EVALUATING A TELECOURSE ON AGING

Growing Old in a New Age is a 13-hr telecourse in gerontology produced by the University of Hawaii at Manoa in 1993. The telecourse producers at the university have been teaching the course for several years, and this article reports on findings from evaluation efforts. In a first study, students taking the television and classroom-based versions of the course in 1993-1994 were compared on a number of outcomes (e.g., completion of assignments, improvements in knowledge and attitudes toward older adults, grades, satisfaction with the course, and access to the instructor). Findings suggested that telecourse students completed more of the readings and rated the videos and readings as more helpful than did the in-class students, but that in-class students reported better access to the instructor. Upon posttest, both groups showed similar improvements in attitude, but only the classroom group reported a significant increase in knowledge as measured by the Palmore Facts on Aging quizzes. Both groups reported enjoying the course and the distribution of grades was similar. While offering the telecourse in 1996, efforts were made to increase instructor contact and interactivity for students. A second study compared outcomes between telecourse students who took the enhanced version of the course with those who took the course in 1993-1994. Findings were similar in terms of improved attitudes toward older adults. In addition, the 1996 students made significant improvements in the knowledge measure and, overall, got higher grades than did the 1993-1994 cohorts. These results confirm findings reported in the literature that well-organized telecourses are as effective as classroom-based courses, especially if efforts are made to enhance telecourse learning with opportunities for instructor contact and student interactivity.