WebCT Role-Playing: Immediacy Versus E-Mediacy in Learning Environments

University teachers are increasingly encouraged to use e-Learning techniques to expand on- and off-campus learning environments available to students. Many e-Learning tools are attractive because of their ease of use and considerable research has demonstrated their popularity with both students and educators. Our research deviates from discourses promoting the attractiveness of the technology and instead examines the quality of learning outcomes offered by e-Mediated techniques, especially for distance learners. We outline an experiment in which e-Mediated delivery was compared to the immediacy of face-to-face teaching exercises. We demonstrate that, despite the ease of design, students in the e-Mediated environment did not retain or apply their knowledge as well as those from the face-to-face medium. We provide suggestions as to why this is the case and make recommendations for overcoming the hurdles in e-Mediated delivery identified by our research. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.