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

it by the law. The case had run the gamut to the stage of judicial review and one of the most interesting Features of the finished recording was the manner in which it highlighted the role of the court in passing upon the exercise of the NLRB's judgment on delicate but decisive questions of motivation. A design having been blocked out, recording began n the summer of 1957. Individuals appearing on the ape were informed that they might defer signing a eleasc imtil they heard the finished program. Recordng was done in professional studios so that the audio characteristics would be of broadcast standards. For he background story, a non-directive interviewing echnique was used. It produced much spontaneous ;ommentary marked by the expression of real feelings nterspersed with choice elements of humor and jathos; thus justifying the many hours required to id it out the best material and arrange it in the proper equence. Scripts were written for selected episodes, ■specially the portions where argument by counsel beore the NLRB of court was simulated. At various ntervals use was also made of a narrator whose cript facilitated the transition between the episodes. Respite a planned running time of two hours, it vas not possible to reproduce the trial phase of the ase. Other phases of the proceeding was susceptible o reduction so as to fit the desired time scale. The mission of a first-hand account of the trial meant the artial sacrifice of one of my objectives: the elucidalon of the process whereby raw factual material is ansformed into probative evidence. This lack, howver, was made up in part by the account of the inestigation given by the NLRB's field examiner and le account of complaint issuance and trial preparaon given by the regional director and the chief law fficer. Generally speaking, I was satisfied, on comleting the tape, that the recording would be a valuble teaching aid and that the objective of a case anorama had been attained. There have been about 60 playings of the Moimt [ope recording. The tape has been used regularly in vo full semester courses at MIT and in the Executive 'evelopment Programs. Use has also been made of 16 tape in a number of schools in the Boston-Camridge area and a few have purchased copies. The ^cording was broadcast recently on Station WGBH Boston. Naturally, one is curious to know whether audio ds like the Mount Hope tape make a unique con bution to the learning process. However, no experient is planned until at least six case studies, illus tive of a range of problem areas in labor law, have sen produced. ( It is hoped that output can be speedup so that such a test will be possible in a few ars. ) Students will be divided into two groups, each cover the same subject matter. The teaching in one oup will utilize the tapes while in the second group ly conventional methods of instruction will be em yed. A test will be devised to measure certain aracteristics of student response. y second recording, the Vincent Asaro case, is a atment of a Workmen's Compensation proceeding on the Mount Hope model but with one important change. It had not occurred to me in designing the Mount Hope tape to make it in two or three distinct parts, each part pointed toward a pivotal decision. The student would then be called upon, prior to the disclosure of the actual decision taken at a particular stage of the case, to decide what he would have done. Experience showed that my first recording could be used as an exercise in decision making but that its utility for this purpose would be greatly increased by designing it as a series of self-contained units. In the classroom use of the Vincent Asaro case, I have felt that the student's involvement in the subject matter has been significantly increased by imposing on him the responsibility to make decisions of his own and that all the values for learning which inhere in this medium are thereby accentuated. Other ideas for increasing the potential of recorded case studies will doubtless emerge as experience in their production and use accumulates. One new idea, now taking shape, concerns the composition of readings to be used in conjunction with the recording. A thoughtful contexture, it is felt, will accentuate the values of each medium. The subject sequence in standard case or text books, however, does not gear easily with the particular group of problems highlighted in a given recording. For my second tape, therefore, I have begun a compilation of written cases and commentary so selected and arranged as to assist the student to both broaden and deepen his insight into the problems posed in the tape recording. My experience has convinced me that recordings can make a great contribution to education. Education loses meaning when its life-connectedness is not conceived. Teaching itself might be thought of as the art of showing life-connectedness. Any tools that help us to relate students to reality should be exploited. In some of our endeavours the tape recording seems to me an ideal tool. Mr. Jacks l»ucATiONAL Screen and Audiovisual Guide— September, 1961 485