| One aspect of online courses being evaluated by faculty and instructional designers is the quality of class interaction for students taking online courses. The advent of computer-based and computer-assisted learning has made the "virtual classroom" possible and has introduced a variety of communication tools whose effectiveness is still being analyzed. The specific problem addressed by this research study was that students' perceptions of various online communication tools in an interactive course using multiple communication tools may differ. Understanding students' online experiences may facilitate the development of more effective use of communication tools and teaching strategies. A gap exists in the research regarding students' perspectives on the effectiveness of various communication tools used in interactive online classes and how students perceived their own learning styles within the context of the tools they are using. The purpose of this qualitative study was to identify college and university students' perceptions of communication media in an interactive online environment which includes multiple communication tools. A qualitative methods design was used to conduct this study, allowing an in-depth study of students' views of online communication tools in courses that include multiple tools. Participants were college and university students from various institutions who had taken several (four or more) interactive online courses. Seven themes emerged from the data: (a) tools helped, (b) feedback, (c) ease of use/convenience, (d) multiple tools, (e) video, (f) discussion, and (g) learning styles. The students' insights from this study supported previous research and can inform faculty, course designers, and administrators as they implement online communication tools into virtual classes to provide successful, interactive courses. |
