This paper reports the findings of three studies within a program of research designed to better understand the factors contributing to the academic achievement of students in online courses and the contributions of interaction to online learning. The first study compared the academic achievement of students in the online and face-to-face (F2F) sections of multiple courses. In the second study, an online survey was used to obtain student perceptions of course satisfaction, learning, and communication. These factors were then related, using binary logistic regression analysis, to the amount of interaction that occurred in the students’ respective online courses; information from the myCourses course management system was used to quantify the amount of interaction that occurred in online courses. In the final study, both datasets were used to examine the academic achievement of students in online courses based upon the amount of interaction that had actually occurred. Whenever possible, a subgroup of deaf and hard-of-hearing students was included in the study to increase our understanding of the role that communication plays in the teaching-learning process. Our findings indicate that students enrolled in online courses, especially those designed with high levels of online interaction, receive higher grades and report greater learning than students in comparable F2F courses. In addition, online courses appear to provide deaf and hard-of-hearing students with special benefits in terms of academic achievement through online discussion. Overall, the studies illuminate how the quantity of interaction in online discussions relates to important success factors. Students in online courses with more interaction outperformed students in online courses with less interaction.<br /><br /><input id="gwProxy" type="hidden" /><input id="jsProxy" onclick="if(typeof(jsCall)=='function'){jsCall();}else{setTimeout('jsCall()',500);}" type="hidden" /><input id="gwProxy" type="hidden" /><input id="jsProxy" onclick="if(typeof(jsCall)=='function'){jsCall();}else{setTimeout('jsCall()',500);}" type="hidden" /><input id="gwProxy" type="hidden" /><input id="jsProxy" onclick="if(typeof(jsCall)=='function'){jsCall();}else{setTimeout('jsCall()',500);}" type="hidden" /><input id="gwProxy" type="hidden" /><input id="jsProxy" onclick="if(typeof(jsCall)=='function'){jsCall();}else{setTimeout('jsCall()',500);}" type="hidden" />

RIT Online Learning courses have an overall course completion rate of 94%. For lower-division courses, the rate is 92%, undergraduate 93%, and graduate 96%. In this case study. we will share additional measurements we have used to monitor student success and describe strategies we have used to promote online discussion as a key component of effective online courses. We will share results from a large survey of our online students that shows the most interactive courses receive the most positive responses from students. The demographics of our online students have shifted to where almost half our online students are campus-based now. We believe our historical emphasis on interaction in our online courses is serving these new online students equally well, which suggests an important opportunity exists to expand online discussion to more campus-based courses.

He has a M.S. and a Ph.D. in Materials Engineering from the University of Illinois at Chicago. He worked in semiconductor industry for several years. He has developed and improved courses in materials and plastics technology in the MMETPS Department at RIT. His main interest of the research is in materials synthesis and processing using high temperature plasma. He currently studies the characteristics of injection molded medical plastics in various testing conditions.

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