Investigating a New Education Frontier: Instructor Communication Behavior in CD-ROM Texts-Do Traditionally Positive Behaviors Translate into This New Environment?

The non-interactive video learning environment, or CD-ROM texts, that feature video instructors delivering course material are becoming increasingly popular in institutions of higher education. Instructor nonverbal immediacy and humor have been proven to enhance instructor credibility and motivate student learning in the traditional and distance learning classrooms. Framed by the media naturalness hypothesis, this experimental study investigated the effects (instructor credibility, student motivation, and learning) of these behaviors when mediated. Results indicate that nonverbal immediacy and humor do not have a significant effect on student learning in virtual instruction but do have a significant effect on student motivation and perceptions of instructor credibility. Highly immediate and highly humorous instructors appear to be more motivating and credible, with nonverbal immediacy having the greatest impact.