Developing webs of significance through communications: appropriate interactive activities for distributed learning environments

Interactive activities are an important aspect of distributed learning situations, wherein online communities and learner motivational levels evolve and thrive. Through the thoughtful integration of interactive activities into the online learning process, learners and instructors gain considerable exposure to reciprocally favorable occurrences among learners, content, interface, instructor, community, and self. The thoughtful design and development of a distributed learning environment aids the use of interactive activities in moving beyond mere online interactions towards a more theoretically productive level of interactions. Within a theoretically productive level of interaction wherein the learners obtain information, develop conceptual frameworks through which the information is not only derived but becomes useful knowledge, develop higher‐level thinking skills, and continue to be internally motivated to continue with the course, the learners conceptualize a learning community which can be sorely lacking within distributed learning situations that do not integrate appropriate interactive activities.