A pilot study to investigate the impact of interactional television on student evaluation of faculty effectiveness

While the dominant theme of distance education research has been the learner, learner achievement is not necessarily the only important consideration in assessing the effectiveness of ITV programs. With nearly half of the nursing programs recently surveyed by Reinert and Fryback (1997) offering or planning to offer distance learning in the near future, researchers and developers must seek to understand the impact of ITV on the teacher. These programs require faculty who are committed and prepared to teach outside of the traditional classroom. Selection of faculty requires attention to appropriate qualifications and knowledge of strategies to bridge teacher-learner separation created by distance education. Faculty, peers, and administrators should consider the teaching environment when interpreting data designed to evaluate teacher effectiveness of ITV teaching.