Edward A. Meyers Richard M. Hedges and Bruno J. Zwolinski Texas A&M University
College Station, 77843
"Blackboard by Wire" and Graduate Instruction in Chemistry
Since the Spring of 1965 an experimental teaching technique called "blackboard by wire" has been in use in the Department of Chemistry a t Texas A&M University. By means of this technique it is possible to use relatively simple and inexpensive apparatus to transmit written and spoken information directly from an instructor a t one location to a class a t another site, and to have class participation in discussions. Connections between the locations are made by means of two ordinary telephone calls and the transmission carried over ordinary telephone lines. The method has been tested locally, for lectures in graduate courses in quantum mechanics and statistical mechanics. A special graduate course in chemical bonding and regular graduate courses in analytical, inorganic, organic, and physical chemistry have been taught by this means to large groups of industrial chemists a t locations as far as 250 miles from the broadcast room on campus. The course in physical chemistry was taught simultaneously to the industrial group and to the graduate students on campus, and a course in organic chemistry has been tested in simultaneous transmission to two different industrial locations. Equipment and Procedure
The transmitting apparatus for "blackboard by wire" consists of an audio part and a writing part. For the audio part, a Western Electric Hands-Free Telephone has proved to be the most satisfactory of several devices tested. A Victor Electrowriter, controlled by a DataPhone, has been used for the transmission of written material. On the receiving end, a Tele-Lecture Conference Set, with two loudspeakers and two microphones has been used for the audio part, and another Victor Electrowriter and Data-Phone have been used for the reception of the writtenmaterial. The writtenmaterial that is received is transcribed by the Electrowriter pen upon an acetate film, and a Victor Verb I projector has been used to project an image of the written material upon a movie screen. In the normal operation of the system a telephone call is placed from the Tele-Lecture Conference Set to the Western Electric Hands-Free Telephone number. Voice communication is established, and adjustments are made so that the lecturer is heard on the loudspeakers connected to the Conference Set, and so that the microphones permit students in the classroom to ask questions of the lecturer. When the voice connections are considered to be satisfactory, a second telephone call is placed from the Data-Phone a t the receiving end to the Data-Phone a t the transmitting end. The two Electrowriters are coupled after this connection is established. 452 / journal o f Chemical Education
The lecturer writes with a ball point pen on a paper surface roughly 4 in. X 5 in. The pen is attached to a mechanism which sends signals over the telephone line to a corresponding mechanism in the Electrowriter at the receiving end. The pen a t the receiving end duplicates the movements of the transmitting pen, and so copies the written material upon an acetate film. The copy a t the receiving end is continuously projected, by means of the Verb I, upon a screen. The lecturer controls the movement of paper for both the sending and receiving units. The image on the screen is sufficiently bright room may be used as a - that a normally . lighted receiving area. For the simultaneous transmission to the industrial group and to the graduate students on campus, the procedure is altered slightly. A second Hands-Free Telephone in the broadcasting room is used to establish audio contact with the receiving room on campus which is equipped in the same manner as the long distance site. The Data-Phone in the campus receiving room is an extension of the Data-Phone in the broadcasting room. When the second long distance call is completed, all three Electrowriters are simultaneously coupled and the written portions of the lecture are then transcribed on both the local and the long distance receiving Electrowriters. For the simultaneous transmission to two separate industrial locations, the audio contacts are established by means of separate long distance telephone calls made to two different Hands-Free Telephones in the transmitting room. A telephone company conference operator is contacted, and the operator connects the DataPhones a t the three sites via her switchboard. A complete list of the graduate courses that have been taught in whole or in part by "blackbozhrd-by-wire" is the following: Advanced Quantum Mechanics, Statistical Mechanics, Chemical Bonding, Principles of Physical Chemistry, Structural Inorganic Chemistry, Organic Reactions, Principles of Analytical Chemistry (twice), Organic Chemistry, and Mechanisms of Organic Reactions. A cooperative program has been established by Texas A&M University with the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company and the Celanese Corporation, at Corpus Christi, Texas, and with the Dow Chemical Company, at Freeport, Texas. I n this program, professional employees of these companies enroll in the Graduate School a t Texas A&M, either as special students or as students who intend to obtain the MS degree in chemistry. Course work is required for the MS degree, as well as the completion of satisfactory research leading to a MS thesis. By means of "blackboard-by-wire" it is possible to fulfill the course requirements for the MS. The
research work is done on campus during a period of time in which the student is on leave from the company. Since the students are considered to be a part of the normal graduate student enrollment a t the University, the courses which are offered them are the regular courses customarily given in the chemistry department, and these courses are part of the regular teaching load of the department. During the course of the semester the lecturer makes several trips to the companies involved. Examinations are given, sometimes by the lecturer, and consultations and class discussions are handled by h i during these trips, although supplementary examinations in the form of take-home quizzes have been tried also. Evaluation
The major advantage of the "blackboard-by-wire" method is that an external educational program such as the one described above may be carried out a t locations that are too far removed from campus to be otherwise convenient. The apparatus required is relatively easy to operate and to maintain. It is d i c u l t to give any simple estimate of the total costs that are involved, but a list of the factors that enter into the total expense of the program might be useful. First, there is the expense involved in the lecturer's time and in the travel that he undertakes in a semester. Next, there is the expense involved in the maintenance of space in the broadcasting area which might be otherwise used. There are usually several additional telephone lines that require installation, and additional monthly rental fees for the Data-Phones, Electrowriters, Tele-Lecture Conference Set and Projector, although some of this equipment may be purchased rather than rented. The most obviously expensive single item is that of the long-distance telephone calls. However, some industrial concerns have special Wide Area Telephone Service P A T S ) lines which permit greatly reduced costs here. Finally, tuition, fees, and textbook expenditures occur as in any course. Thus, specific costs can only be estimated for a given course in a given program, but all of the items listed above should be considered in the estimation. The major criticisms of the program have been directed a t two points. One of these has been the actual operation of the equipment. The other, that of the difficulty of communication, even with good operation. The diculties in equipment operation are surmountable provided some care is taken. The receiving Electrowriters should be adjusted so as to minimize "noise" prior to their initial use during a year. The manufac-
turing company can supply such service. The same precautions that are customary with an instrument recorder pen should be followed with the receiving electrowriter pen to prevent clogging. The audio equipment described above has been adequate. An important feature, for each lecture is the establishment of good, i.e., clear and relatively noise free, long distance circuits for both the visual and audio parts of the apparatus. Several trials may be necessary before good circuits are in operation but the time needed to do this is well spent. The communication problems are of a wide variety. It is more difficult to ask questions of the lecturer with the use of microphones that may have to be passed to a student. This problem can be reduced if the lecturer frequently asks the class for questions. The written material is conlined to what can be written on an area 4 in. X 5 in. in size and it is not possible to reverse the direction in which the paper moves. The result of a small writing surface that can be seen only once makes the information of the lecture be transmitted almost in pulses, rather than in the more nearly continuous fashion found in a conventional lecture. The lecturers and the students have both expressed definite feelings of missing the opportunities for direct contact. Because of these communication diculties, great effort must be made by the lecturer to be extremely well organized and conscious efforts made to use the pulsed method of transmissiou of material and ask frequently for questions. It has been our experience that it is inadvisable to conduct lectures for graduate students on campus by means of L'blackboard-by-wire." The students feel that they should not have to endure the operational or communication problems since the lecturer can appear before them. The problem involved in the simultaneous operation of two long distance classes are not much different from those cited above for single classes, with one exception. I t has been our experience that numerous tests were required in order to find a suitable location for the origin of the conference call that connects the several Electrowriters. Five d i e r e n t locations were tried, and only the call that originated with the conference call operator in Corpus Christi, Texas, proved to give adequate Electrowriter performance at both Corpus Christi and Freeport. This may be a local peculiarity but the testing of several origins for conference calls might be of general usefulness for other applications of "blackboard-by-wise." We wish to thank the various participants in the courses and the Southwestern States Telephone Company for their help locally.
Volume 44, Number 8, August 1967
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