Experimental Research on Educational Effect by the University of the Air in Japan.

Abstract

The effectiveness of several modes of educational methods such as viewing radio and TV programs, schooling, answering quizzes by correspondence upon learners' achievement, motivation for learning and so on was investigated through radio and TV experimental programs in the University of the Air in Japan. Three different groups were set. Group 1 learned through radio or TV programs in learning, Group 2 learned by answering the quizzes by correspondence in addition to the method in Group 1. And Group 3 learned by schooling in addition to the method in Group 2. As a result, in all of three groups, the most crucial factor was basically the individual intelligence which was very closely related to the gained scholastic achievement. Concerning modes of learning, answering quizzes by correspondence as well as schooling was of importance to increase students' scholastic achievement across the individual differences. Moreover, other factors were not negligible such as interests, concerns and amount of preliminary knowledge to the contents of educational TV and radio programs, although the importance of these factors varied slightly according to the groups. Finally, in terms of motivation for continuous learning, the following factors were mainly important in three groups : interests in the program contents, satisfaction at students' expectation and tiredness, which were generally thought to be affective and attitudinal.