| In distance education processes, interaction has a very important place in the learner's academic performance, attitude and motivation, participation in the lesson, and the acquisition of instructional goals and behaviors. The aims of this study, in which the interaction in synchronous and asynchronous distance education processes is investigated by the meta-synthesis method, are as follows: In synchronous and asynchronous distance education processes, for what purposes are the interactions established, through which features and functions can interactions be increased in distance education and what factors adversely affect this process when interactions are established?. According to these purposes, interaction in distance education is established for cognitive, affective, and cooperative purposes. Cognitive-oriented interaction is included question-answer, asking for and expressing opinions, giving feedback, making explanations, sharing information and experience, participating in discussions, and suggesting solutions and guidance. Affectively focused interaction, encouragement, and support, sharing of personal information show solidarity toward group members and provide emotional support. Collaborative interaction is determined by group qualifications (members and workspace), coordination among group members, distribution of tasks within the group (expertise), and group work processes. The categories that determine how the interaction frequency increase are: learner-teacher, learner-learner, learner-content, and multiple interactions. The most common in these categories are teaching strategies that encourage peer-to-peer counseling, course contents with detailed and explanatory demonstrations, the learner's feeling as being a part of a group, reducing social and psychological distance with a quick reply to the learner's e-mail, in-depth explanatory feedback on learner questions and comments, and using alternative web resources. Among the factors that negatively affect the interaction process are pedagogical inadequacy that negatively affects the cooperation between learners, negative experiences, slow connection or disconnection, conflicts between learners, insufficient time in an online class to interact due to the intensity of the content, and the dominant learner being at the forefront when the teacher can‘t manage the interaction process. |
Dr. Öğr. Üyesi Emine SU TONGA
Sami Şahin
