Effectiveness of Interactive television: Perceptions of teacher candidates

At a rural, southeast university, this study examined the effectiveness of interactive television (ITV) as a method of instructional delivery for a teacher preparation course in special education. A total of 22 (N=22) teacher candidates who were enrolled in this class responded to a Likert type questionnaire that had 31 questions. The questionnaire was developed after a thorough review of literature on issues and topics surrounding interactive television instruction. The internal consistency of the questionnaire was calculated with Cronbach Alpha. The Cronbach Alpha for the questionnaire is α=.82. Analysis of data indicate that majority of the students prefer to take a traditional face-to-face class. Approximately 32% of the students report that overall, interactive television (ITV) experience was satisfactory for them. Further, 63.6% of the respondents agree or strongly agree that interactive television (ITV) slowed the class processes, and 77.2% agree or strongly agree that in-class technology failures of ITV equipment disrupted the class. Findings of this research endeavor have limited generalizability because of a number of limitations. The sample was small and of convenience. There may also be untapped researcher bias. In order to fully determine the effectiveness of distance education through ITV, additional research is needed. Despite caveats, the study is significant. It has captured the perceptions of teacher candidates as they relate to ITV instruction