Introduction
The growth of online education in the U.S. has grown exponentially over the recent 10 years as the contemporary brick and mortar classroom based education is in the process of being replaced by the virtual education model. Online education is becoming more prevalent in higher education in the United States (Hachey, Wladis, & Conway, 2012). More students are deciding to seek online or virtual education rather than attend the classroom learning environment offered by the classic university. The number of college and university students taking at least one online course increased from fall 2010 to 2011 by 570,000, with 6.7 million higher education students, or 32% of the total enrolled taking at least one online course in 2013 (Allen & Seaman, 2013).
With student ownership of PC and laptops at an all-time high, the need to attend the classroom in many ways has grown obsolete. The ability to connect to the online university from the comfort of your home brings advantages to many students who wish to remain online rather than attend a classroom to learn. The advent of computer-based and computer-assisted learning has made the “virtual classroom” possible and has introduced a variety of communication tools whose effectiveness is still being analyzed (Cook, Dickerson, Annetta, & Minogue, 2011; Irem, 2012; Zheng & Spires, 2011).
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"Adult Student Preferences for Communication Media in Online Classes: A Comparative Assessment".
However, the question has been posed with regard to the quality of the education received online as to whether the quality is the same or less than the classroom experience. One aspect of the increased prevalence of attendance in the virtual classroom that is of concern to educators as to whether students’ taking online courses receive the same quality of class interaction that they would receive by attending traditional on-campus courses (Suciati, 2011; Wang, 2011). Online learning allows students to learn at their own pace and when the student is able to connect online and review the material. There is no scheduled class time to which the student does not have to adjust to a schedule. Since learning involves an active process (Vygotsky, 1978; Wells, 1995; Wittrock, 1990), instructors and students can use four main communication tools to create interaction in online courses: video, chat, discussion boards, and e-mail (Wang, 2011).
The tools available to enable online learning have also been questioned with regard to their effectiveness to engage learning. There tends to be more interaction on the part of the student with regard to online discussion board postings and similar activities. The level of engagement with the online student may be more than with the in classroom experience. A gap exists in the research of students’ perspectives on the effectiveness of individual communication tools used in online classes, and students’ actual success with each tool (Wang, 2011). Looking at the effectiveness of these tools from the students’ perspective in terms of perceived success and actual success is necessary in continual online evaluation (Wang, 2011).
The link between student interaction and the learning process has been identified by researchers as important to the overall impact of learning. Researchers have found that interaction is critical to promote learning (Caliskan, 2009; Chang, 2009; Wang, 2011). However, with the rapid increase in higher education students taking online classes, educators are questioning the quality of online learning (Myers & Schiltz, 2012). For example, according to Revere and Kovach (2011), online education typically is not designed to foster engagement. The lack of interaction may be because of educators’ limited knowledge about which interaction opportunities aid students’ learning and should be included in a web-based course (Revere & Kovach, 2011). Educators question whether effective teaching and learning will be compromised in this new domain (Ukpokodu, 2010). Some educators may feel this way simply because their position as educators is in danger with the online education model which can easily replace them.
The popularity of virtual education has propelled the platform not only within the major brick and mortar universities, but as a business model for many 100% virtually located universities. Online education is continually increasing, but the environmental design is still developing (Revere & Kovach, 2011). Online teaching and learning still are underdeveloped educational media in many institutions, and educators are considering that effective teaching and learning will be compromised in this new domain (Ukpokodu, 2010). For example, online course design and pedagogical practice is still in its infancy as compared to face-to-face learning (Kupczynski, Gibson, Ice, Richardson, & Challoo, 2011). However, the infancy is defined as the function of time the virtual university has been in operation. The impact of online universities however is not in its infancy and is picking up as a mode for education throughout the U.S.
There do remain problems with virtual education that have not yet been improved upon and to which the classroom environment does remain more appropriate. A pedagogical dilemma for educators is how to foster interaction when students and teachers are separated (Rabe-Hemp, Woollen, & Humiston, 2009). This is important, since a lack of interaction in e-learning can be a hindrance to students’ progress, (Er, Ozden, & Arifoglu, 2009) professors can aim to overcome this limit by determining which tool students perceive as aiding students’ learning (Lo, 2009). The potential answer to defining the requisite solution of overcoming the limit of student aids is via analyzing students’ experiences, communication, and learning within online environments is an essential element of effective decision making for future e-learning classes (Palmer & Holt, 2010).
There are different reasons for students’ online success, and gaining insight into students’ experiences with different communication tools will allow instructors to incorporate tools that enhance students’ online experience and learning into their course design (Hamat & Embi, 2010; Palmer & Holt, 2010). Collaboration among students and faculty are a major cause of students’ success; instructors should consider this when designing or teaching an online course (Wang, 2011). Understanding students’ online experience will facilitate design of engaging and effective teaching strategies (Gallagher-Lepak, Reily, & Killion, 2009).
