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As new technologies become more commonplace in the support of instruction, new questions are being raised concerning the effectiveness of traditional pedagogical methods and learning environments. Traditionally, distance education became synonymous with correspondence courses. Today, however the designer of online learning programs has a myriad of choices ranging from synchronous to asynchronous delivery systems. In addition, research on the effects of distance learning systems has traditionally focused on student outcomes. Given the complexities of online education, research into this new domain of instructional delivery should take a variety of forms and seek to answer a wide range of questions. This article illustrates the need for greater complexity in basic research on online education programs by exploring the effects of two different delivery technologies on the nature of interaction.
Ahern et al. (Wed,) studied this question.