Course Rationale

The purpose for using interactive one-way video delivery system for this master’s level course was to 1) provide advanced educational opportunities for students in areas in which no other such opportunities are available and 2) examine the possibilities of offering a seminar course using IHETS technology.

Pedagogical objectives were to 1) minimize the expected impact of a one-way video delivery system on class interaction and 2) facilitate student contributions during class time, especially those students attending class at remote sites.

Course Objectives

At the conclusion of this course, students should be able to:

• adapt to a non-traditional means of learning new information and expanding knowledge and practical skills in the area of therapeutic recreation.
• master course content while participating in a one-way video seminar format.
• gain experience in interaction with other students attending class at remote locations.
• exchange conversation and ideas with a wide variety of individuals of diverse backgrounds, attitudes, and real-life experiences within the area of therapeutic recreation.
• intensify the quality of their individual learning experiences.

Course Description

This graduate-level course introduces students to issues that are pertinent to the field of therapeutic recreation as they occur in actual practice. The structure that has been used for the course is treated in the style of a seminar: students are assigned specific readings that they are expected to study prior to class sessions; subsequently, time during class is spent in discussion and/or exercises that clarify and magnify the reading materials.

Using IHETS technology, the instructor and students located at the on-campus Bloomington site are not able to see students at the remote reception sites. Students located at the remote reception sites are able to see the instructor as well as the students at the Bloomington site, although they are not able to see students at other remote reception sites. However, students at each of the remote sites are connected by telephone to the originating Bloomington site, thus allowing them to call in to make comments that are likewise heard by students at all other remote sites.

Teaching using Technology: Impressions and Interpretations
Impact on Faculty and Student Learning

From the Point of View of the Instructor

• Success in meeting pedagogical objectives was partial: in terms of mastery of course content, there were no real differences in advantages or disadvantages between students located at the remote reception sites and those located at the originating site.

• The instructor wished to achieve a participatory seminar format. However, according to the assessment of the peer observer, the resulting impression was that of "watching" a seminar rather than "participating" in a seminar.

  Furthermore, students perceived their fellow classmates to be only those who were at their particular reception sites. Because of the fact that the IHETS delivery system is restricted to interaction of the instructor with only one of the reception sites, real and spontaneous communication was limited. An important obstacle occurred whenever one of the remote reception sites had technological difficulties, either with video or audio transmission that resulted in a notable loss of class time. This dilemma affected the instructor’s ability and objective to create an authentic seminar format.

• The instructor gained further knowledge of the extent to which technology can impact on the learning experience. By itself, one-way video delivery is not well suited to the dispersion of courses that require extensive interaction among students and instructor. The biggest trade-off with using IHETS technology was:

  1. An appropriate interaction among all students located at each of the sites;
  2. Spontaneity that would have allowed the instructor to pursue any noteworthy or contrasting ideas that may be expressed by students during class time.

• The instructor’s most frustrating problem of teaching using one-way video delivery was the technology difficulties. "Over the course of thirteen class meetings, there were technical difficulties in twelve class meetings. These difficulties ranged from remote sites that were not receiving our signal to sites not receiving audio to poor audio quality on call in. The difficulty posed by these constant problems was that planning for the class had to be revised."

  A specific problem related to physical environment was inadvertently resolved when the location of the class was changed to a VIC classroom layout in which students were seated at a conference table, thus creating a discussion atmosphere. "As simple as this may sound, the lesson I have learned is to make sure that the layout of the classroom is consistent with the nature of the class. This is something that I would do quite naturally in a nondistance learning situation, but for some reason I felt somewhat locked in to the setup in the distance classroom."

• The use of one-way video delivery in this course had a negative effect on student learning, particularly for the students at remote sites. "The mediated nature of interaction required by the structure of this course limited the involvement of students."

• The instructor recognized a demand among students for greater interaction and a need to develop activities that match the spontaneity of a classroom seminar. Although the use of other forms of technology in support of the one-way video delivery method potentially could increase interaction, many students neither own a computer nor have access to e-mail at their places of employment. " I feel that this represents one of the obstacles to increasing interaction among all sites."

• The instructor considers most distance learning technologies to be more effective at delivering educational content than developing process knowledge, particularly among students located at remote sites.

From the Point of View of the Peer Observer

• Although students at the Bloomington site complained that the technology was intrusive, thus diminishing their relationship with the instructor, such costs were surpassed by the benefit gained of attending class together with students at different locations in the United States.

• The most apparent benefit of using distance technology in any form is the fact that many students in certain areas would not otherwise have the opportunity to enroll in the types of courses for which they have an interest and need.

• Students at the originating site benefited likewise because of the opportunity of exchanging conversation and ideas with a wide variety of individuals of diverse backgrounds, attitudes, and real-life experiences within their same discipline. "Conversation was enriched by the fact that full-time graduate students in Bloomington talked to people from different parts of the country who had just gotten off work and who brought the strains and tensions of the day into the evening’s seminar." The course "profited markedly from the presence of older students and experienced practitioners of the matter and methods of the courses. Distance or distributed education, by its very nature, not only enrolls such students but is peculiarly attractive to them."

• Although the technology is imperfect at this point, Indiana University benefits. "Students all over the country were glad to get this course and learned something useful in it. That is a service to them and a credit to the University."

• The benefits to students participating at both the remote sites and the Bloomington site compensated, on balance, for the liabilities that come with using the IHETS delivery system. "The benefits will be even more pronounced when VIC or yet more sophisticated systems are used."

Pertinent Concerns

1. Is distance/distributed learning equally effective in graduate and undergraduate courses?

   "It is worth asking about the difference between the character and effectiveness of graduate and undergraduate courses conducted by means of these technologies."

2. What methods and devices, electronic and nonelectronic, can be used in support of interactive video delivery to encourage students at both the originating site and the remote sites to communicate with each other in a dynamic manner?

   "The most attractive, and likely to be the most effective, proposals for teaching with television are going to be ones whose authors have figured out what to do in addition to sending pictures across distances."

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Last updated: 30 April 2001
URL: http://www.indiana.edu/~iude/casebook/index.html
Comments regarding Casebook:
Eileen Bender or Judith Wertheim
Comments regarding Web page: Marlene Gardner
Copyright 2001, The Trustees of Indiana University