A Comparison Study of Live Instruction versus Interactive Television for Teaching MSW Students Critical Thinking Skills

Objective The acquisition of critical thinking skills over one semester by distant and campus social work students enrolled in a graduate-level policy course were compared. Method The scores of pretests and posttests of 62 master's of social work students were analyzed using the California Critical Thinking Skills Test. Results Both groups significantly increased their critical thinking skills with no significant differences found between the two groups. Conclusion Distance education using interactive television was found to be equivalent to face-to-face instruction with regard to acquisition of critical thinking skills.