Instructional Strategies and Student Involvement in Distance Education: A Study of the Oklahoma Televised Instuction System |
VOL. 6, No. 1, 28-41
This study investigates the instructional strategies used by faculty who teach on an interactive television system. Based upon a series of surveys and follow-up interviews with participating faculty, this study examines the strategies used, the barriers to interaction, and the impact of technology upon the selection of strategies. Although the system provides live interaction among faculty, distance students, and on-campus students, only a minority of the instructors use interactive strategies. The faculty who use interactive strategies in their on-campus class turn to teacher-centred strategies in the equivalent television class. Recommendations include increased integration of instructional telecommunications activities within faculty development programs and further research related to the impact of instructional strategies upon learning.
Cette étude examine les stratégies d'instruction employées par les enseignants qui travaillent dans un système interactif de télévision. Basée sur une série de questionnaires et d'entrevues avec les enseignants, l'étude traite des stratégies employées, des obstacles à l'interaction et de l'influence de la technologie sur le choix des stratégies. Bien que le système permette l'interaction entre les membres de la faculté, les étudiants à distance et les étudiants du centre universitaire, seul un nombre restreint d'enseignants se servent de méthodes interactives. Ceux qui s'en servent dans leur classe à l'université même se tournent vers des méthodes centrées sur l'enseignant dans la classe télévisée qui y correspond. L'étude recommande que ceux qui ont la charge de développer les programmes intensifient l'intégration des activités d'enseignement par télécommunication. Elle recommande aussi que de nouvelles recherches soient faites sur l'influence des stratégies de l'enseignement sur l'apprentissage.
Although the lecture is but one of many possible instructional methods, its use seems to dominate the classroom. An efficient method for learning how to memorize and recall information, the lecture is a poor choice when the objectives of the instruction fall within the higher levels of the cognitive domain (Weston & Cranton, 1986). As Astin (1985) states, students learn not by attending lectures and taking notes, but by becoming involved with the content to be learned. Continued reliance upon teaching strategies that encourage only passive attention to the content is a practice that warrants further attention. The nature of student involvement in the learning process is especially pertinent to the practice of distance education, for involvement is all too often only an elusive opportunity for the student separated by physical and temporal distance.
In contrast, much of the current focus upon the use of technology in distance education is upon the largely passive media of broadcast and satellite technology (Esslin, 1982; Moore, 1988). Likewise, much of the research in distance education compares the effectiveness of one delivery system or technology over another. These "comparison studies" generally find either no significant differences in learning or significant differences in favor of the distance students (Chu & Schramm, 1975; Dillon & Strohmeyer, 1983; Hoyte & Frye, 1972; Whittington, 1987). Rarely investigated are factors such as the unique attributes of the technology (Denton & Clark, 1985), the type of learning outcome desired, or the methods utilized. As Chu and Schramm (1975) concluded some 15 years ago, the question that needs to be asked is not whether to use the technology, but rather how best to use it.
Recent studies have investigated the design of interactive television. Using a series of observations based upon Gagné and Briggs' (1974) events of instruction, Denton and Clark (1985) compared the instructional strategies used by medical faculty teaching in traditional on-campus and interactive television classes. The occurrence of stimulus presentation was significantly greater in the television classes than in the traditional classes, although much of this significance was attributed to a single professor. No differences were found in the use of the remaining events of instruction, that is, reviewing prerequisite material, stating objectives, providing learner guidance, providing opportunities for learner performance, providing feedback, and assessing learner performance. Stone (1990) investigated the interactive quality of television- based distance learning by comparing the achievement of three groups of degree and non-degree seeking graduate engineering students from nine universities.
The three groups included:
Significant differences were found between the degree and non-degree students regardless of delivery system, with the degree students out_performing the non-degree students. When considering all age groups, the videotape group outperformed both the live interactive and traditional on-campus groups. Analysis by age indicated that this significance can be attributed to the high level of significance found in the 26_35 age groups, as these students outperformed their counterparts in the interactive and traditional modes, indicating that the attributes of videotape were particularly important to these students. No data were reported on out-of-class interaction.
The Oklahoma Televised Instruction System (TIS) currently links ten transmitting institutions with over 120 classrooms at 70 locations in 36 communities throughout the state. The 10 transmitting institutions include all major college types including community colleges, four-year colleges, graduate colleges, and research universities. All programming is transmitted live from regularly scheduled on-campus classes. The network comprises point-to-point microwave radios, remote-controlled switching equipment, and Instructional Television Fixed Service (ITFS) transmitting and receiving systems. The talkback from the distance sites is transmitted to the studio via multiplex equipment that enables the distance student's voice to be transmitted on the microwave radio, providing for interaction between the on-campus and distance students. Leased telephone lines are also used in some areas of the TIS network to provide talkback capability. A daily courier service provides for the exchange of homework, examinations, reference materials, and other educational materials between the transmitting institutions and the distance sites.
Both graduate and undergraduate courses are offered in a wide range of content areas, including literature, corrections, library science, engineering, mathematics, humanities, business, biology, geology and physics. These courses are considered resident credit and the majority of classes are taught on an in-load basis.
This study seeks to enlighten our understanding of what occurs in the "distance classroom" through an analysis of one distance education system. The research questions for this study include:
1. Who participates in distance teaching and why? 2. What instructional strategies do faculty select and why? 3. Are there differences between the instructional strategies used by faculty in the interactive television class and the equivalent traditional on- campus class? 4. What is the impact of technology upon the selection of strategies? 5. What are the attitudes of faculty toward the distance teaching experience?
"Instructional strategy" is defined as "both the teaching method and materials used in the teaching process," in which the method serves as the "vehicle or technique for instructor-student communications..." (Weston & Cranton, 1986, pp. 259_260).
The population of the study is faculty who teach on the Oklahoma Televised Instruction System (TIS), a live interactive system that provides live two-way audio and one-way video communications between students and instructor.
Data were gathered using questionnaires and focused telephone interviews. The first round of questionnaires was mailed to 161 television instructors, and 88 were returned. A follow-up questionnaire administered the following year received a response rate of 42%, with 25 of the 59 faculty responding. The questionnaires included both open and closed-end response items. The survey contained three sections. The first requested demographic information from each professor, the second requested information about the instructional strategies and methods utilized by the professor, and the final portion of the questionnaire consisted of open response items assessing the professor's attitudes toward the television teaching experience. The questionnaire was field tested by faculty who had previously taught on the TIS system, but who were not included in the population of this study. The follow-up questionnaire compared strategies and methods used in the television classes with those used in the identical traditional class.
Following the analysis of the questionnaires, structured telephone interviews were conducted with 17 of the 84 faculty (20%) to provide insights into the responses. The faculty interviewed were selected using a stratified random sample to ensure representation from all participating schools and content areas.
The analysis of the surveys was primarily descriptive, using means, standard deviations, and frequency distributions. Analysis of the differences between the strategies in the television and traditional classes used T-tests and Chi Square. Analysis of the open response items and focused interviews utilized content analysis techniques.
Forty-four percent of the respondent group were members of traditional Arts and Science disciplines (humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences), whereas 54% represented the professional fields of business, engineering, education, and law. Sixty- three percent held the doctorate, and they represented a veteran group of faculty, with an average of 14.5 years at their present institution. Ninety-three percent taught the television course on an in-load basis, and 51% taught the course because it was assigned to them, whereas 45% volunteered. Thirty-three percent of the reported courses were lower division, 38% upper division, and 24% graduate. Forty percent of the faculty reported receiving some training on the system, compared to 60% who received none. Although the sample is slightly weighted toward lower division, community college and professional coursework, the sample reasonably reflects the population of the study. (See Table 1.)
The second set of responses requested information about the courses, specifically related to the type of instructional strategies and practices utilized. Instructional practices included such information as instructor visits to distance sites and required "out-of-class" assignments including research papers, library research, and field experiences; instructional strategies included all "in-class" activities. The framework developed by Weston and Cranton (1986) provided the basis for the analysis of instructional strategies.
Thirty-six percent of the faculty visited the distance sites, whereas 64% reported no visits. Regarding "out-of-class" activities, 54% required the use of reference materials, 49% required library materials, 34% required research papers, 14% required field experiences. Library access is important to the distance students because over one-half (55%) of the faculty required some type of library research. Regarding the impact of telecommunications upon library assignments, 26% of the responding faculty said that they would have required these activities had the class not been a television class, 30% would have required the same activities regardless of the delivery system utilized, and 43% made no response to this item.
The analysis of instructional strategies utilized by the faculty respondents provides further insight into the nature of student involvement activities. Weston and Cranton (1986) classified thirteen teaching strategies into the following four categories, linking strategies to desired learning outcomes.
The instructor-centred strategies include the following: lecture, directed questioning, and demonstration. These strategies are efficient methods for learning within the knowledge and comprehension levels of the cognitive domain and the receiving level of the affective domain. The interactive strategies include the following: class discussion, discussion groups, group projects, and peer teaching. Because these methods utilize communication among students and between students and teacher, these strategies are effective for learning within the upper levels of the cognitive domain including analysis, synthesis, and evaluation and for learning within all levels of the affective domain. The individualized learning strategies are "based upon the assumption that students learn at different speeds and that regular and immediate feedback facilitates learning" (Weston & Cranton, 1986, p. 262). These strategies can be adapted to accommodate all levels of learning and can be instructor-centred, interactive, or experiential and include the following: programmed instruction defined as an activity in which "the content of an objective or set of objectives is broken into small, sequential steps so that the student is presented with information, and then answers a question based on that information" (p. 262); and modularized instruction in which "the instruction centers around a booklet which may contain readings (or may refer the student to outside readings) and provides `activities' or exercises related to the readings" (p. 262). Although programmed and modularized instruction are generally individualized, computerized instruction can accommodate group interactions using computer conferencing and electronic mail systems.
Finally, the experiential strategies provide the student with the opportunity to perform in real or simulated settings and include the following: laboratory methods; role playing; simulations and/or gaming, defined as an activity in which the representation of real situations allow students to participate "in the application of rules or principles to situations while remaining in a safe or practical environment" (Weston & Cranton, 1986, p. 264); and drill and practice. Experiential strategies, too, can be described as individualized, interactive, or instructor-centred and therefore can support learning at all levels of the cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains, but they are particularly effective at the higher levels of the cognitive and affective domains.
Faculty were asked to identify which teaching strategies they used on a scale from one to five, with response categories on a Likert scale ranging from "used most often" (5) to "never used" (1), with an option also for "unknown" (0). Since faculty often taught more than one course on the system and could use different strategies in different courses, the data were tabulated by course rather than by instructor. As expected, the instructor-centred strategies of lecture, directed-questioning, and demonstration were used most frequently, with an overall mean of 3.47. The interactive, individualized, and experiential strategies were used considerably less, with overall means of 1.92, 1.59, and 1.36 respectively. The strategies used most often include lecture (`x = 4.46 ), directed questioning (`x = 3.30 ), discussion (`x = 3.16 ), and demonstration (`x = 2.66 ). The strategies used least include laboratory methods (`x = 1.16 ), role playing (`x = 1.27 ), group project (`x = 1.31 ), and peer teaching (`x = 1.29 ). (See Table 2.) Lecture was used most often in two- thirds (66.7%) of the courses taught on the Televised Instruction System. Likewise, in over two-thirds of the courses, faculty reported using only lecture, directed questioning, and discussion (all instructor-centred strategies), indicating that the remaining nine strategies were either unknown or never used.
Since faculty often teach the same course in both the distant and traditional on-campus modes, the follow-up questionnaire compared the strategies used in these two teaching modes. When teaching in the traditional on-campus mode, the faculty reported using the interactive strategies significantly more than when teaching on the television system (t = .0085). Similar tests showed no significant differences between the television and traditional classes in the use of teacher-centred, individualized, and experiential strategies. Collapsing the one- to-five scale into strategies used less (representing 1 through 3 on the Likert scale) and strategies used more (representing 4 through 5 on the Likert scale) allowed a Chi Square analysis to determine if differences existed between the strategies used in the television and traditional on-campus mode. Significant differences were found in the use of discussion group (c2 = .016), group projects (c2 = .01), and laboratory strategies (c2 = .008), as faculty reported using these in the traditional on-campus class, but not in the television class. (Because the nature of this study required looking at the strategies used by the same instructor in both the television and traditional modes, the data should be considered dependent; therefore, the resulting c value is a conservative figure.)
The open response items were designed to stimulate free thought, solicit suggestions, and clarify positions. Within these items the faculty were asked to respond to the perceived strengths and weaknesses of the system and to assess the level of satisfaction with television teaching. Responses to the satisfaction item were classified as "positive," meaning generally quite favourable, "negative" ranging from being generally unfavourable to disdainful, or "average" meaning an unenthusiastic but not a negative response. Responses to the "strengths" and "weakness" items were classified in a similar manner. The analysis of these items identified emerging areas of responses. The strengths of the system as perceived by the participating faculty included improved access to higher education opportunities, those that suggested a pedagogical advantage in teaching on television, those that related to specific media attributes, and general "other" and "no response" categories. When describing the weaknesses of the system, the faculty described technical difficulties, instructional limitations, administrative difficulties including managing students at the distance sites and proctoring exams, and again a "no response" category.
Understandably, access was cited by over 50% of the respondents as the strength of the system. Typical responses cited the ability to reach students who could not otherwise enroll because of distance or time, personal relationships with the distance students, the opportunity to interact with experts around the state, and the opportunity to work with the more motivated distance student. Over 14% of the respondents cited pedagogical advantages to teaching on television, citing the need for careful preparation and organization and the fact that television teaching offered a new experience for both students and faculty. Television has certain features that contribute to learning. Eight percent of the respondents cited these "media attributes" as the system's primary strength, including the ability to show photographs, figures from books, and other visual material. The natural science faculty were much more captivated by the media-related attributes than the access features, since over 50% of this group listed these as the most important features of the system. Other comments referred to the ability for interaction between the distance and traditional students and the ability to videotape lectures for playback when convenient for the student.
The most common category of weaknesses cited related to technological problems, with 44% responding to this category. Technical problems reported included equipment and video failures, the inability to lecture from any on-campus site, and difficulty with the student camera operators. Twenty-seven percent of the respondents felt that the pedagogical weakness of television teaching were the major limitations. The most common pedagogical weaknesses cited referred to the lack of face-to-face contact with the distance students, contributing to, as one professor described, "a feeling of separation." Other weaknesses within the pedagogical category included the requirement of a more structured presentation, the inability to plan "pop" quizzes or distribute impromptu handouts, and inadequate library facilities at the distance sites. Twenty percent of the respondents cited administrative problems as the major weakness of the system, the most common problem within this category being the courier service that is responsible for the distribution of course materials, textbooks, and exams. Common problems cited included a weak on-campus support staff, inadequate preparation by the distance students, and an inadequate proctoring system at the distance sites.
Twenty-six percent of the respondents cited a positive assessment of the experience, compared to 33% citing an average experience, whereas 17% claimed that the experience was a negative one. A sample of responses provide further insight into the respondents' assessment. Typical positive comments included "excellent," "outstanding," and "it was a powerful experience." Average responses ranged from "it was satisfactory" to "often good, never great." And typical negative comments included "a waste of time," "good in theory, poor in practice," and simply "frustrating."
Seventeen faculty participated in telephone interviews during which they were asked to discuss their television courses. The interviews were designed to provide insight into the rationale used to select instructional strategies and the impact of the technology and training upon the selection process. Only one of the seventeen faculty interviewed did not rely primarily upon lecture. However, five of the respondents indicated that lecture was not the best method, but they have selected it because the technology prohibited the use of other methods. The features that prohibited the use of other strategies included poor audio quality, fixed cameras, and fixed seating. Many of the faculty would opt for group methods but cited difficulty in getting participation from the distance students, either as a result of technical problems relating to the audio system or because of a greater hesitancy on the part of the distance students to participate.
Other barriers included courier delays that exacerbated the difficulties associated with the use of problem analysis and case studies, the advanced preparation time required to get related materials to the students, and poor coordination at the receiving sites. Three of the respondents cited a general resistance among faculty regarding the use of any strategy other than lecture regardless of system utilized. Thirteen of the respondents used the same strategies in the equivalent on-campus course. Any differences described were generally a matter of degree, especially regarding the use of questioning and group discussion strategies. The faculty described using these in both the traditional and television classes, but less often in the latter. Student demonstrations are not used in the television class because the on-campus students cannot see the students at the distance sites. The two respondents who used computer instruction in the on-campus class were not able to do so in the television class because computer equipment is unavailable at the distance sites. Likewise, faculty at several institutions could not use films or videotapes in the television class, because their institutions did not provide that service, or because of copyright prohibitions related to nonsimultaneous secondary transmission.
In response to the questions regarding funding priorities, the faculty most often cited technical resources, including improved audio transmission, two-way video, colour capabilities (some classrooms are colour-equipped, others are not), the addition of facsimile service, better camera operators, and finally computer communications. Nontechnical priorities included improved library and courier services, better control at the distance sites, course development support, and more financial incentives for participating faculty.
Only a minority of the faculty interviewed reported receiving any training regarding the use of the television system. Two of these sought help from another experienced faculty member. Those who received training reported that the content of the training covered only the operational and administrative aspects of the system (how to use the studio, how to use the courier service, who to contact when problems arise). None received any training on television teaching, course design, or the distance learner.
Although the population of this study included faculty from a variety of disciplines at a variety of institutional types, the reader is cautioned not to infer from the findings beyond the limited scope of this study, which related to the utilization of one unique telecommunications system. These findings are not necessarily generalizable to other systems.
The faculty who teach the distance learner using the Oklahoma Televised Instruction System rely primarily upon instructor-centred strategies, particularly the lecture, thus supporting learning within the knowledge and comprehension levels of the cognitive domain. This is a similar conclusion to that drawn by Boak & Kirby (1989) in their study of the use of audio-teleconferencing as an instructional medium. Utilizing the System for Audio-Teleconferencing Analysis (SATA), they found in all courses teacher instruction and explanation dominated class communication.
Participation in the distance teaching system does not appear to affect the selection of teaching strategies and practices as most faculty utilize the same methods in the identical on-campus class. The single exception was found with the minority of faculty who use discussion groups, laboratory methods, and group projects in the on- campus class. This group of faculty do not tend to use these strategies in the equivalent television class. Interviews with the faculty regarding the process they used for selecting instructional strategies suggest that the selection process is based upon some attention to the type of learning required by the content, rather than merely habit. However, the selection process does not include an analysis of the type of instructional objectives and most faculty seem to have only a small repertoire of instructional strategies from which to choose. The faculty identified the technology as the primary barrier to the use of interactive, experiential, and individualized strategies.
Although most of the faculty who teach the television classes are veteran faculty, most would choose not to participate if given a choice. Participating institutions provide few rewards for faculty who use television to reach distance students as evidenced by the fact that the system is not attracting new professors. Likewise, the institutions provide only minimal training for the faculty. The training that is available is primarily operational with little attention given to course design, instruction, and serving the unique needs of the distance learner. It is of interest that many faculty referred to the student camera operator as a "gatekeeper" who can either inhibit or expand the opportunities available to the faculty using the television system. However, despite all of the problems cited, the faculty perceive the Televised Instruction System to be a valuable tool for reaching the distance learner.
Promoting student involvement in learning is a critical component of educating a society capable of meeting the demands of the information age. The unique characteristics of distance education in which students and teachers are separated by both time and distance require a greater emphasis on involvement strategies and methods than traditional on-campus instruction. Rather than continuing to be enamoured with the effectiveness of one technology over another in reaching the distance student, practitioners and researchers should focus instead upon the nature of the involvement of the distance learner in the teaching-learning process. Continued reliance upon the teacher-centred strategies places too much attention upon what the teacher does, while placing too little attention upon the actions of the learner. Future research in the design of instruction for distance education need no longer continue to focus upon the media, but should rather attend to the method. Research needs to provide distance educators with increasingly systematic guidelines for selecting instructional strategies; guidelines that are linked to the types of learning required by the demands of the new learning society.
Distance education activities must be incorporated into the mainstream of institutional practice, through faculty development initiatives that consider the training programs for distance teachers and, more importantly, the nature of institutional rewards for participation in the increasingly critical task of providing educational opportunities to the learner who is prevented from access to educational opportunities because of time and distance constraints.
Astin, A. (1985). Achieving excellence: A critical assessment of priorities and practices in higher education. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Boak, C., & Kirby, D. (1989). Teaching by teleconference: What goes on. Proceedings of the 8th Annual Conference of the Canadian Association of Adult Eduction, 26_30.
Chu, G., & Schramm, W. (1975). Learning from television: What the research says (rev. ed.). (ED 109985). Washington D.C.: National Association of Educational Broadcasters.
Denton, J. J., & Clark, F. E. (1985). Assessing instructional strategies and resulting student attitudes regarding two-way television instruction. Journal of Educational Technology Systems, 13(4), 281_298.
Dillon, C., & Strohmeyer, E. (1983). The effects of telecommunications instruction on student achievement and attitude. Montana Educational Review, 7_9.
Esslin, M. (1982). The age of television. San Francisco: W.H. Freeman.
Gagné, R. M., & Briggs, L. J. (1974). Principles of instructional design. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
Hoyte, D. P., & Frye, D. W. M. (1972). Effectiveness of telecommunications as an educational delivery system: Final report. (Project No. G035, Grant No. OEC-7- 72-0008 [509]). Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Health, Eduction and Welfare, Office of Education, National Center for Educational Research and Development.
Moore, G. A. B. (1988). Asynchronous electronic communications: A North American-Thai collaboration. The American Journal of Distance Education, 1, 52_62.
Stone, H. R. (1990). A comparative analysis of interactive and non- interactive video delivery of off-campus graduate engineering education. Unpublished Manuscript, University of Delaware, Newark, DE.
Weston, C., & Cranton, P. A. (1986). Selecting instructional strategies. The Journal of Higher Education, 57(3), 259_288.
Whittington, N. (1987). Is instructional television educationally effective?: A research review. The American Journal of Distance Education, 1(1), 47_57.
Dr. Dillon is an Assistant Professor at the University of Oklahoma in the area of adult education and a Research Associate for the Oklahoma Research Center for Continuing Professional and Higher Education, specializing in distance education and instructional telecommunications.
Dr. Hengst is Professor Emeritus at the University of Oklahoma in the area of Higher Education and former Director of the Center for Studies in Higher Education. His expertise is in the area of instructional strategies and higher education.
Dawn Zoller is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Oklahoma in the area of adult eduction. Formerly a Kellogg Research Fellow with the Oklahoma Research Center for Continuing Professional and Higher Education, she is currently Associate Director of Continuing Education and Assistant Professor of Education at the Palm Beach Atlantic College in West Palm Beach, Florida.