DOCUMENT RESUME

The purpose of this study was to investigate the types of interactions that students perceived to be important for online learning. The interaction attributes investigated included content interaction, conversation and collaboration, intrapersonal/metacognitive skills, and need for support. Also investigated were reasons why learners were taking online courses. It was presumed that students taking courses for convenience, flexibility, or preference would likely be more pleased with interaction in online course than those required to take an online course because it was not offered on campus. Participants were 52 graduate students in an online masters program in instructional technology; 34 of the students were female and 18 were male. Intact classes of students were selected from two courses at the beginning of their online learning sequence and two courses at the end of their online learning sequence. The instrument used for this study was the Online Learning Interaction Inventory (OLLI), with a reliability coefficien