Educational Television Revisited: the Governors State University teleclass experience

Abstract

Abstract Currently the impact of educational television in universities is relatively small. However, this may change, thanks to recent advances in television technology. This article describes the ‘teleclass’ concept which Governors State University, a relatively small state‐funded institution in Illinois, has developed as an alternative to the conventional documentary‐style telecourse which is prohibitively expensive for most university television departments. Simply put, teleclasses are videotaped classrooms. The difference between teleclasses and the one‐way telelectures which were the bane of early educational television is that the entire class is videotaped, both students and instructor, so that all the interaction between instructor and students and between students and students is captured for the distant viewer, who becomes a vicarious participant in the classroom experience. Teleclasses have proved to be effective in terms of student completion and acceptance, and are having an impact on the university's entire academic programme.