FACULTY PERCEPTIONS ON REGULAR AND SUBSTANTIVE INTERACTION IN ASYNCHRONOUS ONLINE COURSES
Abstract
The need for quality interaction between faculty and students in distance education courses has been widely studied in the field of higher education. However, less research exists on how faculty can incorporate regular and substantive interaction (RSI) in their online asynchronous courses to differentiate distance education courses from correspondence courses. Using a quantitative research design, this study investigated the attitudes and opinions of the strategies used by faculty in online degree programs to achieve RSI in the delivery of asynchronous courses as well as opinions on faculty training to achieve RSI. The results of this study indicate that while faculty are aware of the need for, and the benefits of creating opportunities for timely and quality interaction, additional training and education may be warranted for faculty to feel confident in their efforts to achieve RSI in their distance education courses. This study adds to the knowledge on the importance of designing the delivery of distance education courses with the student experience in mind to create a learning environment that incorporates quality student-to-faculty and student-to-student interaction.