Educational screen & audio-visual guide (c1956-1971])

er electric motors. The same thing can haj)pen to sound motion picture projectors as 8mm sound films become more of a reality \vith its smaller size and lower cost. It is even possible that within the near future small battery operated projection lamps with high intensity light will make it possible to have completely portable, battery operated motion picture projectors. On the other extreme, there is sure to be developed a practical method of "cool light" projection lamps that vyill be more powerful than are lights. Television screens will be an inch or less in thickness, and will double as chalk-boards in some class-rooms. Videoipe recorders will be made small and compact so as to be easily operated and carried about. The sound-onfilmstrip that was introduced in April at the DAVI Conxention at Miami Beach, will be developed into a practical audio-visual tool through the use of transistorized equipment. Improvements and new ideas are constantly being developed. What is still to come, or where the end is, no one knows. And yet through all these new improvements there runs a note of warning. This is best typified by the person who constantly asks, "What's new?", as if only that which is new is good. Too many times some very useful materials or methods are set aside for the sole reason that they have been used jefore, and, therefore, are not "new." Much is being lost because of this false idea. Many times a teacher will be looking for a "new" piece of material when right at hand is a most effective tool— and one that las been proven by its past usefulness. Certainly, it is necessary to keep abreast of the times and make use of these many new developments, but at the same time the older, tested ideas should not be cast aside as one would cast aside a worn out old shoe. Another danger signal is that new ideas are accepted before they have been developed to the point where they are practical. A good example of this is the way in which many schools acquire new materials and equipment before they have been fully developed. This happened in many schools when language labs became popular. Standards for 8mm sound need to be set now before too much is done with it. The developers of the new Teaching Machines are advising schools not to be too hasty about acquiring these machines until materials and equipment have been fully prepared for them. The only exception to this is for those schools and educators who want to help during this developmental period, and who understand that it is still experimental. One of the causes of the early set-back of the audiovisual movement was the improper use of this thrilling new tool. It took many years to overcome that and to bring it to its present degree of acceptability. Another danger signal is that there is no coordinated thinking between designers and users of buildings. The number of churches that are being built today with the proper use of audio-visuals in mind is so insignificant as to not even be considered. The Church architect seems to be more interested in odd shapes and glass walls than in the effective utilization of audio-visual teaching tools. School architecture seems to be improving along this line, but there are still too manv schools in which the use of audio-visuals is Harvey W. Marks President, National Audio-Visual Association merely an afterthought. When a church brings in an interior decorator from two thousand miles away to tell them what color to paint the walls of the new educational unit, and what drapery pattern to use, and then finds after it's all done that even the simplest audio-visuals cannot be used by the teacher without expensive changes in the room, it is time that something was done! When children have to be herded into a special room to make use of the audio-visuals that enrich lesson materials, because the room in which they are supposed to be learning is so bright that they continually sit with their hands shielding their eyes from the glare, there is something wrong. One teacher overcame this situation by asking her pupils to bring the oldest and most patched sheets they could find at home to hand over the windows. It didn't take the school-board long to get the point and provide adequate draperies for the windows! Some communities in New Mexico have discovered that windowless school buildings are much to be preferred. See the June, 1961, issue of Educational Screen and Audiovisual Guide, page 274, for a first hand report of these schools. This progress in the right directioni Yes, these new machines and media are wonderful— and there are more wonderful things still to come. They should be used to their fullest potential, but they should be used wisely and well. Then every new development will be an enrichment of what has been used before. And teachers as well as students will profit from a new ease, a new facility in the process of communication. Educational Screen and Audiovisual Guide — July, 1961 331