Reel and Slide (Jan-Sep 1919)

REEL and SLIDE 11 Films and Slides Found Ideal for This Service School Large Thresher Manufacturers Prove That Screen Holds Attention and Instructs Employees Better Than Demonstration With Actual Machines By R. A. Corbett (Visual Instruction Service, North Dakota Agricultural College) THE use of instructional motion pictures and slides by the large commercial companies for mass instruction is a subject of interest to many. It has been the privilege of the writer to observe during the last year the inauguration of slides and films into the educational work of the J. I. Case Threshing Machine Company of Racine, Wis. This company has held so-called "service schools" during the winter months for several years, presenting a good short course of instruction for tractor operators and dealers. Other of the tractor manufacturers, such as the International Harvester Company, the Avery Company and many others, have held similar meetings. Usually the schools are held at the companies' branch houses, sometimes at the dealer's place of business. Very seldom is any admission charged. The company presenting the schools receives its benefits from the general advertisfing and from the resulting sales, by the education of the dealer and user in the handling and repairing of the various products, in spreading of information of modern power farming, and in securing new ideas and opinions from the field for the engineers at the factory. While, of course, the ultimate end of these schools is sales, the reduction of the usual calls for free expert service on machinery which is demanded by the purchasers, is of importance enough in itself to warrant considerable expense in conducting such meetings. The expense is not limited to the cost of presenting the short course. Students must be interested and secured, necessitating advertising in local paper, etc. The principal topic handled in the Case Service School, as in kindred manufacturers' courses, is that of the gas tractor, its operation, adjustment and repair. When time permitted threshing, plowing and other applications of power farming were considered. The question of _ the necessity for such courses by manufacturers is oftentimes brought up by people who cannot understand why the already established educational institutions, public and private, are not capable of training tractor operators and repairmen. While the various companies appreciate the opportunities of getting the prospective buyers into their establishment, they get a different class of students in some respects than do the educational institutions which give longer and more complete courses. These established institutions are better equipped to handle the subjects, and usually are crowded to their fullest capacity. Then the rise of power farming has been so sudden that it has been almost impossible to forecast the demand for engine operators and repairmen. The great war also added to the complication by the government taking over a great many of these institutions for the training of the soldiers. Many of the tractor men also entered the service. While the acute demand for operators and repairmen will probably soon be over, the call for service schools of this nature as well as for the operators and repairmen themselves, will hardly diminish on account of the increasing numbers of heavy duty farming implements. The problem of presenting the various motor subjects properly in a limited time to best help a student requires an educator as well ii mm Case Service School Held in Garbutfs gary, Alberta, Ca as an expert engineer and repairman. The class of students attending such meetings find it difficult to follow technical talks by lecturers. Demonstrations by using actual machines seem to be the best method of getting the desired results in most of the subjects handled. On the other hand, lantern slides and film sthrown on the screen in a darkened room hold the student's attention better than when the demonstrations are given under well lighted conditions, where Tom Jones divides his attention to the lecturer with John Johnson whenever John takes a fresh stick of gum. As the demand from the field is for more schools and especially to be held in the more rural communities, the transportation and the handling of the large units for demonstration purposes is limited. The ease by which a large casting weighing one ton can be turned over on the screen by means of a projection machine, appeals to the lecturer as well as does the light weight and small bulk of the necessary projection equipment. It is remarkable, too, how readily salesmen adapt themselves to the use of the lantern and slides as a necessary part of their sales equipment. It seemed the cons e n s u s of opinion of all those connected with the Case service schools, that about twice as much information was given to the students in the same time by the use of suitable lantern slides and films than possible without their use under the same conditions. The pictures made it possible for the students to visualize the lecturers' statements quickly and easily. The J. I. Case Company had three crews of at least two people each, out from the main office for four or five months of this season, holding meetings at their branch houses. Then some of their branch houses held schools of their own in some of the small towns in their respective territories. Each crew carried a projection machine and from one hundred to three hundred slides. In some cases and films were also prepared and deThough the Auto and Tractor School Building in Calnada, Feb. 4-7, 1919. a portable motion picture projector carried. The slides were all especially picted parts, sections, methods of operation, etc course dealt with Case products, a serious attempt was made to make it of as general a nature as possible. The crew with which the writer was connected carried a portable motion picture projector and 4,000 feet of film during the latter part of the season's tour. The film was of an industrial nature, showing the manufacture of a tractor with as many of the details in construction as possible to show. It fitted nicely into the close of the program. Little attempt was made in outlining these courses toward the entertainment side. This factor in holding the student and in furnishing a well-balanced course could well be seriously considered. Another factor which promises to reduce the cost of conducting such schools, and of enlarging their field as well as being of assistance in other departments, is the automatic stereopticon. At the present its use is mostly in booths at exhibitions and in store windows for advertising purposes. They are motor driven and consume a very small amount of electricity. The slide changing mechanism can be operated separately by means of a cord or a wire in most of the machines on the market, permitting the lecturer to tajk from the front of the hall and to operate the machine in the rear at the same time. With a small hood shading the projection screen, these machines will operate satisfactorily in a well lighted room. This would permit installing in a small work