Film and education; a symposium on the role of the film in the field of education ([1948])

FILM AND EDUCATION the fact that those things which cost money receive the most attention. We are sometimes less concerned, until it is too late, with those things which cost learning, and with which, paradoxically, we, as teachers should be the most concerned. Actually, a better job of utilization can be done and a better allotment of funds for visual instruction made when more attention is given to proper selection and evaluation. Reposing on the shelves of many libraries, or, worse, running through the projection machines of the schools of the nation, are numerous films for which good money has been spent and for which our pupils are receiving little learning in return. Some of these films might be reclaimed for valid educational utilization if we knew a little better what we were using them for. It is necessary, then, that we take stock of where we are, where we wish to go, and for what ends we teach with educational motion pictures. Definitions Selection and Evaluation; what are they? Do we know what they mean? Webster is often a help. "Selection: to take from a large number by preference," "Evaluation: to find and fix the value of." When we take from a larger number by preference, this preference must have some basis. We make some evaluation to determine what our preference shall be. The basis of preference, then, is evaluation, and for purposes of simplicity, we may speak of selection and imply evaluation. Levels of Selection Our concepts of selection are sometimes a little muddled, when applied to educational motion pictures, because we, too often, attempt to set a certain pattern for selection rather than conceiving of the process as going on at various levels, from the relatively simple to the relatively complex. Selection can be a grab-bag proposition, or a matter that we sit up all night thinking about, or an activity with all shades [578]