Development of a Module on Interpersonal Skills and Its Evaluation in Two Teaching Modes.
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to develop a module on interpersonal skills for home economics teachers in Louisiana and to evaluate it in two teaching modes. The study involved two phases: Phase I consisted of the development of the module. Phase II consisted of the implementation of workshops in ten parishes at which the module was tested and evaluated. Parishes were classified as rural, rural-urban, or urban. One hundred fourteen home economics teachers in randomly selected parishes comprised the sample. Usable data were obtained from 108 teachers in four rural, four rural-urban, and two urban parishes. Teachers in each parish were randomly assigned to one of two groups, self-instructional or trainer-directed. Fifty-five teachers participated in the trainer-directed mode and fifty-three teachers participated in the self-instructional mode. The module entitled Increasing Effectiveness in Interpersonal Skills included three lessons of instructional content, learning exercises, and progress checks. Cognitive and affective pretests and posttests were administered to both groups. Analysis of the data involved "t" tests and analysis of covariance with the level of confidence set at .05. An analysis of the data revealed these findings: There was a significant difference at the .05 level of confidence between the mean cognitive pretest and posttest scores of teachers in both groups. There was a significant difference at the .05 level of confidence between the mean affective pretest and posttest scores of teachers in both groups. There was no significant difference between the mean cognitive adjusted posttest scores or between the mean affective adjusted posttest scores of the teachers when the groups were compared. Results indicated that the completion of the module in each mode produced significant differences in the cognitive and affective development of teachers. Relative lack of superiority of one mode of presentation over another was also revealed by the findings. Recommendations of the study include revisions to the module, replications using same modes and module with preservice home economics student teachers, and continued research on interpersonal skills in home economics. Evidence gathered in the study also supports consideration of a self-instructional mode as an option in inservice education.