An Examination of Nonverbal Cues Used By University Professors When Delivering Instruction in a Two-Way Video Classroom

As the education field further embraces technology and the classroom develops a distance component, more and more colleges and universities are delivering classes via two-way video. Research has established that nonverbal cues exist and play a significant role in classroom instruction (Arnold & Roach, 1989; Cyrs, Conway, Shonk, & Jones, 1997; Rosenthal & Jacobson, 1968). The growing popularity of two-way video and the fundamental concepts of communication, establishes a parallel between traditional classroom and two-way video instruction delivery. This parallel and the established effect that nonverbal cues have on instructional delivery support the need to study nonverbal communication in a two-way video classroom. Descriptive observation of six instructors, each teaching five 50-minute lectures, produced the data for this preliminary study. The nonverbal cues were recorded using the Two-way Video Nonverbal Cue Observation Instrument (TV-NCOI). The TV-NCOI consisted of seven nonverbal communication categories and 22 variables used to identify and quantify professor's nonverbal cue use in two-way video instructional delivery. Frequency response, common themes, and nonverbal cue delivery observations, collected by the TV-NCOI, were used to answer the research questions; what nonverbal cues are used by university professors when delivering instruction in a two-way video classroom? The results suggest that professors in engineering and chemistry, the two focused disciplines, heavily used nonverbal cues when delivering instruction in a two-way video classroom. However, the majority of these cues have a technical delivery base. The traditional classroom nonverbal cues of board pointing, material pointing, and accent gestures are delivered via computer cursor, two-way video camera, and software applications in the two-way video classroom. More specifically, 87% on the nonverbal cues used in instructional delivery had a technological connection and only 13% of the nonverbal cues used were without a technical delivery base.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph. D.

Level thesis:degree_level

doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Instructional Technology

Department dc:contributor.department

Instructional Technology

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

2001

Author dc:creator

• Anderson, Myron R.

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Burton, John K.

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Magliaro, Susan G.
• Lockee, Barbara B.
• Moore, David M.
• Jones, Roy S.

• distance education
• instructional delivery
• Technology
• nonverbal communication
• two-way video

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Dc Identifier Other

etd-12072001-101132

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/29966