Abstract
The purpose of this study was to identify the knowledge, skills, and personal qualities/characteristics the two-year community college in California should provide to prepare students for success in the field of cable television as perceived by community college educators and cable professionals. One hundred community college educators and one hundred cable professionals were surveyed with 71 percent of the educators and 63 percent of the cable professionals responding. The instrument contained 12 specific knowledge areas, 11 skill areas, and 12 specific personal qualities/characteristics. Respondents were asked to rank these items as they were relevant for successful employment in cable television. To determine if there was significant difference between the perception of educators and cable professionals on knowledge, skill, and personal items, the data were treated by using the t-test of difference with a significance level of.05. To estimate the degree of similarity between the perception of educators on knowledge, skill, and personal items, the Spearman rho between mean ratings of both groups was conducted. T-tests revealed significant differences in the perception of educators and cable professionals regarding the knowledge, skill, and personal items necessary for success in cable television. Educators perceived more specific areas of knowledge, skills, and personal characteristics to be necessary for success in cable television than did cable professionals. The data provided by educators suggests that instruction in television the comprehensive and broadly based. Cable professionals tend to perceive few, very specific items to be necessary for success in cable television. The data provided by cable professionals suggests that television instruction be limited to specific areas of study. Although perceptions between educators and cable professionals were significantly different, the Spearman rho revealed similarities in the priority/rank of knowledge, skill, and personal items between both groups. A rationale for this observation is that educators and cable professionals prioritize items similarly, however, educators tend to overrate and magnify the importance of these items as they are necessary for success in cable television.