Interactivity Demystified page 1 Interactivity Demystified: A Structural Definition for Distance Education and Intelligent CBT

Abstract

"Interactive " and "interactivity " are some of the most commonly used terms in instruction. For example, we are often told that multimedia (among other emerging technologies) is superior to "traditional " instruction, often because it is "interactive. " However, the term interactivity is a loosely defined term that, according to Rose (1999), seems to deconstruct itself when closely examined. Her insightful and provocative article contends that the term is filled with inconsistencies. In his keynote address at AACE, Thomas Reeves (1999) seemed to agree. He claimed that we do not have a very good definition of interactivity in instruction, and that "teacher-in-a box " has been the prevailing approach to the design of mediated instruction. Interactivity in Distance Education Distance education is the practical subset of education that deals with instruction in which distance and time are the criterial attributes; that is, student and teacher (and other students) are separated by distance and/or time. Interactivity in instruction under these time and distance constraints is a variable that is likely to be critical to the success of distance education.Many leaders in distance education echo Rose's and Reeves ' concerns more broadly: not only is 'interactivity ' poorly defined but, in general, distance education suffers from a lack of theory. Moore (1989) agrees that the term 'interaction ' has been misused and "carries so many meanings as to be almost useless unless specific submeanings can be defined and generally agreed upon. " The Institute for Higher Education Policy's recent review on distance education (1999) similarly cited the lack of a conceptual or theoretical framework as a major shortcoming in the study of distance education. The general lack of theory in distance education of has been cited by numerous researchers in AECT & RISE's recent update of the distance educatio