Abstract
In a controlled experiment, students in two sections of introductory sociology were exposed either to conventional classroom lectures or to the same lectures broadcast live in an adjacent room on a television monitor. Except for the first round of six lectures, when technical problems appeared to have lowered test performance by the experimental groups, learning under the two lecturing modes was statistically equivalent. Self-reported class attendance, also, seemed to have been unaffected by lecturing modes. This study confirms the general pattern of results from a number of prior, albeit less rigorously designed, studies of live vs. televised lecture courses.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alexander, R. D. (1962). “An experiment in teaching mathematics at the college level by closed-circuit television,” Dissertation Abstracts 22: 2805.
Anderson, G. R. and van der Meer, A. W. (1954). “A comparative study of the effectiveness of lessons on the slide rule presented via television and in person,” Mathematics Teacher 47: 323–327.
Bailey, H. S. (1959). “Teaching physics on closed circuit television,” Dissertation Abstracts 19: 1947.
Berger, E. J. (1962). “An investigation of the effectiveness of televised presentations of self-contained television adapted lessons on enrichment topics in mathematics,” Dissertation Abstracts 23: 1552.
Bickel, R. F. (1965). “A comparative analysis of the effect of television on achievement in a college mathematics course for elementary teaching majors,” Dissertation Abstracts 25: 5777.
Buckler, W. E. (1958). “A college English teacher looks at television: composition,” Journal of Educational Sociology 31: 346–352.
Davies, V., Gross, E., and Short, J. F., Jr. (1958). Experiments in Teaching Effectiveness Applied to Introductory Sociology. Pullman: Washington State University.
Dyner-Bennet, J., Fuller, W. R., Seibert, W. F., and Shanks, M. E. (1958). “Teaching calculus by closed circuit television,” American Mathematical Monthly 63: 430–439.
Ellis, L. and Curless I. (in press). “Video taped course offerings in higher education: a survey,” College and University.
Jacobs, J. N., Bollenbacher, J., and Keiffer, M. (1961). “Teaching seventh-grade mathematics by television to homogeneously grouped below-average students,” Mathematics Teacher 54: 551–555.
Janes, R. W. (1961). “An eductional experiment with on-campus open-circuit television,” Journal of Educational Sociology 34: 300–308.
Jantzen, V. W. (1963). “The effectiveness of television teaching of American Government with regular classes in Wichita High School South,” Dissertation Abstracts 24: 1029.
Lofthouse, Y. M. S. (1957). “An experiment with closed-circuit televised instruction in teacher education,” Dissertation Abstracts 17: 1513.
Los Angeles City School Districts (1955). “An evaluation of closed circuit television for teaching junior college courses. Los Angeles: Division of Extension and Higher Education, Los Angeles City School Districts, 1957,” Audio-Visual Communication Review 6: 237.
Spencer, R. E. (1963). “Comparisons of televised with teaching machine and televised with instructor presentations of English Grammar,” in C. R. Carpenter and L. P. Greenhill (eds.), Comparative Research on Methods and Media for Presenting Programmed Courses in Mathematics and English. USOE Grant No. 736116. University Park: The Pennsylvania State University, pp. 57–63.
Thorman, J. and Amb, T. (1974). “The video tape presentation versus the live presentation: better, worse or the same?” The Journal 1: 24.
Thorman, J. H. (1975). “Continuing education for adults utilizing videotape as an instructional component,” The Journal 2: 21.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ellis, L., Mathis, D. College student learning from televised versus conventional classroom lectures: A controlled experiment. High Educ 14, 165–173 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00137482
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00137482