DOCUMENT RESUME

This paper rejects the hardware-based "levels of interaction " made popular in interactive video literature to describe human-machine interaction in favor of a new taxonomy of learner-media interaction based on the type of cognitive engagement experienced by learners. Interaction can be described on three levels, based on the quality of the interaction. A reactive interaction is a response to presented stimuli, such as an answer to a specific question. Proactive interaction emphasizes learner construction, and generative activity. The learner goes beyond selecting or responding to existing structures and begins to generate unique constructions and elaborations beyond designer-imposed rules. Mutual interaction is characterized by artificial intelligence or virtual reality designs in which the learner and system are mutually adaptive, each capable of changing based on encounters with the otner. Reactive, proactive