The students' views on the use of the Interwise system in distance education

This paper examines a set of interview data related to the students' views on the use of a synchronous e-learning system (Interwise) for online tutorials for an IT-related course offered by the Open University of Hong Kong. It focuses on issues concerning their participation in online tutorials, their perceptions/expectations of the tutors' roles in online teaching, the factors which can facilitate or hinder interaction in the system and their preference for online tutorials or face-to-face classes. Challenges and implications for the effective use of synchronous technologies for facilitating student learning are discussed.