Effects of Televised Lecture Presentation Styles on Student Learning

College level instructional television (ITV) has been criticised for rigid formats involving little creative or interactive use of the media. Limited budgets and other constraints make it difficult for most ITV operations to introduce innovative communication modes. However, literature suggests other techniques to improve instructional television, specifically the use of interspersed questions and eye contact. This study manipulated these techniques in a television lecture, examining their relevance to student learning and acceptance. In a 2X2 experiment, four sections of an undergraduate course each viewed a different videotape treatment of the same lecture and content. Results yielded four conclusions. (1) Presenter eye contact and inserted questions are perceived as useful learning aids in televised lecture presentations. (2) Student satisfaction with, and interest in, televised courses is relatively low, with various learning difficulties reported. (3) Positive perception of eye contact and inserted questions correlates with higher levels of student interest in and satisfaction with televised courses. (4) Neither eye contact nor inserted questions impact directly on short‐term learning. Further studies would identify ways to more effectively manipulate eye contact and inserted questions in instructional television presentations, exploring how these techniques can enhance student learning motivation and reduce learning difficulties. Long‐term effects of these techniques on learning also should be explored     

Does Instructional TV Make the Grade?

Managers at Michigan State University's extensive ITV operation employ a wide range of evaluative procedures with special emphasis on term‐by‐term telephone interviews to assess student attitudes in television courses. The interview system is explained in some detail for readers interested in initiating relatively inexpensive research techniques. Recent data comparing students in television sections with students in face‐to‐face classroom sections show no significant differences in grades or attitudes toward mediated instruction. These data are applied in varied ways by producers, faculty and administrators to improve instructional television     

The effect of manipulating maternal behavior during an interaction on three- and six-month-olds' affect and attention

3 studies were designed to examine the "still-face" paradigm, in which mothers stared at their 3- or 6-month-olds for a brief, still-face period interposed between 2 periods of normal face-to-face interaction. 6-month-olds decreased smiling and gazing at their mothers and grimaced more during the still-face period relative to the other periods; no period effects occurred in a no-change control group (Studies 1 and 2). Similar results were obtained when mothers and their infants observed and interacted with each other over closed-circuit color television monitors (Study 3). Moreover, the same relative decline in the infants' visual attention and positive affect during the still-face period occurred to a change in mothers' facial display (a televised, prerecorded, still face vs. a televised, live, interacting face) regardless of the presence or absence of their interactive voices (sound on the infants' monitor turned on or off). 3-month-olds exhibited a significant still-face effect, but only when maternal touch was a part of the manipulation (Study 1 vs. 2); therefore, the televised procedure was not conducted. The still-face effect is a robust phenomenon, produced with either "live" or "televised" procedures, both of which offer promising techniques for examining models of socioemotional perception/understanding of infants.     

The effect of communications medium on the fundamental frequency of speech

Interactions between two pairs of subjects were conducted face‐to‐face and over a two‐way closed‐circuit television medium and were tape recorded. The speech for each subject over each medium was edited to remove silent intervals and the resulting edited speech segments, each about 1 minute in duration, were analyzed by a computer implementation of the cepstrum method of fundamental‐frequency determination. The speech of all four subjects showed a statistically significant rise in fundamental frequency ranging from 3.89% to 7.83% for the closed‐circuit television condition relative to the face‐to‐face condition. This result could imply that two‐way closed‐circuit television is a more tense or stressful medium than face‐to‐face communication. Alternatively, the effect could be explained by such other factors as a rise in speech level caused by a greater perceived distance between the participants in the closed‐circuit television condition.     

Young Children,Television & Learning: Part I. The effects of children watching a continuous off‐air broadcast

Responses of 21 pre‐operational children, aged between 6#lb6 and 7#lb4 years, to an uninterrupted television programme, viewed in small groups, were surveyed by individual post‐viewing questioning. The indications are that the children viewed the programme passively except when something extraordinary or stimulating occurred; they recalled only isolated aspects that interested them or that they liked. They were unable to deduce the producer's intentions and gained only a vague idea of what the programme was about. Children are limited in what they can take from a broadcast by their own experiences and by how those relate to what is viewed, so teachers have a responsibility to assist young children to internalise and interpret what is viewed from educational television. Continuous ‘programmes’ seem unsuitable as learning media; children should view, via a videorecorder, short sequences or ‘modules’ of television material, linked to activities with which they are involved or familiar, to enable a three‐way interaction between children, teacher and television to be established     

影像中的女色、权力及消费——电视选美节目与电视整容节目解析

电视中的女色传播是当前颇受关注的一个传媒现象。以当前电视选美节目和电视整容节目为例,从女性主义、符号学和消费主义的角度出发,对它们进行了细致深入的考察,可以发现看似简单、快乐的女色影像的传播,实质上是男权文化借助电视编织的一个精致谎言,体现了电视与消费工业的合谋。     

Is anyone out there listening? Explaining low reciprocal interactivity during televised lessons in a developing country context

In face‐to‐face teaching, the educator is able to directly mediate learning and gauge the level of the learners’ English proficiency. Teleteaching makes this virtually impossible, as learners are invisible and thus immediate intervention in learning or estimations of proficiency are much more difficult to achieve. TELETUKS Schools1 TUKS is the original name of the university given in 1908 (Transvaal Universiteits Kollege) and the nickname by which the institution is commonly known in popular parlance. View all notes—a community project of the University of ­Pretoria—aims to assist Grade 12 learners prepare for their final examinations via interactive, televised lessons in key subjects. This article seeks to explain why learners refrain from participating during educational transmissions even though technology permits bi‐directional audio links. Understanding why viewers are reluctant to interact during transmissions could help educationists exploit the unique instructional potential of television, especially in remote areas of developing countries or where resources are severely limited. The results of a questionnaire survey conducted during a TELETUKS winter school (2002) suggest that limited language skills and the medium of instruction (English)—compounded by the nature and complexities of the medium—are possible reasons why the anticipated learner‐presenter interaction remains exceptionally low. This exploratory study also shows that further research in the form of in‐depth participant interviews; direct observation of learner participation and content analysis of televised lessons ought to establish the deeper, underlying reasons for low interactivity.     

IMPLICATIONS OF PRESTEL AND OTHER TV PRINT SOURCES

Since Prestel and other televised print sources signal a revolution in the presentation of reading material to the public, it is necessary to ensure that the viewers are able to read the material. Are they ready and able to adapt their reading skills to read televised texts? Differences between page print and television print are discussed, with respect to form and style, and recommendations are made about the responsibility of the educational establishment towards the preparation of potential viewers.     

Factors underlying distance learner satisfaction with televised college‐level courses

Abstract

Two investigations were conducted to identify the major dimensions of distance learner satisfaction with live‐broadcast, interactive (one‐way video, two‐way audio) televised college‐level courses. In the first study, factor analyses were used to explore the responses of 201 currently enrolled students to the Telecourse Evaluation Questionnaire. The analyses identified seven distinct dimensions of course satisfaction. A comparable study was conducted one year later using a different sample of 177 distance learners who were also enrolled in the televised courses. A factor analysis of these data validated the original results in that, as predicted, seven comparable dimensions were identified. Overall results are discussed in terms of the practical benefits the research offers to both program personnel and evaluation researchers.     

The Swiss “Tina Fey Effect”: The Content of Late-Night Political Humor and the Negative Effects of Political Parody on the Evaluation of Politicians

This article investigates the content and effects of political humor on late-night television. Besides conducting a systematic content analysis of a Swiss late-night show, this article examines the effects of late-night political parody on competence evaluations of politicians. An experiment manipulated the televised parody of a politician and measured political knowledge. Results show that exposure to a televised political parody decreased competence ratings of politicians only for individuals high in political knowledge. The reason is that viewers must already have an understanding of current political affairs to “get the joke”—that is, the implicit message transported by the parody. The implications of such a negative “Tina Fey Effect” are discussed.     

Thinking about television science: How students understand the nature of science from different program genres

Student views on the nature of science are shaped by a variety of out‐of‐school forces and television‐mediated science is a significant force. To attempt to achieve a science for all, we need to recognize and understand the diverse messages about science that students access and think about on a regular basis. In this work I examine how high school students think about science that is mediated by four different program genres on television: documentary, magazine‐format programming, network news, and dramatic or fictional programming. The following categories of findings are discussed: the ethics and validity of science, final form science, science as portrayed by its practitioners, and school science and television science. Student perceptions of the nature of science depicted on the program sample used in this study ranged from seeing science as comprising tentative knowledge claims to seeing science as a fixed body of facts. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 40: 234–256, 2003     

THE ‘ACTIVE’ TELEVISION VIEWER SOME PRELIMINARY DEFINITIONS OF CONCEPTS AND MEASURES

This note summarises the main points that have arisen from the first phase of the Active Audience project, which the Centre for Television Research has undertaken with sponsorship from the BBC. This research has been designed to look at the nature of the television audience not in the usual way of counting heads and noting down who watches what, but in terms of why people watch television and how they respond to what they are being offered. Essentially this project is exploratory and represents an effort to analyse and understand the experience of the audience with television from two points of view. Firstly, by studying the motivation of the audience to watch television, as shown from the expectations different people attach to their viewing; and secondly, by concentrating more specifically on the perception and interpretation of the broadcast material which may determine programme preferences and strengthen or weaken the motivation of the audience to watch television.

These two ways of looking at television, that is from a ‘general motivation’ and a ‘perception and meaning’ angle, have been explored during the initial phase of the research, using the ‘family case‐study’ method. This involved the in‐depth study of a small number of individuals in their family context, by means of intensive repeated interviewing about their TV viewing and their life‐style more generally. The conducted case‐studies provided many insights of the role and significance of television within different styles of life and pointed to a number of practical implications for broadcasters, concerning both programme‐making and programme‐planning.     

Children's Recall of Televised and Printed News as a Function of Test Expectation

An exploratory study was carried out to investigate the relative effectiveness of news stories watched on television and news stories read by children. Children aged 10 to 12 (n = 123) either watched five news stories or read print versions of the same news stories. In each condition, half of the children expected a retention test, whereas the other children did not. Results indicated that children who did not expect a retention test learned more from television news than from printed news. Among children who expected a retention test, televised and printed news were recalled about equally well.     

Adapting to Distance Education

SUMMARY

A recent ethnographic study of 13 graduate classes in an interactive televised (ITV) learning environment (N= 278) provided insight for instructional designers into the process of adaptation that learners go through as they attempt to relate a new technologically mediated classroom to their traditional ways of managing teaching and learning. Participant observations of students' comments and actions clearly indicated a connection between the complexities of working with the tech nology (e.g., using microphones, watching television, appearing on screen) and their ability to participate in class. Cultural anthropology and symbolic interactionism theoretically framed this study that shows communication and participation in class were different in the ITV classroom from the traditional classroom.     

A brief study of televised laboratory instruction

Conclusions In this brief study, all reasonable efforts were made to gain control over extraneous variables while gathering limited but valid information concerning the relative effectiveness of televised and conventional instruction in laboratory skills. There are unanswered questions concerning the methods, the effects, and the meanings which still out-number the few questions which may have been answered but these should not obscure what was attempted and found. In brief, the results indicate that one of the two criteria employed in the study was little more than worth-less. The other criterion measure gave evidence that, although the instruction produced measureable effects, it apparently made no difference whether groups were taught by conventional means or by means of television. Statistically, these instructed groups performed equally when executing their laboratory tasks. This evidence is not contradicted by related information from the earlier and more extended trials of televised laboratory instruction. Perhaps, at best, the inclusion of “delayed measurement” groups has added some small amount of respectability to this study. Their inclusion certainly has not guaranteed that unequivocal answers can be given to those questions which deal with the “long-term” effects of the two forms of instruction. Since these “long-term” effects are extremely important, it is hoped that they will receive increasing attention in the future. This article is a condensed and modified version of a February 1959 mimeographed report by the authors. The mimeographed original includes copies of measuring devices used in gathering data for the study which can be had by writing the senior author at the Audio-Visual Center at Purdue University. Dr. Seibert, who was recently on leave to the U. S. Office of Education as research coordinator for the Educational Media (Title VII) Program, returns to Purdue July 1 as TV Program Research Consultant. Dr. Honig is currently with the Lincoln Laboratories, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The writers thank Frederick Vratney, Post-Doctoral Fellow in Chemistry; D. F. Kasten, graduate student in Psychology; the staff of the Purdue TV Production Unit; and the several graduate students who served as performance evaluators. All made contributions to the study on which this report is based. It goes without saying that the student subjects were essential and their cooperation appreciated.     

从迫选再认测验看记忆编码过程的加工机制

人类记忆具有复杂的认知功能,可表现为多种类型,如内隐记忆、外显记忆等,不同的记忆类型在编码过程中是否就存在着差异?本文通过两阶段的迫选再认,分别以词和面孔为刺激,在单一测验中区分出记住、启动、忘记和虚报四种不同的记忆类型,然后比较不同类型的记忆项目在编码过程中的加工差异,结果发现记住和启动项目在学习阶段所获得的加工资源要多于忘记项目,而虚报项目所得到的加工资源最少,表明不论是外显还是内隐记忆,在编码阶段都需要获得一定的加工资源,否则就会从记忆痕迹中消失,甚至产生错误记忆。     

Economic instrumentalism and integration in Australian External Studies

In this article Derek Rowntree of the Open University UK's, Institute of Educational Technology, examines the implications of quality assessment for distance education and other forms of materials‐based learning. He suggests that materials‐based teaching cannot properly be judged in quite the same terms as the conventional, face‐to‐face teaching that academic peers are most familiar with. So what might they be looking for when they come to assess the quality of a department's materials‐based teaching? And what might we expect to result from such assessments?     

THE TEAM APPROACH TO INSTRUCTIONAL TELEVISION PRODUCTION: AN AMERICAN VIEW

Instructional television (ITV) is most likely to be successful when resulting from the coordinated efforts of a team of capable specialists, but the contributions of such specialists are frequently overlooked, oversimplified or perceived too late. The team or task force assigned to the organization and development of a televised teaching project should consist of (1) a specialist in the psychology of learning, (2) a content specialist/writer, (3) a production specialist, (4) a TV engineer, and (5) a research and evaluation specialist. Each of these specialists, when properly trained and experienced, can play a unique and significant part in the creation of effective ITV materials. It is possible for some of the roles to be combined, but this can be disadvantageous.

Public television stations in the United States have not made extensive use of the specialist team approach, for reasons of economy, scarcity of personnel and constraints of time and scheduling, but it is notable that the best known and apparently most effective producers of ITV programmes have used the specialist team approach. Amongst these successful users are the British Open University, the Children's Television Workshop, the Agency for Instructional Television, the University of Mid‐America and a few other large ITV consortia. Benefits to be derived from the specialist team approach should be carefully considered by all those engaged in the preparation not only of ITV programmes but also other audiovisual materials and multi‐media courses.     

Personality characteristics differentiating and predicting the achievement of televised‐course students and traditional‐course students 1

Abstract

A large‐scale field study was conducted to 1) determine if the personality traits of students enrolled in televised college‐level courses differ from the personality traits of students enrolled in traditional college‐level courses and 2) identify the specific personality traits predictive of successful performance in televised classes. Results showed that students enrolled in telecourses do have a unique personality profile and that certain traits predicted success for these students. Implications of these results are discussed.