Student-to-Student Interaction in Distance Education Classes: What Do Graduate Students Want?

Abstract

This research sought to determine if graduate students taking distance education classes desire student-to-student interaction. Over 200 graduate students who completed one or more distance education graduate classes in agricultural and extension education from North Carolina State University during the past three years were surveyed. While some students desired student-to-student interaction, the majority of the respondents do not particularly like or want student-to-student interaction. When various sub-groups of the population (disaggregated by gender, personality type, age, work status, and student status) were examined, the results were the same. None of the sub-groups embraced student-to-student interaction in distance education classes.