New Ideas in the Workplace: Learning from Interactive Television

Abstract

Data collected in a study of cable television use for in-service training by teachers in elementary schools were analyzed in terms of learning about new ideas to be used in the classroom. The findings present a direct challenge to the traditional bias of strict reliance upon the individual as the unit of analysis in television research in general. Learning about and implementing new ideas did not emerge as simple linear effects of viewing. Rather, they proved to be processes strongly related to differences in viewing contexts (viewing alone or with others) and levels of feedback (interpersonal or technological interaction), as well as a function of communications structure within the organization (amount of talking and levels of agreement about good teaching within a school).