Developing an Interaction-Centered Evaluation Tool for Distance Education

Web-based distance instruction is growing in popularity. As more courses and programs go online, instructional methods and technologies are changing to meet new demands. These courses and instructional methods need be evaluated to determine their quality and to aid in their development. An instrument that measures the quality of student interaction within courses could play a useful role in this evaluation. The objective of this project was to produce an interaction-centered evaluation tool for distance education. We developed items for the evaluation tool based on a review of the literature and interviews with distance education faculty. We then conducted a measurement study to determine the instrument's validity and reliability. Fifty-five students in seven medical informatics courses participated in this study. Questionnaire items were included or rejected based on their fit with underlying theoretical constructs. In conclusion, the Web-based evaluation tool developed in this project measures student perception of quality of course interactions with demonstrated validity and reliability.