>Von Wodtke claims that mixing media allows people to work more "interactively," thus allowing for greater communication, learning and productivity (290).  How do you define "interactive?"  Do you agree that computers bring about this interactivity?

I define "interactive" in relation to mixing media as the ability to communicate back and forth. This back and forth ability is not only between the sender and the receiver but also between the receivers themselves. An example of this is our chat forum. Other examples of this are list servers and chat rooms. Using this media, one person can initiate a "conversation" to many people. Those people can respond to the initial person and then others can comment on those comments.

I believe computers bring about this interactivity by providing a vehicle to communicate that was not available before. There have been communication devices in the past that were interactive. The telephone is one example. However, it has its limits. If one person initiated a phone call and the other person was not available a so called "phone tag" situation developed. Until both parties were available at the same time, this method of communication had drawbacks. Another example is the telegraph. While it did not require both parties to be available at the same time, there was a time lag across which the communication was delivered.

The media available today with computers has greatly improved our ability to communicate. People do not have to be in a face-to-face situation, or available for a telephone conversation at the same time, yet they can access information immediately.

The degree I am pursuing would not be available to me if it weren't for electronic media. There is not enough demand for the program in Fort Wayne. By combining students in Fort Wayne, with students in Bloomington, Indianapolis, and Richmond, we have enough participation to support the program. Our class is based on a web site. We respond to assignments via a forum similar to this one.

We work on assignments as a complete group over the list serv.

And our professor conducts interactive classroom discussions in our chat room.