Distance education and group interaction: Impact of planned small group interaction upon learning and attitudes among a professional audience using satellite delivery

This posttest only control group design looked for effects of planned small group interaction in distance (satellite) education on learner achievement and attitude. The control group had no prescribed interaction. The levels of learning in Bloom's taxonomy were used to see if this teaching format helped learners function at higher levels of the taxonomy. Cognitive learning style and its effect on achievement and attitude for the treatment and control groups were examined.;Results of this study found that groups using planned small group interaction with a facilitator had a more positive attitude toward distance education and rated the training higher than groups receiving the training with only television and print stimuli and related questions and answers. Mean achievement scores were greater for the treatment group but not statistically significant. Attitude scores were significantly higher for the treatment group, thereby establishing the importance of planned small group interaction for distance educational efforts toward professionals of the Cooperative Extension Service.;Forty-one home economists with the Cooperative Extension Service in South Carolina, responsible for food and nutrition and teen pregnancy prevention councils, enrolled in an inservice training on Maternal Nutrition. The inservice was taught by satellite using a one-way video and two-way audio system. Individuals were placed in pairs in rank order according to their score on a screening instrument and randomly assigned to treatment or control groups. The Group Embedded Figures test identified subjects' cognitive learning style. The attitude instrument, which was developed by the researcher, used a semantic differential scale.