Interactive Two-Way Television vs. In-Person Teaching

Abstract

Are there differences in students' achievement scores and attitudes when the pupils are taught by two different modes: interactive two-way television and live expository teaching?

Thirteen graduate students were enrolled in a university off-campus course: five were instructors at a community college, five worked in a hospital or Veterans Administration facility, and three were instructors at a university. A repeated measures design was used in collecting achievement and attitude data on six class sessions (three in-person expository and three interactive television). Analysis of variance was used with test scores as the dependent variable while the mode of instruction (in-person vs. two-way television), instructional strategy (expository, film, role play/simulation), and content of lesson (eight different sessions) were used as the independent variables. There were no negative student attitudes when the class was taught either in-person or by interactive two-way television. Analysis of variance revealed no significant differences when test scores were used as the dependent variable.