The audio-visual handbook (1942)

194 The Audio-Visual Handbook use of still and motion pictures. Great interest is developed by filming a locally produced play or pageant, for example. A new development in the use of educational talking pictures has been the preparation of teacher-training subjects by such well-known authorities as Kilpatrick, Bode, Mearns, Allen, and others. These demonstration films can be brought to any classroom or meeting in the United States at a very nominal charge, whereas it would cost hundreds of dollars to secure any one of these outstanding men for a lecture. Furthermore, the illustrations thus presented serve to enhance the values and possibilities of the lecture. The lecturer not only mentions activities of appropriate types but also presents living pictures of those activities as utilized in normal situations. The administrator in charge of the school will find certain types of visual aids to be particularly helpful in connection with the school publicity program. The Camera Club mentioned earlier in this discussion can be depended upon for illustrations of school activities to be placed on display in prominent public places or to be used as illustrations in publications for the patrons of the school. Local newspapers are always anxious to have good illustrations to accompany stories of school events. People who read the newspapers usually read first those articles which are illustrated. The superintendent or principal will find that motion or still pictures of certain school activities, needed repairs or equipment, as well as other examples of good or bad situations, are helpful in presenting recommendations to a board of education. Without such aids it is necessary, frequently, to waste time in traveling from place to place to see situations which might be photographed easily and the picture transported to any convenient place for showing. Audio-visual aids offer even greater possibilities in the extracurricular activities of the school. The production of radio programs to be broadcast over local stations for the entertainment and enlightenment of the community can do a great deal to arouse community interest in the functions of the school. Many patrons of the school, who never visit the buildings or classrooms, can be reached in their homes during those leisure hours when they have more time to think of the work which the schools are accomplishing. Recorded debates may be sent from school to school where local debaters will be confronted with constructive speeches and somewhat formal rebuttals, which are occasionally more difficult to meet than when the debaters are present. This use of recording and reproducing apparatus provides an opportunity for inter-scholastic debates over a much wider area than could be attempted by sending debate teams