A study of alternative instructional strategies to introduce computer-mediated communication

Until recently, the teaching profession in America has, by necessity, emphasized the importance of the teacher as an isolated individual, relating primarily to his or her students. Current issues suggest that using computer-mediated communication can meet many of the authentic needs of educators and their students. This research focuses on how best to train and encourage teachers to use computer-mediated communication as a vehicle for support, experience, and ideas during the preservice period thereby breaking the habits of isolation.; The purpose of this study was to compare the inclination of two groups of preservice educators to select electronic resources when faced with an instructional decision or a need for information. The two groups are differentiated by the educational approach used in their educational computing course. One received active instruction using simulations of educational telecommunications resources and the other received receptive instruction that required them to read a chapter on educational telecommunications.; A posttest only control group design was used with a sample of 80 preservice educators drawn from five sections of a computer education course and randomly assigned to an active or receptive instructional approach. After each group had received the instructional method, an achievement test was given to all students to determine if the two treatments were cognitively effective. However, the focus of this research was on inclination to use electronic resources rather than on knowledge about them. Thus the primary data were responses to scenarios that asked preservice teachers to indicate how they might seek out additional information or resources when faced with an instructional decision or a need for information.; At the outset of the analytical procedure, homogeneity of variance was computed for each data set using an Hartley F{dollar}rmsb{lcub}max{rcub}{dollar} statistic. In each case, the data was heterogeneous. This information coupled with the small sample size made the use of parametric statistics untenable. Therefore, the only statistical tests used were the nonparametric Mann Whitney U statistic for independent samples. They compared the active and receptive groups within each section and as two amalgamated groups. There were no differences on a measure of inclination to use traditional resources, but on a measure of inclination to use electronic resources some of the analyses support the conclusion that simulation instruction was more influential.