Gardiner H. Myers
University of Florida Gainesville, 3261 1
Help Session
TV
Television has seen a variety of uses as a supplement to conventional instruction. Many of these applications have been reviewed in this J o ~ r n a l . l -At ~ the University of Florida we have experienced success offering a weekly homework review program as an optional supplement to other helping activities-in our generalchemistr$program. Our Cy 201-204 sequence is offered as a science major requirement for those students with a weak high school math and/or chemistry background. The course aims for completion in four quarters (12 months) of the same level of achievement as reached in our "standard" three-quarter (9 month) sequence. Students encounter their greatest difficulty in solving quantitative chemical problems. To meet their needs we have in the past offered a typical variety of assistance: problems worked in class, assigned pmhlems with answers given, posted solutions, staff office hours, and, perhaps most popular, evening "tutorial" help sessions. We find that the help sessions are generally crowded, which makes individual help difficult. The most freauent "auestions" have eenerallv been reauests to work assigned homework proble&. ~ n s t k c t o r sfiid themselves reworkine some of the same ~ r o h l e m sa t periodic intervals as new &dents arrive. To meet this rokine demand to see problems worked, and to free staff time for more specific and individual questions, we have initiated a weekly TV program where students can see an instructor work out the assigned homework. TV Production
The TV pmgram is taped each week in a format that is economical with respect to equipment and staff. A Sony AVC-3200DX camera ensemble and AVC-3600 %in. recorder are the minimum equipment needed. A Sony SEG-2 effect generator and a second camera were available and found useful to produce fading effects and to switch to shots of graphs or tables. One cameraman-engineer sufficed to operate the TV equipment. The instructor restated each problem and then worked out the setup and numerical solution on a sheet of 36 in. wide paper using a felt-tip marker. Discussion, by example, was included generally indicating pmblem solving techniques such as how to recognize what is known and what is needed, to separate the nrohlem into several steps. and to reduce word statements into mathematical expksions. A 60-min taped program of 8-10 problem solutions could he obtained in about two hours of real time. The tape was then played back in by closed circuit TV at several different times each week. Course Experience
The TV program presented no "new" material, only review of the regularly assimed homework. It has been our practice to collect and grade the homework to provide encouragement for its completion as well as to give con'Barnard, W. R., Bertant, E. F., and O'Canner, R., J . CHEM. EDUC., 45,617 (1968). ZBamard,W. R., and O'Conner, R., J. CHEM. EDUC., 45, 745
1 DROP
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PRETEST
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SCORE
Plot of course grade versus math pre-test scores. A relatively poor leastSquare fit to this data (correlation coefficient = 0.43) serves to aoproximately delineate those performing above or below potential. Individual TV attendance is indicated by symbol type: 0 = seldom or never. @ = occ&ional. 0 = almost always. These symbol assignments are based on attendance records generated using sign-in sheets, a device which was found to be less than 100% efficient. Generally, those choosing to attend the TV session also did well in the course.
stmctive criticism where needed. As an incentive for attending TV, which is offered outside of scheduled class time, the program was made available before the homework was due. As might be expected, most papers turned in bear a striking resemblance to the TV solutions and some question is raised as to the continued need for grading them. There may remain some benefit, however, to continue to provide positive reinforcement to the student, as well as for instructors to learn where students are encountering difficulty. With quizzes and exams to face most students do not merely copy solutions. Rather, many students have indicated they do attempt first to work problems on their own and then use the TV solutions to correct their mistakes and to learn alternate approaches. Our first use of TV problem sessions was the summer 1973 term when the enrollment is much smaller than during the rest of the academic year. Attendance records were kept by means of a sign-up sheet. Almost half of the course enrollment attended the TV session each week. An evening "live" help session was also offered. Interest in this dwindled to so few that it was cancelled in favor of TV and the opportunity to seek help during office hours. As a means of identifying those who might encounter difficulty, a math pre-test was administered during the first week of the course. It was noted that those students whose performance in the course was better than what might have been expected, on the basis of the pre-test, were generally those who regularly attended the TV session (see Fig. 1). This is not to imply that TV attendance in itself resulted in better course performance. Individual student motivation is certainly the independent factor governing better than expected performance. However, it does appear that the better motivated students did find the TV program to be useful and of significant assistance in doing well. Our next experience with using the TV problem session was in the fall 1973 term when enrollment initially exVolume 52. Number 6. June 1975 / 403
ceeded 900. We found that about half of the students enrolled attended the Sunday evening TV sessions. A Monday evening live help session was also attended but without the excessive crowding of previous years. Students coming to this generally had seen the TV program and had specific questions about that or on other course material.
than two of more than 1000 students affected have indicated that the TV represented an additional course demand that they had to attend to keep up. To the eontrary, many have stated that the TV session saved them time which might have been wasted agonizing over a problem they could not solve.
Student Reaction
The positive attitude of students is the prime factor in o w decision to continue to offer this facility. Many students find the opportunity to see worked out problems they have studied a useful and efficient study aid.
Students have commented very favorably about the TV program individually and on coume evaluations. The fall 1973 evaluation specifically invited students to indicate to what extent they felt the TV session was important to their learning course material: very helpful, helpful, or marginal. A majority of those completing the evaluation indicated "very helpful" with many adding comments as to how they found the TV improved their understanding and problem solving ability. Suggestions for improvements centered on the quality of the presentation, a few mistakes by the instructor, scheduling, and the need to be ahle to ask questions. Contrary to expectations, no more
404 / Journal of Chemical EducaNon
Conclusions
Future Plans
For greater convenience of our students living off campus we plan to have the program also broadcast over the local cable TV system. We will try discontinuing grading homework and using the staff time released to increase o w availability for individual help. This will include scheduling an additional help session immediately following the TV session.
