August 1995 — Features

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First-Hand Observations on Tele-Course Teaching

Course Evaluations Examinations of the tele-course students were compared to those of on-campus students in the same age group (late 20s to early 30s). No statistical difference in mastery of competencies (content, mechanics, organization) or exam grade (B-B+) was found. The observation has often been made that mature students generally respond more readily than do younger students to the self-discipline required of a tele-course, but I have no basis for first-hand comparison. There was also no significant difference in responses to questions on student opinionaires. The only tele-course specific suggestion pertained to on-camera methodology: Use of the presentation camera should be increased; seeing the teacher standing in full view is more like a classroom than is seeing him sitting at a table. The Teacher Teaching a tele-course requires that a teacher focus upon things in addition to those required for a conventional course, things which are non-academic per se but are essential for effectiveness in this medium. Teachers must see them not as disadvantages but as differences. It sounds as if a teacher must be a skilled public speaker or TV actor; these skills, in whatever degree possessed by the teacher, are important. But success in a tele-course is more than just learning some new delivery techniques, which most good teachers can do; it requires an entirely different attitude toward methodology-and it is not for every teacher. Many good classroom teachers will not be interested, and that's OK. Teaching a tele-course requires a willingness to break out of the comfort of one's old methodology (which one may discover is not as effective as originally thought), and an enthusiasm to explore the potential of the technologically inevitable. To my colleagues, especially those in traditional disciplines, who express fear that technology will dilute real education, I say unequivocally, "You are wrong."
George Whitaker is an instructor of English at Florence-Darlington Technical College in South Carolina. E-mail: whitakerg@fdtc.flo.tec.sc.us