Towards a Theoretical Framework for the Design of Interactive Online Distance Learning Systems
Conclusion
This paper sought to demonstrate how the theory of hyperpersonal online communication (Walther, 1996) could inform the design of an online distance education learning system. Hyperpersonal communication was argued to be more likely to occur in asynchronous communication settings in which users anticipate future interactions with their communicative partners, experience a social identity and are self-aware and physically separated, and in which they communicate through a limited-cues medium that enables them to use selective self-presentation strategies. It was argued that in order to create a hyperpersonal learning environment that would positively affect several student outcomes, the learning system needs to be able to recreate the conditions that facilitate the occurrence of hyperpersonal communication. Advocated system features included an asynchronous, text-only communication medium that would increase students' perceptions of group salience and anticipated future interactions.