Interactive Television (ITV)

What is ITV?
  1. photo of UMD ITV labInstructor teaches from one location both to students who are in the same room as the instructor & to students who are in ITV classrooms at other locations.
  2. Can be in any location that is wired for ITV & has necessary equipment (cameras, microphones, TV monitors, & AV equipment). Typically room seating 10-40 people, desks, teaching station, cameras & TV monitors at front. Example: This photo shows one of the University of Minnesota ITV labs.
  3. Technology requirements:
    • For teaching: ITV lab with teaching station (ideally: camera that zooms, document camera, computer with Internet access, VCR, DVD player), monitors showing remote sites.
    • For learners: Must go to ITV classroom at designated site.
Why use ITV?
  1. When it is necessary for teacher & learners to be in different locations at same time. e.g. University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD) Social Work program (taught through hybrid ITV,f2f all day once a month &web-enhanced to students in rural NE MN (sites at Bemidji, Hibbing & Duluth); UMD/UM Pharmacy program: used for teaching classes primarily in lecture form to students at UMD and in Twin Cities. Some instructors teach and are from UMD, some from the Twin Cities. Sessions are archived in WebCT for students to access and review following class.
  2. Need for synchronous observing and experiencing same learning experience.
  3. High quality audio visuals needed.
  4. Can be easily recorded for later viewing (e.g. accessed via Internet on WebCT).
Advantages of ITV
  1. Enables students to take classes at regional ITV sites without having to commute long distances to UMD (essential in Social Work Distance Cohorts & Pharmacy program).
  2. High quality audio & video between designated sites with multi-media options (document camera, display of anything on instructor's computer; video/DVD).
  3. Sessions can be recorded, archived & accessed online later for review or by students who missed class.
Disadvantages of ITV
  1. Students at remote sites feel disconnected from the instructor & the students at the host site, especially if instructor not skilled in making eye contact with camera (and hence with remote site students).
  2. Harder for students to remain focused when watching class over a TV monitor.
  3. Instructor & students can't see faces and "read" non-verbals at other sites.
  4. Instructor cannot circulate around the room at remote site and listen in to small group discussions.
  5. Difficult (and clumsy, at best) to have students work in groups with students who are at other sites, especially during class sessions.
  6. Instructor needs to have helpers at remote sites to copy & distribute handouts and materials, collect materials.
  7. Instructor must plan ahead to ensure that any materials are sent to remote sites in time for class.
  8. Unless multiple sets of materials are available, the extent of materials-based in class activities is limited.
  9. Very challenging to make all aspects of class accessible to students with disabilities, especially visual or hearing disabilities.
  10. Students may still have to commute long distances to ITV sites.
Issues & problems related to ITV
  1. Many instructors struggle with adapting their f2f skills to those required for ITV. Thus not only are they not as effective as they are f2f, but many report not wanting to teach courses if they are going to be offered over ITV.
  2. Technical difficulties at one site may mean that site is left "stranded." Instructors need to have back up plan for those sites so that students can still have class (especially important if many of them travel many hours to get to class). This means the learning experiences of students at the "stranded" site are different from those of other students, making it complicated to bring them all back to a common point the next class period.
  3. Very costly to provide on site assistance to all sites.
  4. If instructors have to alternate and travel to remote sites to teach this makes for very long days.
Emerging issues and tips related to ITV
  1. Important to spend time at the start of course teaching students how to participate in ITV class and in creating a community of learners across sites.
  2. Instructor or site assistant needs to zoom camera in on person who is talking so all can see facial expressions and other non-verbals.
  3. Use hybrid approaches: have some class meetings be f2f at one site; use course website to make course web-enhanced (access to course materials, links to readings, discussion forum so students can reflect on learning from class and from outside assignments).
  4. Since ITV enables educational program to be offered to under-served populations, grants may be obtained to secure extra funding needed (e.g. UMD Social Work Department).
  5. To reduce disconnectedness of students who are at remote sites, instructors can alternate the site from which they teach.
  6. Courses can be team-taught, with one instructor at each site.
  7. Departments in which many faculty teach over ITV and travel to remote sites to do so can arrange department schedules so that no meetings are scheduled on Mondays (so that faculty who worked weekends can have option of staying home on Mondays) .

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