An Investigation of Computer-Mediated Instructional Immediacy in Online Education: A Comparison of Graduate and Undergraduate Students’ Motivation to Learn

For more than 30 years, instructors have relied on instructional immediacy to inspire motivation for learning in students. However, the introduction of online classes has eliminated the utility of many of the previously used cues of instructional immediacy. Previous studies in instructional immediacy displayed through computer-mediated communication (CMC) have made the assumption that verbal displays of instructional immediacy are still perceived as immediate when displayed through CMC. This study first explores the role of instructional communication in the online classroom by validating findings of previous research that instructional immediacy is positively related to student learning by measuring instructional immediacy though indicators that are unique to CMC. Second, this study compares the effectiveness of computer-mediated instructional immediacy and motivation between graduate and undergraduate students. Finally, the predictive power of student motivation and instructional communication are examined in relation to learning loss in the online classroom. The findings of this study imply that, although computer-mediated instructional immediacy has a more substantively significant effect on undergraduate students than graduate students, instructional communication plays a strong role in learning outcomes in the online environment.