Moore [1] defined interaction as an important term that that can carry many meanings, so it is important to establish a universal use of this term in regards to research about education. For this reason, a minimum of three types of interaction were suggested:

• Learner-Content Interaction (An interaction between the learner and the content or subject of study, which is a defining characteristic of education)
• Learner-Instructor Interaction (An interaction between learners and an expert on the field or experts who prepared the subject material. This type of interaction is regarded highly by many educators and highly desirable by some learners)
• Learner-Learner Interaction (An interaction between learner and learner that can occur alone or in group settings as well as with or without the real-time presence of an instructor)

These definitions are used to this day in recent research [2,3].

At this point, we plan to differentiate between three additional forms of interaction that may influence student engagement and behavior. Our defined terms differentiate between different levels of direct and indirect interaction and are based on the terms synchronous and asynchronous learning for online courses [4]. We plan to use a similar approach for different types of interaction using these terms, but we are using an additional third level for semi-synchronous interactions:

• Asynchronous interaction (Interactions occur mostly indirect and with a larger possible delay. The content is presented by prerecorded videos, self-study or similar types of learning material that does not directly require an instructor)
• Semi-Synchronous interaction (Interaction occurs directly most of the time, but it is possibly limited by a difference in communication channels or the attention of the instructor. The content is presented in a livestream or direct visual and audio feedback from the instructor, but the learners are limited by only being able to use a chatroom or similar input methods that are limited compared to the input method of the instructor)
• Synchronous interaction (Interaction occurs directly between the participants and they generally have the ability to communicate by using the same input methods. The content is presented in conference rooms or digital classrooms in which learners can directly talk with the instructor and if they have a camera they also provide visual feedback with gestures which makes this type of interaction the most comparable to an in-person lecture)

[1] Moore, M. G. (1989). Editorial: Three types of interaction. American Journal of Distance Education, 3(2), 1–7.

[2] Alqurashi, E. (2019). Predicting student satisfaction and perceived learning within online learning environments. Distance Education, 40(1), 133–148.

[3] Kyei-Blankson, L., Ntuli, E., & Donnelly, H. (2019). Establishing the Importance of Interaction and Presence to Student Learning in Online Environments. Journal of Interactive Learning Research, 30(4), 539–560.

[4] Hrastinski, S. (2008). Asynchronous & Synchronous E-Learning. Educause Quarterly, 31(4), 51–55.