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Videotutoring, non‐verbal communication and initial teacher training
Author(s) -
Nichol Jon,
Watson Kate
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
british journal of educational technology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.79
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 1467-8535
pISSN - 0007-1013
DOI - 10.1111/1467-8535.00144
Subject(s) - tutor , context (archaeology) , frame (networking) , multimedia , psychology , telematics , nonverbal communication , interpersonal communication , computer science , mathematics education , social psychology , communication , paleontology , telecommunications , biology
Telematics has the potential to transform Higher Education through creating a distributed community of tutors and students. Videotutoring is central to telematics, enabling personal tutoring to occur at a distance. Within the context of a post‐graduate teacher training course, videotutoring was used to tutor two students during the first six weeks of their first full‐time school placement. Both ends of the videosignal were recorded. Analysis of the tapes used a protocol based upon research into non‐verbal communication (NVC). NVC is as important as verbal communication in the tutorial process. Findings suggest that the interaction of participants mediated through the screen was significantly different from face‐to‐face communication in relation to the two‐dimensional image of the screen and the “viewing frame” effect of the physical boundaries of the image. The viewing frame literally served as the proscenium arch of a theatre. Two‐dimensionality and the viewing frame effect emphasised both the positive and negative elements in inter‐personal communication as represented in Argyle's social skills and Goffman's theatrical models. The conclusion is that videotutoring can potentially be a more effective form of tutoring than face‐to‐face interaction.