PUB TYPE Reports Descriptive (141) Speeches/Conference Papers (150)

Iowa's first-in-the-nation statewide fiber-optics telecommunications network is bringing both excitement and concern to educators. One application of the fiber-optics network is the offering of college courses through live, interactive television instruction. The teacher in the origination site classroom is linked with students in one or more remote site locations through a 2-way audio and video system. A study explored the communication that takes place between the persons and the classrooms during one of these college courses, specifically examining what it is like to be a student participant in an interactive television classroom. A college classroom with 20 students served at the origination site; four remote high school classrooms (with between one and five students in each room) served as the receive sites. Classroom observation and individual group interviews were guided by three research questions