Recent and Proposed Research
                                                         Comparing On-site and Distance
                                                                      Interpersonal Communication 
                                                                                                             2001

                                                              
                                                                                               By Diane Howard, Ph.D.

                                                                      Research Partners: Dr. Diane Howard, Dr. Stan Dyer
                                                             University of Mary Hardin-Baylor,  Central Texas College ,  BellNet                           
                                                                                                                                                                                           
                                                                                                                                                                                                               

Today there is great debate concerning the effectiveness of distance education, communication, and performance. Most of this divide is based on opinion and limited experience, evidence, and research.  My performance studies students and I are responding to the need for research evidence and verification by being involved with distance research projects, especially studies of interactive aspects of educational, videoconferences. This research has considered the relationship of role models and the change in locus of control of student, audience members who observe and identify with the role models. Further it involves studying the humanizing, personalizing, therapeutic aspects of educational, videoconferencing. Audiences from the various sites of distance, educational, videoconference performances often follow the performances with questions and discussions of significant topics, which are directed to the performer and other audience members. Often the audience members self-disclose in vulnerable, transparent ways. Many of the comments and questions from audience members are personally significant. It is almost as if the videoconference configuration encourages an atmosphere of anonymity, which paradoxically encourages questions and discussions, which are personal in nature. Performance Studies students are able to communicate human interest and empathy in highly technological communication arenas. They find that performance and communication over videoconference equipment does not depersonalize the performers, the characters performed, or the audience in the communication interaction. Ironically, they find that often performers, characters, and audience members interact more personally over videoconference equipment than in onsite performances.  (Howard, 1999)

Frequently educators, communicators, and performers with limited experience in the use of distance technology resist it and argue that it depersonalizes, dehumanizes, and prohibits socialization. On the other hand, educators, communicators, and performers with more experience in using distance technology, believe and argue that it can enhance education, communication, performance, and socialization in qualitatively unique ways.  For example, Professor Edna Aphek, who lives in Jerusalem, Israel, who experienced a dream come true in in Kamrat, a virtual, multicultural, learning community. She witnessed Israeli and Arab youths learning together without hostility and prejudice in the virtual world called Kamrat. The interactions of these young people fostered meaningful, bonded relationships, which later extended into their real worlds. (Aphek, 2000)

Dr. Stan Dyer, Central Texas College, and I are convinced that communication, education, and performance in cyberspace can uniquely and powerfully facilitate insights, communication, and connection between performers and audience members involved in distance interactions. Like other cyberspace proponents (e.g., Paloff: 1999), we contend that the equalizing, leveling, anonymous, and disembodying aspects of distance interactions may be major facilitating factors. We also argue that strong visual images, multi-media elements, and skillful interactive facilitation and moderating techniques can enhance the uniquely personalizing, humanizing, socializing, and even potentially therapeutic effects of distance education, communication, and performance.

Advocates of distance education contend that cyberspace provides potential enrichment for students all over the world. The virtual world provides mobility and portability, supplemented by electronic multimedia. It provides virtual mobility in terms of collaborative, computer-mediated communication among people around the globe. Discussions can be interactive, while taking place across national borders and across time zones. Proponents of distance communication, education, and performance value the mobility and portability that cyberspace provides. Most obstacles specific to real mobility, are absent in cyberspace. Through virtual mobility,  collaborative links become even more efficient. Teaching and communication content is also more portable. It can be transferred more easily into different cultural contexts in a global setting.

Students all over the world are rapidly adopting information and communication technological skills by participating in internet communication. This is due in part to the informality of internet communities. Virtual learning communities and the contents related to them are constantly developing and expanding. Cyber communities are creating new cultures facilitated by emerging technological possibilities and norms.

Dr. Stan Dyer, our videoconference participants, and I have personally and consistently experienced the humanizing, personalizing, and socializing effects of translating and transforming performance from on-site, visceral ones to distance, virtual ones. We are convinced that videoconferencing is a wonderful tool to connect and to provide accessibility to information and education for people at remote sites; however, we are also convinced that videoconferencing provides something qualitatively unique and humanizing to communication interactions.

Videoconferencing can provide up-close and personal connections. Although participants at all sites are visible via cameras, there is still an atmosphere of anonymity, which seems to facilitate more vulnerable, open, transparent, and subjective interactions. It seems that participants are somewhat disembodied and that their minds, souls, and spirits can connect vitally in the virtual world. Communicating in cyberspace seems more disembodied and spiritual than that of the visceral world. Time and space do not limit the virtual world. While involving interactions between multiple times and places at once; it can, at the same time, unify minds, spirits, and souls in those various places and times. Videoconferencing can be far more than just an educational or informational tool. The world of cyberspace provides a unique, powerful, virtual world, where human spirits can meaningfully connect and bond. This virtual world is less confining, restricting, and inhibiting than the visceral world. It is very easy and natural to address spiritual, subjective, and personal issues in cyberspace.

For three years my African American performance studies students, community associates, and I have been performing long-distance over videoconferencing equipment to Dr. Stan Dyer's African American history students.  They have been performing autobiographical stories about themselves and great, African American role models. Their performances are subjective in nature, having been developed from primary, personal sources. These autobiographical productions, which are followed by discussions facilitated by Dr. Dyer  and myselft at different sites, have been part of a qualitative and quantitative research project. Qualitatively we have been observing and recording video documentation and evidence of the quality of the performances and student interactions at all remote sites of the cyberspace experience. The virtual world has seemed to facilitate the connection between the minds, souls, and spirits of those at various sites.

Sometimes other distance classes join our distance groups. Students and professors at all sites of the videoconferences been able to discuss potentially, highly volatile racial topics following performances. They have found the distance, virtual interactions are usually calm, thoughtful, and objective. We have observed that both performers and audience responders seem more honest, vulnerable, and transparent, and self-disclosing than onsite. Over-reactions have seemed minimized and discussions have seemed more fruitful and productive. In every videoconference we have witnessed participants easily and freely interchanging about subjective, personal, spiritual matters and applications in relationship to the stories and discussions. Our video evidence presents the humanizing, vulnerable, productive, and therapeutic transactions we have witnessed, during we videoconference performances and discussions.

Quantitatively, we have been collecting statistical evidence of the relationship of African American role models presented over videoconferencing and locus of control in audience members in Dr. Dyer’s African American history classes. The study was based on a review of relevant scholarly literature. (Howard, 2001) In our research study with college African American history students, African American autobiographies are being performing via videoconference equipment for viewing audiences, which consist mostly of African American, college history students. The sample population, which is the viewing audience, is reasonably homogeneous. The basic difference in the subjects of the sample is whether or not they identify role models. There is no controlled treatment. The comparison groups are those subjects who identify role models or not. African American performers have been selected to perform historic, role model, characters from African American history. All performers have been identified as role models according to their demonstration of character qualities outlined on a role model questionnaire. They are role models in themselves and perform, from African American history, role models displaying character qualities listed on the role model questionnaire. The historic characters being performed present an array of African Americans who overcame adversity throughout American history. Their lives also reflect Christian principles, which are often discussed with videoconference audience members, following the performances.

The presenters are performing and participating in discussions via videoconferencing with the college student audiences following the performances. Discussion questions, asked by research facilitators from the delivery and receiving sites, are related to the characteristics identified on the role model questionnaire. All subjects participating in this study are pre-tested and post-tested with a locus of control scale and with the questionnaire. Preliminary results (with subjects who have ranged in age from 18 to 56, have been married and single, and have been freshmen-seniors) have supported the hypothesis that locus of control is a changeable variable. These initial results have also suggested a possible positive link between identification of role models and internal locus of control, a predictor of achievement motivation. (Conversely, there seems to be a correlation between not identifying role models and external locus of control, which is a predictor of less achievement motivation than those with internal locus of control.) Locus of control is easily and quickly measured with a locus of control scale. It is a construct, which has proven itself reliable and valid over time. It is used in many fields, such as education, sociology, psychology, counseling etc. We have used a locus of control scale and questionnaire to test the change
in locus of control of audience members as they view performances of autobiography. We have used t tests to measure the change in locus of control from the beginning to the end of testing periods. (Howard, 1996, 1999, 2001)

Thus, we have been qualitatively and quantitatively collecting and documenting evidence, which supports tour qualitative and quantitative hypotheses: translating and transforming performances in cyber-space facilitates humanizing and personalizing transactions and there is a relationship between role models presented through virtual performances and locus of control in audience members.

We have some major agreements with online educators and researchers. One agreement is that modeling expected behavior is very important in distance education of all kinds. However, they see value in videoconferencing that transcends that of text-based, online, education and communication. Because of the text-based nature of online classes, those who prefer written communication are often more communicative, open, and vulnerable than oral communicators, who sometimes feel constrained in the text-based environment. Further, videoconferencing provides visual, kinesthetic, and sound cues in synchronous communication that are lacking in online education and communication.

We believe that various kinds of on-line education are preferred by many educators over videoconferencing due to the cost, training needed, discomfort with on-camera exposure for presenters etc. However, the humanizing, personalizing, and therapeutic potential of videoconferencing, when facilitated and moderated skillfully, is worth the financial costs and effort necessary in terms of training and practice, especially for marginalized populations (females, minorities, physically challenged, people in remote locations etc.).

Distance teaching often requires extra time investment and ongoing, professional training of staff. Teachers have to give more control to students. Virtual communication is much more informal and students are freer to respond and work more independently. Instructors need to be more personal and empathetic in distance education. They need to help students find their own paths through the highways of cyberspace. Teachers need to assist students to organize their own ideas. However, the benefits of communication in cyberspace, especially via videoconferencing, are worth all the necessary adjustments and costs.

We are in the process of designing an adjustment to their current research. We intend to compare students' growth in interpersonal communication skills in Dr. Dyer's onsite and distance African American history classes, in which autobiographies of African American role models are presented and discussed. Evaluation is to involve the pre and post rating of every distance student on an inventory of communication skills, which is to be used and compared in onsite and videoconference versions of classes with the same content.

Onsite and videoconference ratings of each student are to be compared in pre- and post- measures of communication skills outlined on inventory. Observers are to rate the students and score them at the beginning
and end of the project. This will provide a relatively unbiased means of assessing skills acquisition. Each rater will score each student. This will permit an inter-rater correlation to be calculated and thus, increase the validity of the final conclusions regarding the growth in demonstrated skills. Each rater is to perform a pre-rating and post-rating of each student. Inter-rater reliability consists of the total score of each student by the first rater and correlated with the total score of each student by the second rater. If the raters are familiar with the research project, it is anticipated that survey scores will be highly correlated between raters.

The inventory is to consist of concrete skills, which can be observed and rated. A table or graph is to be used to identify the skills to be observed and rated. For actual quantification, a Lykert scale is to be used beside each specific skill and quantified at the ordinal level of measurement. The evaluation is to include scoring of the skills demonstrated by the students. Thus, the observable skills provide concrete performance factors for evaluation. Descriptive analysis is to be performed on the evaluation. This is to include measures such as means, ranges, and frequency counts of responses. This information is to be communicated in tables and graphs. Analysis is to be performed on all surveys and all performance measures. This includes the pre-rater observations and post-rater observations of inventory. These will provide ordinal levels of measurement. I am passionate about this research as it has critical implications for strengthening students, especially for empowering them by Christian principles, which can be seen in role models.

 

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                                                       For further information
                                                                      Contact Dr. Howard
                                                                      dhoward@vvm.com

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