Sustaining interaction and immediacy in e-teaching and e-learning

The rapid development of teaching and learning by distance has led to inevitable comparisons between face-to-face and virtual learning environments. Even though courses delivered electronically differ in some ways from those taught in a traditional classroom, the teacher in both environments can encourage active learning and can be accessible and available to all students. Fostering meaningful interaction and relationships, not only between student and teacher but also among the students themselves, can be accomplished, in large part, on how the course is designed and what activities it contains. Teachers who establish a sense of immediacy and who show that they value both the quality of the content and the quality of the relationships in their class can be successful whether or not the course is delivered in person or at a distance.