Technology-Mediated Synchronous Virtual Education: An Empirical Study

Many higher education institutions have used Internet technology to develop virtual education for a new generation of college students. In this research, the authors assessed the relative effectiveness of two technology-mediated learning environments for synchronous higher education compared to a traditional face-to-face learning environment. Specifically, they assessed the effects of these three learning environments on interactivity, perceived learning, and satisfaction when different instructional strategies were used. The authors' findings suggest that learning environments interact with instructional strategies to affect the learners' perception of learning and satisfaction. Their findings also support the proposition that the new generation of college students prefer to interact with others using technology.