Reisslein, Jana, Patrick Seeling, and Martin Reisslein.
"Video In Distance Education: ITFS Vs. Web-Streaming: Evaluation Of
Student Attitudes." Internet & Higher Education 8.1 (2005):
25-44. ScienceDirect. Web. 5 June 2012.
This article was published at a time when many universities were
considering (or undergoing) a transition from the Instructional Television
Fixed Service (ITFS) form of distance education to web-streaming distance education.
Its goal is to examine students’ attitudes toward of this new format in order
to understand and serve their needs.
To accomplish this goal, Jana
Reisslein, Patrick Seeling, and Martin Reisslein performed a survey-based
naturalistic study of nearly 360 distance education students at the University
of Arizona. Nearly half of the students surveyed had been participating in ITFS
courses, and the other half in web-streaming courses.
Among their background research, Reisslein,
Seeling, and Reisslein point out the “no significant difference” phenomenon:
distance education appears to be just as effective as face-to-face education.
They wish to push this further by checking whether the form of audio/video
transmission made any impact on students’ learning.
There are three main forms of distance education through video: “interactive
two-way video and audio… essentially a video conference…, one-way live video
and two-way audio, and one-way delayed audio and video” (Reisslein, Seeling,
and Reisslein 26). The first is closest to the feel of face-to-face education
but requires a high-speed connection and synchronous participation.
Because of some students’ limited access to high-speed internet,
the one-way video/two-way audio format has been widely adopted. In the 80’s this format was accomplished
through ITFS. In the early 2000’s, universities began to phase out ITFS in
favor of web-streaming education. As of 2005, when this article was published, most
online courses were a one-way delayed audio and video profile.
Results from their survey research showed that ITFS students
reported better video quality and fewer technical difficulties, but both groups
reported a similar sense of accessibility. Despite the difficulties with
web-streaming, all students seemed to prefer it. All participants found
interaction with the teacher and fellow students to be mediocre with a slight
advantage found among web-streaming.
The researchers concluded that the level of satisfaction is the
same for both forms of delivery, but there are some differences among
individual aspects. Namely, students desire flexibility in distance education,
marked by the ability to participate either synchronously or asynchronously
depending on their schedule.
This article provides detailed historical information about the
progression of audio/video-based delivery in distance education, but I felt the
researchers tried to accomplish too much. They have a great deal of useful data
from their survey research, but it will require the reader to spend a great
deal of time to process everything.
The most interesting aspect of this article, for me, is the fact
that students seemed to be relatively indifferent to minor changes in format
and the addition of new technology. What students seem to care about is
interaction and time management, two aspects that impact any form of education
whether it’s distance or face-to-face.
Megan, while reading your review, I was once more reminded of how narrow my definition of distance learning was upon beginning this class. For reasons that likely relate to my own learning and teaching experiences, I tend to always think about distance learning in conjunction to a text-based environment that can potentially be enhanced through various audio and video streaming technologies. I'm not quite sure why, but I forget that distance learning for many students and instructors takes place in the contexts you describe above.
ReplyDeleteAn another note, much of what I've been reading also emphasizes how students prioritize issues of time management over other potentially important issues (my take...). This make me think about the tension between convenience of learning methods versus truly matching learning styles; I suppose this is at least one area where an argument for multimodal teaching can be made.
Thanks, Sarah! This blog assignment has been an eye-opener for me too. It's really interesting how our assumptions get played out in this blog environment (in ways that wouldn't occur in an annotated bibliography assignment).
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