Interactive television instructors' perceptions of students' nonverbal responsiveness and their influence on distance teaching

Abstract

The objective of this study was to examine the relationships between interactive television instructors’ perceptions of students’ nonverbal responsiveness and the influence of these perceptions on distance teaching. The study yielded three general conclusions. First, interactive television instructors’ perceptions of students’ nonverbal responsiveness are positively related to their impressions of students, their perceptions of their teaching effectiveness and satisfaction, their perceptions of teacher‐student interpersonal relationships, and their preference for teaching in the interactive television classroom as opposed to the face‐to‐face classroom. The second conclusion is that instructors’ perceptions of students’ nonverbal responsiveness and the various teaching process variables are significantly higher in the traditional face‐to‐face classroom than in the interactive television classroom. The third conclusion is that receiving both visual and audible nonverbal cues via two‐way audio/video versus two‐way audio/one‐way video delivery systems increase positive perceptions of both students and the distance teaching process.