W. H. SLABAUGH and CONRAD V. HATCH Oregon State College, Conallis
E ~ P E ~ M in E formal N ~
education via television have captured the interest of many who are concerned with the problems of current and future student enrollments a t all levels. Several noteworthy experiments in chemical education have been conducted, one of which has been described in detail by Smith.' At the present time schools in the Oregon system of higher education are exploring the merits of college instruction via television on an inter-campus basis. They have undertaken a cooperative experiment in which they have been assisted by a grant from the Fund for the Advancement of Education. Beginning in the fall of 1957, a general chemistry course produced a t Oregon State College was broadcast via open channel to the campuses of the University of Oregon and Oregon College of Education. Preliminary to the main part of this experiment, however, and in preparation for the teaching of the full year course, a pilot run was made in the spring term, 1957. This short preliminary program provided a unique opportunity to evaluate student attitudes toward televised versus conventional inst,ruction in general chemistry. OBJECTIVE AND PROCEDURE
The primary purpose of the spring term project was to study the problems involved in adapting a lecturedemonstration chemistry course to the atmosphere of a standard television studio. In addition, it provided the opportunity for the lecturer and the general campus staff to become further acquainted witaht,devision as a medium of instruction. The program of instruction consisted of two lectures per week via closed circuit television followed by a conventional three-hour recitation-laboratory session. Forty-three students received their lectures via television. A control group of 145 students who had similar background and training received their two weekly lectures in a conventional fashion. No attempt was made to segregate the television and the face-to-face groups in the laboratory sessions, but, instead, there was free exchange of ideas and attitudes regarding the merits of televised instruction. The two groups received identical lectures by the same professor except that the television lectures originated from a stndio specially equipped for this purpose. In spite of the work of transporting lecture materials, the advantages of producing a chemistry lecture in a studio are obvious. The camera crew has the freedom of moving in and out for close-up and wide-angle views, SMITE,G. W., J. CHBM.EDUC., 33, 257-62 (1956) VOLUME 35, NO. 2, FEBRUARY, 1958
lighting is more readily controlled, aud charts and other visuals can be easily worked in. With the supervision of production by an experienced producer in the control room, assisted by a capable floor manager, a chemistry lecture appears to the viewer as a fairly smooth production. In such a procedure the lecturer must be content to work without a live audience, but in return for the lack of immediate response from his students, the lecture appears to have been made especially for thr students in a remote viewing room. MEASUREMENT O F STUDENTS' ATTITUDES
Students' attitudes toward television instruction n.ere obtained through three devices: preliminary and final questionnaires, suggestion boxes, and personal interviews. The preliminary questionnaire mas given to all the students in the course a t the end of the winter term when it was not known which stndents ~ o u l dhe assigned to the television section. Answers to the preliminary questionnaire reflected a considerable degree of student-n-ariness about the effectiveness of a televised chemistry course. Sixty-three per cent of the students showed a negative attitude, and of the rtm11irldt.r \ r l ~ oi:\prt~;wl ,111 iutcrt,st in cnrolli~~g in thr rrlrt.i.;io~.si.ction., iullv "~h d i \rent i n t i w i r t . , l tmlv hecause of the novelty of the esperiment. The final questionnaire, however, revealed t ~ v oalmost diametric views toward televised instruction. The television section showed a strong trend toward a favorable attitude, with 40% preferring televised lectures t o conventional lectures, 20% remaining neutral, and 40% preferring the conventional lecture. At the end of the term, hornever, the conventional section was more opposed to television instruction, and favorable attitudes fell from 40Y0to 11%. Through personal contacts with students in both groups, this divergence may be attributed to a t least two factors. One, students outside the television section would probably hear more readily about the shortcomings and limitations of televised lectures, and second, there mas undoubtedly an improvement in the conventional lectures that arcompanied this cxperiment. PERSONAL INTERVIEWS
The most dependable measure of students' attitudes toward television instruction, we believe, 7va.s obtained through persona1 interviews with each of the students enrolled in the television section. The interviews showed essentially the same trend of opinion and attitudes obtained with the questionnaires. Of those originally opposed to television, half changed their minds. Those with neutral attitudes remained the same in numher, while those with favorable attitudes donhled.
Only t ~ students o of the 43 felt that television gave them a "raw deal," while a great majority of the students found the instruction better than they expected it to he. When asked to list the specific advantages of televised instructions, students gave the following reasons, in order of frequency mentioned: close-up views of demonstrations, charts, and diagrams; attention is focused and many of the distractions of a large lecture room are eliminated; more material is covered and is better organized; and (surprisingly) some students felt a more intimate contact with the lecturer than they had in a large lecture class. One student said that in a large lecture room the instructor seldom looked directly a t him because he was just one of many students in the room. However, when the instructor looked into the television camera the student felt that the instructor was looking directly at him. Specific disadvantages listed by the students in the interviews include: lack of color, lag in time for cameras to follow the lecturer as he uses blackboard and demonstration apparatus, lack of opportunity to ask questions directly of the lecturer, lack of personal contact, and limited view of material and equipment. Along with these disadvantages, students were quite eager to make suggestions for their improvement, and many of these
suggestious were worked into the production of the lectures during the latter part of the course. Concerning the taking of notes during a televised lecture, 18% found it more difficult, 52% about the same, and 30% found it easier than in a regular type class. However, this response is influenced by the fact that topical outlines of the lectures were issued t o the students a t the start of each lecture, a practice not used previously in this course. Many students expressed the idea that the camera crew was not aware of the time required t o copy notes from blackboard views, although students noted a great improvement in this matter by the end of the term. When asked what they would do if given a choice to re-enroll in the same type of course for another term, 44% said they would choose the televised lectures, 9% were neutral, and 38% said they mould prefer the conventional lecture. Finally, the television section expressed the favorable possibility that other courses could be taught effectively by television. On the basis of their experience in chemistry, students felt that the best chances for television instruction would be, in order, in social sciences, chemistry, English, physics, and R.O.T.C., with least chances for successful learning in mathematics and engineering courses.
JOURNAL O F CHEMICAL EDUCATION
