CHAPTER 5 zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVU THE INTERPERSONAL DIMENSION OF TEACHER EDUCATION: COMPARING DISTANCE EDUCATION WITH TWO OTHER PROGRAMS IN SRI LANKA MARIA TERESA TA’ITO* and N. G. KULARATNAt *Michigan State University tNationa1 Institute of Education, Sri Lanka Abstract This chapter examines a distance education program to train primary schoolteachers in Sri Lanka and looks for evidence of its success. Quasi-longitudinal data on (a) teacher perceptions of the program; (b) teacher knowledge, skill, and attitudes; (c) teacher classroom performance; and (d) pupil achievement are used to compare distance education with two other teacher education programs in Sri Lanka - an institutional inservice program and a preservice approach. More specifically, the interpersonal aspects of this distance education program are examined as a possible explanation of the program’s effectiveness when compared with other distance education as well as conventional approaches to educating teachers. Introduction Studies of distance education have tended to concentrate more on the use of technology and its relationship to educational outcomes than on the educational process itself (see, for example, Perraton, 1982). In general, these studies focus more on the inputs and outputs of distance education and their related costs than on how or why different distance, education modalities work (for an exception, see Tatto, Nielsen, Cummings, Kularatna, & Dharmadasa, 1993). In his review of distance education, Perraton (1982) indicates that the combined use of several media (such as face-to-face contact and technology) has produced the best results. In spite of this and similar assertions in the literature, the interpersonal dimension of distance education has been largely ignored. The initial rigidity with which distance education was defined - eliminating any strategy that was not “education at a distance” - and the high costs associated with face-to-face contact practically precluded educators from considering these methods when designing and implementing