Education Commons^™

Enhancing Instructor Credibility And Immediacy In The Design Of Distance Learning Systems And Virtual Classroom Environments, Miguel Ramlatchan, Ginger S. Watson

Distance Learning Faculty & Staff Publications

What are the optimal techniques for applying the latest generation of telepresence, video conferencing, and communication technologies in distance education and virtual classroom designs? If human beings use more than voice to communicate, what implications does the ability to more effectively replicate eye-to-eye contact have in collaborative distance education? This research study explored the effects of perceived faculty credibility and immediacy during virtual classroom presentations. This quantitative experiment created four independent treatments that varied the video resolution and varied the ability of the instructor to maintain virtual eye-contact with students during each presentation. Participants were assigned into one of the …