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

A-V World Still One World at 1954 National A V Convention THE MANY SPOKES of the audiovisual wheel came together once again at the 1954 National Audio-Visual Convention, hekl at the Conrad Hilton Hotel in Chicago July 30 through August 4. Hub of the wheel was the National Audio-Visual Association Trade Show with its eye and ear-catching row upon row of audio-visual materials and equipment (see report on the Trade Show, page 293). Despite all the difficulties even audiovisually dedicated human beings find in getting together and keeping together for the good of all, they came together again this summer in greater numbers than ever before (more than 3,100 of them) and they represented more major organized parts of the audio-visual field than ever before: Educational Film Library Association (EFLA); National Audio-Visual Association (NAVA); Catholic Audio-Visual Educators (CAVE): Chief State School Audio-Visual Officers (CSSAVO); Audio-Visual Conference of Medical and Allied Sciences and the Midwest Medical School Audio-Visual Coordinators; Industrial Audio-Visual Association (lAVA): National Education Association's Department of Audio-Visual Instruction (DAVI): Film Council of America (FCA). Film and the Teacher Provocative high point of the Educational Film Library's 1 1th annual conference was the address by Jack K. Rimalover, Assistant to the President, Educational Testing Service, Princeton, New Jersey. Originally titled 'Tilm vs. the Teacher," the talk was promptly retitled by Mr. Rimalover as "Film awrf the Teacher." Gist of his address is this: We now have research evidence to show that films alone can successfully teach factual information and intellectual and other skills. If the more routine, repetitive aspects of instruction were given over to s<jund films, television, and other audio-visual media, the teacher would be freed to give much more time to what he or she can uniquely bring to the classroom— the person-to-person friendly contact, the individual help to slow and fast learners, the special attention to individual emotional problems. It might be possible, suggested Mr. Rimalover, ivilh well planned film instruction that a teacher (together with a full-time clerical assistant and perhaps an assistant teacher) could be effectively in charge of as many as 90 268 pupils and yet have time to give them far more individual help and counselling than in the usual classroom of today. Two other major speakers at the EFLA conference were Harry K. Newburn, President of the Educational Television and Radio Center (his subject: the work of the Center) and A. W. VanderMeer, Professor of Education at Pennsylvania State University (subject: A-V research in adult formal education). In panel-plus-discussion meetings, EFL.\ members and friends informally talked over such problems as how to make film information more available, whether the film can in fact displace certain teaching procedures, and how the many audio-visual organizations can work more closely together. Out of the discussion on film agency cooperation was born a new "organization of organizations," bringing together the heads of audio-visual organizations to work toward greater coordination of activities. Chairman of this 1 1th annual EFL.A conference was Helge E. Hansen, Director, Audio-Visual Services, University of Minnesota. New EFLA officers are: President, Garrett Weathers, South Bend, Indiana, Public Schools; VicePresident, Mary Louise Alexander, Stamford, Connecticut, Public Library; Secretary, Nelle Lee Jenkinson, St. Louis, Missouri, Public Schools. Three new members have been elected to the EFLA Board of Directors: Erwin C. Welke, representing colleges and universities; F. Edgar Lane, representing the public schools; and Muriel Javelin, representing the general and adult education classification of EFLA membership. A-V in Church One might expect the audio-visually minded to worship audio-visually — but to the best of our knowledge the audiovisual church service presented Sunday morning, August 1. by the National .Audio-Visual As.sociation was the first suih service at a national audio-visual convention. Presented througli the cooperation of the Department of Audio-Visual and Radio Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ, the service combined the projected word with tlie spoken word. A religious painting in slide form was projected on a screen above the altar, giving the effect of a stained glass window. Musical prelude and postlude were tape recorded. Words of the hymn were projected on the screen for congregational singing as they were sung in a sound film by a choral group. The sermon was a 28minute sound film in color. The Village of the Poor. Another and very different high point of the NAVA convention was an address on selling techniques by Jack Lacy, one of the country's top experts on salesmanship and sales training. In informal discussion groups N.W.A members and friends discussed educator-dealer relationships, serving the church, industrial users, expanding the entertainment film market, film and filmstrip programs, magnetic recording materials and equipment, and dealer advertising and sales promotion (summaries of these discussion sections will appear in the NAVA Newsletter). At the N.AVA business meeting one of the resolutions passed unanimously by the national trade organization of audio-visual dealers, manufacturers, and producers commended Floyde E. Brooker, former Chief of the Visual Education Service of the U. S. Office of Education, for his many services to the A-V field and expressed hope that his services would continue to be fully used. Another resolution called for a change in U. S. Army and .\ir Force regulations to permit independent commercial film libraries to compete with the Army and Air Force Motion Picture Service. Present regulations l>rohibit the rental of feature films from independent commercial film libraries. New NAVA officers and board members are: President, Jack E. Lewis, Wichita, Kansas; First Vice-President, Alan B. Twyman, Dayton, Ohio; Secretary, Francis J. Didier, New Orleans, Louisiana; Treasurer, William W. Birchfield, Montgomery, Alabama. New Directors at Large are Ray Swank of St. Louis and Jerome Kinter of San Francisco. New Regional Directors arc L. C. Vath, Harold Newman, R. R. Riley, Marvin Melnyk, and C. W. Petty. State Chiefs Get Together Twenty-one states and Puerto Rico were represented at the convention meeting of the Chief State School Audio-Visual Officers and two other states were represented by official reports. The heads of the :iudio-visual activities in state dep:irtments of education come together tiiis way annually at the National Audio-Visual C:onven(Coniinued on page 270) Educational Screen il