Thomas Carl Ward
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Blacksburg, 24061
II
The Effective Use of Cassette Recorders in Undergraduate hstruction
This communication is to report a successful attempt to improve the quality of undergraduate physical chemistry instruction in larger classes (30-50 students) where student-instructor contact is by necessity limited. Extensive use was made of a small cassette tape recorder and a large number of reusable tapes. Total cost of the operation rras about $150, and the results justify a continuation of the plan on a permanent basis. I n view of students complaints about increasing depersonalization of the learning experience in modern universities, some comment is necessary on the apparently paradoxical use of a machine to fight this trend.
student. Conversely, the student has a corresponding convenience in listening, with the privilege of replay. The tape machine is seen to actually increase the time of one-to-one contact between faculty and student. From the results of the present experiment this contact is an acceptable supplement to that time usually afforded for these matters. I t should be made clear to the class that a plan such as the above is a supplement, not a replacement, for the usual consultations. As an extention of the use described above for cassette recorders, each lecture was tape recorded in class and these were made availahle to the students. Details of the Plan
Outline of the Method
The idea originated with the hardly disputable facts that both faculty and students are pressed for time, and that often the logistics of scheduling an interview proves the limiting factor in the faculty-student interaction. As the section size exceeds txventy or so students the amount of out-of-class time available to be spent with individuals requires that fewer and fewer students receive much attention. Usually, in the limit, only thevery concerned and/or the very poor members of the section hear detailed comments on their performance from the professor. Ideally, of course, each student would have access to just as much of the professor's time as might be required in order that his performance and ideas he examined and corrected. Undoubtedly there are many instructors who, while correcting papers, have experienced an urge to comment directly to the student., to point out his errors, and to suggest more fruitful approaches to the material. At, this moment the teacher is deeply absorbed in the prohlems of the test, of that particular student, and the context of t,he course section he is leading. It would be nice to have the particular student present, but clearly this is virtually impossible. I n this situation a small tape recorder can be put to good use. The requisite comments are easy to tape record as the paper is graded, problem by problem. On the other hand, aninordinate amount of time would be required to write out all that could be said. One can estimate that the instructor's \\-orlr is about doubled by writing out fragmentary comments on each paper and then repeating and expanding these to a student a week or so later. The passage of timc also serves to dim recollections as to exactly what the best explanation of a particular problem or error might he. A great advantage of this plan is that the instructor can choose when and where it is convenient for him to devote, on tape, thirt,y minutes of attention to a
At the beginning of the quarter each student was assigned a tape cassette bearing his name. All tape cassettes were kept in a file in the Chemistry Library and hence were available to the students from 8:00 a m - l l : 0 0 p.m. These tapes as well as the recorder were checked out to students on an hourly basis. Students having their own tape machines (a surprisingly large number) could take home their individual tapes for two days. Earphones were provided for listening in the Chemistry Library. Using the usual hourly tests as a vehicle, between 20 and 30 min of comments on a student's performance (not necessarily confined to the test, but including test results) were stored on cassettes for playback at the student's convenience. This was done twice during the 10-wk quarter (this will be increased to three times in future sections). The individual tapes were filed following each hourly test. Comments on any two successive test periods could be maintained on the tape before any erasing. I n the case of lectures which were taped, each tape was dated and placed on file immediately following class. Students were encouraged to borrow course notes for reference while playing back a taped lecture so that blackboard writings might be explained. Equipment
A Sony TC-110 cassette recorder and forty C-60 tapes were purchased for less than $150. Despite traditionally rough student handling, no problems with tapes or machine have been encountered. Results and Student Response
Overall results of the experiment were very good. An evaluation form passed out at the end of the quarter showed that there was almost unanimous use of the taped comments after each test. There were only two Volume 49, Number 4, April 1972
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negative comments on these tapes out of a class of thirty. Most replies were positive. The fact that the tapes were used by almost everyone means that those students who for some reason never came back to see the professor got about an hour of commentary which otherwise would have been missed. They seemed to feel obligated to go back and listen if the comments were there on tape. Students were generally enthusiastic about the utility of rehearing lectures or of hearing missed lectures. This proved particularly so in the case of several students who missed a week of class due to illness. The evaluation showed that on the average each student
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listened to about two recorded lectures during the quarter. Several minor disadvantages became apparent as the quarter progressed. If the librarian was not around, the student could not get to his tape and the tape recorder. However, the probability of this was much lower than that of not finding the professor in his office. The time required to record the tapes was found to be somewhat more than expected, but almost none of this time was spent in handling of the simple equipment involved. Hence, all the 20-30 min per tape represents comments: this must be compared with 10-15 min, ordinarily required to grade a paper when making no marginal notes.
