducing up-to-date supervisory techniques." This is a correspondence course that uses texts prepared by the institution. There is also tutorial support for this course.

The only interaction between the instructor and learner occurs by correspondence. The tutorial support offers the best opportunity for direct interaction with a content expert. The nature of the content and assignments indicates that a large amount of feedback will be given to the students. The final assignment is an applied project in which the learner uses the context of their work environment to apply the material presented in the class.

History of Western Civilization: The Ancient World is an online course. This is the first installment of a four-part world history curriculum. Online and printed texts form the bulk of the content. The course is designed for the use of an e-mail system.

The course webpage offers insight into the type of instructor-learner interaction that can be expected. The instructor uses an informal writing style to describe the different aspects of the course including his expectations and the types of problems the learners may encounter. It is an encompassing document that I would consider my first interaction with the instructor. This information indicates that a high degree of interaction with the instructor is possible if the students put in the effort. He points out one of the advantages of this Internet course is the increased office hour time available through asynchronous communication. An Online Teaching Assistant is also available to help learners.

Both courses offer a completely different type of learner-content experience. Motivation and Productivity relies on text materials designed by the university, and additional interaction with content may occur depending on the role of the tutor. By contrast, the history course offers three distinct types of interaction. The learner uses an online textbook created by the instructor, print based texts (one selected by the instructor and one selected by the student) and presentation of content by the instructor. The instructor also indicates that the Internet is a vast resource of visual media that can enhance the students' experience. This variety in media reflects Moore and Keasley's principle that variety is a good thing and that an effective distance education teacher will provide for a variety of interactions with content.

Learner-learner interaction is drastically different in these two courses. Athabasca University's correspondence course offers no learner-learner interaction. The delivery of the course simply does not allow it. This interaction is an integral part of Foothill's history course. E-mail is used to keep the student in touch with the instructor and with each other. It is hard to talk about learner-learner interactions without also discussing the instructor and his affect on this interaction. The instructor refers to the combination of instructor and students as community. He dedicates space in his syllabus to describe the different ways students can help each other learn. He reminds them that the more experienced can act as resources to the novice. He does not state this himself, but this is a documented method of constructing knowledge and increasing retention. The instructor is big on respect. He lays out ground rules and consequences for violations in communicating with each other. This aspect of his course, combined with his style should increase motivation.

The presence or lack of presence of the three types of interaction discussed here indicates that there is variety in the way they are addressed. The correspondence format does not allow for any learner-learner interaction, and the business course can be successful without it. The variety of interactions in the history course is designed in by the instructor, and they are important because they enhance the learning experience and provide motivation. To support learner-instructor interactions, both of these courses rely on the student to provide information on problem areas. If students are not open, the instructors will rely on their skills as interpreters and content experts to redirect students when they encounter problems.

For additional information on the courses mentioned above visit

http://www-icdl.open.ac.uk/icdl/export/northame/canada/athabasc/cour/orgb319.htm
A course description for Motivation and Productivity

http://www.omnibusol.com/ancientcourse.html
A course description, class webpage and syllabus for Ancient History