The Limits Of Information: Measuring Differences Between Local and DistanceGroup Attitudes Toward Distance Learning

摘要

Because of the imperative of attaining advancedrneducation in the emerging global service economy, andrnthe difficulties involved in traveling to distant classrooms,rnuniversities are investing heavily in interactive video andrnother types of distance learning. While we admit thernnecessity to investigate these modes of instructionalrndelivery, we also call for a fair but critical investigation ofrnwhat these technologies take away from the classroomrnexperience. We performed a quasi-experimental study torninvestigate just that. Students in a local and distance classrntaught simultaneously by one instructor were asked forrntheir perceptions about the experience. In the main, thernperceptions of students in the Distance setting wererngenerally less favorable than their Local settingrncounterparts. Implications of our findings are discussed.