28.6 Distance Audio Education

28.6.1 Radio

Although the history of the use of radio in education (see 13.4.2.8) is long, there is not a plethora of empirical data concerning its effectiveness (see also 13.4). Saettler (1990) gives an institutional history of early educational radio in the U.S., but does not mention more than a few empirical studies. After World War H, interest in instructional radio declined, so the situation has not improved.

Educational radio began at the University of Iowa in 1911 (Wolcott, 1993). The University of Wisconsin followed in 1919, and the Ohio School of the Air was established in 1929. Other "schools of the air" were established at many institutions, but the Wisconsin effort appears to have been the most successful, surviving until this day. Various attempts were made to evaluate the effectiveness of these broadcasts, and Saettler (1990) reports on two important ones. The first, the Ohio Evaluation of School Broadcasts Project, enumerated objectives that might be met by radio. Armed with these materials, the CBS American School of the Air was evaluated in 1940-41. It was determined that teachers who used the broadcasts found the broadcast extremely valuable. In spite of this, various defects were identified. First, purposes were not always well defined. Second, there was a need for printed aids. Third, there were errors of content selection which reflected a lack of understanding of the backgrounds of the pupils. Fourth, although the broadcasts were enjoyable, they were not as interesting as they might have been.

The second evaluation study, the Wisconsin Research Project, among other efforts, compared radio instruction with conventional instruction in six subject areas from 1937 to 1939. The differences were not significant, and only with music was the small difference in the direction of radio. Although there are not many other studies, those that exist (e.g., Constantine, 1964; NHK, 1956; Cook, 1964) typically showed that radio students performed at least equally as well as live audiences.

Bates (1983) reported that the British Open University's experience with radio instruction showed that the broadcasts tended to help the weaker students more than the successful ones. It must be remembered that Open University courses were taught primarily through correspondence texts and that the radio broadcasts were intended to supplement the texts. It is not surprising that students who found the texts difficult would welcome the added help afforded by the radio.

Radio is no longer widely used in education in the wealthier countries, but Wolcott (1993) reports that interactive radio is still used where long distances are involved, as in Alaska and Australia. In the poorer nations, radio is used widely because it is cost effective compared to other more sophisticated technologies. Radio is not expensive to produce or receive and can cover long distances using the AM band. The Agency for International Development (no date) reports that from 1974 to 1990 radio instruction programs existed in Nicaragua, Thailand, Kenya, Nepal, Dominican Republic, Papua New Guinea, Honduras, Bolivia, Lesotho, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Belize, Swaziland, and Guatemala. Reported results are encouraging. For example, in Bolivia effect sizes as large as .91 were reported for radio math as compared to traditional ,math. By dividing effect size by cost per pupil, a measure of cost effectiveness was obtained. According to data from the Agency for International Development, interactive radio was generally much more cost effective than textbooks or teacher training. In a related case study of radio-assisted community basic education (Eshgh, Hoxeng, Provenzano & Casals, 1988) in the Dominican Republic, gains in both math and reading as a result of radio instruction are reported.

In summary, as with other media, radio instruction has been found to be at least as effective as conventional instruction, although the literature is limited. Under certain circumstances, such as when conventional instruction is inadequate, the radio can be a cause of improved learning. Given the cost and reach of radio, it appears to be a viable medium in places where other media are too expensive or unavailable.

28.6.2 Other Media

In distance education, other recent audio-based technologies, besides radio, are now entering the field. Audioconferencing, both audio only and audioconferencing with images or data, is now possible through existing public telephone lines. Audiographic technologies such as the fax machine, the electronic blackboard, and both still and motion video images are becoming common. Use of high-speed data compression techniques will make these media more and more convenient and cost effective. Although these technologies are audio based, in the sense that they use telephone lines, they are not strictly speaking auditory and so will not be discussed here. A very complete study of these technologies and their limitations, along with suggestions to overcome those limitations, has recently been published (Wolcott, 1993), and the reader ii referred to that source for further details (see also 13.4).