Abstract:

The emergence of the newer web synchronous conferencing has provided the opportunity for a high level of students to students and students to instructor interaction in online learning environments. However, it is not clear whether absence or presence of synchronous or live interaction will affect the learning processes and learning outcomes to the same extent for all learners with various characteristics, or whether other factors that compensate for the absence of the live interaction can be identified. This paper reports the results of a case study that investigated whether various communication methods (synchronous, asynchronous and combined) impact factors such as self-regulation, social presence, immediacy and intimacy, collaboration and interaction and learning process and outcomes. Multiple sources of data were used to test the consistency of the findings and to examine various factors across different communication methods. The results suggest that factors other than communication methods maybe responsible for learner self-regulation. There is, however, a relationship between student satisfaction, perception of social presence and immediacy and communication methods. The synchronous and combination methods appeared to provide the highest level of social presence followed by the cognitive and emotional support.

Keywords: