THE REALITY OF WEB-BASED INTERACTION IN AN EGYPTIAN DISTANCE EDUCATION COURSE

This paper reports the results of a study conducted to evaluate the reality of interaction in a web-based distance education course. The learners were Egyptian first-grade secondary school students (15-16 years old) and the learning subject is mathematics. To investigate students ’ interactions via the Web, a Web-based learning environment was designed and implemented, called Wired Class, based on Willis ’ (1995, 2000) R2D2 instructional design model and constructivist principles. Quantitative and qualitative analyses were used to investigate the quantity and quality of learner-learner and learner-teacher interaction based on Mason's (1991) model