Does instructor presence in the classroom influence examination scores in a therapeutics course delivered via interactive video-conferencing technology?
Keywords:
Distance education, interactive video-conferencing, examination performance, therapeuticsAbstract
Objectives: To evaluate if instructor presence in the classroom influenced examination performance and to assess student perception of performance based on instructor presence in an interactive video-conferencing (IVC) course delivered to four sites.
Methods: An anonymous seven item survey was distributed. Questions assessed perceptions of IVC technology, impact on performance and preferred method of content delivery. Additional data collected were distribution of lectures originating from each site, examination scores and cumulative examination means.
Results: Ninety percent of students prefer to receive live lectures. Distant site students were more likely to have no preference about the mode of delivery (p , 0.01). Overall, 77% of students perceive better examination performance on material presented by a live lecturer. Although the majority of the lectures originated from one site, there were no statistically significant differences in any of the examination means or between the sites.
Conclusions: Instructor presence was not essential for satisfactory examination performance.
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