The Impact of Multi-Media Videoconferencing on Children's Learning

The use of videoconferencing as a means of bringing external informal educators into the K-12 classroom is an area of increasing interest in the field of education. To date, however, few studies have documented the impact of the process on students’ cognitive and affective outcomes. This chapter presents findings from a series of studies that compared student outcomes for those who received technology-supported videoconferencing with those who did not receive videoconferencing. Findings indicate that students who participated in videoconferencing had higher scores on cognitive indicators, were more motivated to learn the material, and were more interested in learning about related topics.