Instructor-student communication in a CyberEd environment

Internet-based instruction, or "CyberEd" as it is commonly called, is becoming an increasingly popular approach to delivering academic courses (Saba, 2000). At one mid-size university in the northeast, for example, the number of students taking CyberEd courses has been increasing steadily over the past several years, as has the range of courses offered and the number of faculty participating. Between the Fall 1996 and Fall 2001 semesters, the number of students rose from sixty-four to 1, 700, and the number of courses offered increased from five to eighty. Given the growth of CyberEd, and the likelihood that this growth will continue as Internet use increases, it is important to understand how best to design and deliver Internet-based instructional material in ways that facilitate both student learning and satisfaction with the overall CyberEd experience.