National Association of Educational Broadcasters convention highlights; Sterling McMurrin

And we are our national educational radio presents highlights from the 1968 convention of the National Association of educational broadcasters. The end E.B. convention was held in Washington in November. This program was recorded by WMUR Pham the American University. On it you will hear Sterling MCMURRAN chairman of the Commission on instructional technology and dean of the Graduate School of the University of Utah Salt Lake City. I hear it is a very great honor letter and personal privilege for me. To meet with you on this very pleasant page. Desire to respond to present Harley's invitation to comment on the work of the Commission on instructional technology and then to make a few observations on the

whole problem of our technology and education assure you that I see broadcasting in the form of radio and television as being the very center of that technology. I have very great interest in things which way with which you are. Concerned. I have prepared a statement some of it to Diana with the assistance I was detecting stat to give you a clear description of what the commission on internal Instructional Technology is doing. President Tyra. I want to give you a rather complete hour of the activities of the commission though it's moving very rapidly and certainly is doing some things that are not indicated

in the papers and I handed the paper with this detail is too long. And so having written that detail into the paper I find it necessary to not read much of it. I just get about six pages. I say this simply because if you are interested in seeing the complete description of the commission's activities I hope you will obtain a copy of the paper because the activities of the commission are very extensive. The present time I believe these are to be recognized. Real trouble with the light here that doesn't come out as far as the paper.

One of the ways that technological illiterates I'm not sure what to do about it and. Accept it just bend the paper and. Then using paper for a long time. And. And. Now. If Congress enacted the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 to develop the potential of noncommercial television and radio the first two titles provided for the extension to June 30 1970 are federal grants for the construction of educational broadcasting facilities for the establishment of the Public Broadcasting Corporation. Title 3 of the aircraft arrived a comprehensive study of the school uses of

TV radio and allied instructional media on the basis of title read by us an administration proposal a nine member commission on instructional technology was appointed by the secretary of health education welfare and the commissioner of education in March 1968 to conduct this study under the congressional act a commission is required to submit its report to the president for transmittal to the Congress not later than June 30 1969. Most of the commissioners are laymen in the matter of instructional technology. Only a minority have expert knowledge in the field. All however are vitally interested in education. Most of them are actively engaged in educational profession whose profession they represent the public schools universities foundations community colleges and in addition the membership includes a federal

judge. I had intended to have it underlined and mark your mention of a high wire in a clear cut expert whom we have on the commission. Dr C. Ray carpenter professor of psychology Pennsylvania State University. Discovering that Dr Carpenter is sitting immediately and cried out. I thought maybe I shouldn't mention him for fear you would think it's only because he's sitting there but as a matter of fact as all of you know he is a man of very genuine expertness and a person of tremendous value as a member of the commission. I shall not read the names of the other members of the commission. Mentioning however that most of us other than Dr. Carpenter are

technologically literate and as your chairman has indicated technological illiterates nevertheless have an interest in attractive young women and we have a very attractive young woman who though not a member of the commission regularly attends as a representative and assistant of one of the members of Miss list. I mention her because she also is present on this occasion. Some of you I am sure are acquainted with her. The Act which directed the establishment of the commission described its purposes primarily in terms of the instructional uses of television and radio. I will assume that most of you or perhaps all of you are acquainted with the explicit provisions of Title 3. When the commission was constituted However the United States commissioner

of education directed it to study the entire appeal of the destruction of technology without giving special emphasis to any particular medium. Accordingly the work of the commission have been concerned with the whole gamut of instructional techniques all new and cute printed mechanical and electronic automated in cyber name from books to television to computers from classrooms to learning centers from overhead projectors to satellite transmissions from preschool to graduate school. I would like however to assure of those of you who are especially interested in the instructional uses of radio and television that the commission and its staff are fully conscious of the emphasis of the congressional act and there will be no neglect. The media of radio and television on the contrary. I'm glad that receives some applause I should tell you that I have been

associated in another connection for the last several years three years to be exact. With your president William Harley. And ever since the establishment of this commission he has periodically brought this matter up with. That you know the intent of the Congress was to be concerned with broadcasting with radio and television. And if Mr. ticked in who is sitting here my lad and I have to buy the matter the untap original intent of Congress in this connection has been discussed at considerable length by the commission. And there is a definite intention on the part of the Commission to give full. Consideration for radio and television broadcasting for say on the contrary the commission intends

to fully explore the great values which the arts of radio and television have for education to assure appropriate support for their future development and use. I am pleased to report here that the National Association of educational broadcasters has and as an organization and individual members of that association are currently working closely with the Commission in its studies. In an address before the National Association Association of audio visual techniques on July 13 1968 Mr Howard the commissioner of education briefly described the purposes of the Commission on instructional technology. We have reached the point he said when we have to find an approach to the development and use of educational technology that is at least superior to the processes of sink or swim selection or a random accidental experiment.

We've got to come up with a more orderly informed way of taking advantage of all that the new technology has to offer. I think we have every reason to expect he said at the report of this commission. It will give us the courage. And I'm authoritative independent and expert assessment of instructional technology that we have long lacked. It will suggest priorities for the purchase and use of the new technology. It will give our school officials better guidelines and grounds for deciding how much to spend on what devices in what combination. Equally important it will help elected and other government officials determine levels of funding both locally and nationally. With this charge in mind the commission is looking at instructional technology as a whole as a system rather than the size of the various

media it is concerned with the status and potential of each medium. And of the media combine the prospect of developments with attitudes and obstacles and with the most significant questions raised by the introduction of technical means in education throughout a caucus is on the most urgent and imminent problems facing America's determination to equalize educational opportunity and individualize the processes of instruction. First meeting of the commission was held April 22nd 1968 by this time the Office of Education had selected the Academy bridge occasional development to act as staff for the commission and the Academy's executive vice president Mr. Sidney G dict and study director under the commission's direction the staff promptly began to assemble. Ideas and information. Letters were sent to over

2000 person representing a broad sampling of the educational community as well as other interested institutions individuals government agencies associations and private enterprises involved with instructional technology. In addition in order to ensure the widest range of response announcements were placed in trade professional and other publications inviting communications to the commission. Simultaneously. On extensive and extensive set of questions probing broad policy matters as well as technical details and specific uses of instructional technology has been developed. This is a very extensive set of questions and has been under constant revision and development since the beginning. The staff has sought expert information and opinion on every phase of the commission's mandate from the stablished representatives and Mavericks alive. After the

result between 150 and 200 research and information papers have been commissioned numerous interviews seminars have been arranged. The commission has also retained an expert to consult expert consultants who work with its staff. One of those whom I recognise as being here today is Colonel Hitchins who is head of the educational technology developments of the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. Colonel Hitchens was good enough and his commanding officer is good enough to get a leave of absence to work with us as an expert in the building for the next several months. He has been tremendously valued. Now I intend to delete a great many lies and details as to how the commission is

proceeding. I bantered them in here not with the intention of reading them to you but for the record and for your information if you care to pursue the matter in detail. The commission members have been gratified by the interest manifested in their work and by the caliber of the dozens of distinguished persons scholars technicians practicing school Mann and others who have agreed to prepare papers or grant interviews hundreds of thoughtful replies have come in response to the commission's original invitation and announced they have come and continue to come from all corners from industry from superintendents of big school systems from dozens of smaller places from nearly every state commissioner of every of education and every state office our education. Questions which the Commission on instructional technology is examining are

not limited to educational problems that are currently urgent or to the uses of equipment which is presently available in the signing papers and interviewing experts holding seminars. The commission has attempted to avoid undue emphasis on equipment per se or on the particular medium but has attempted instead to probe the valuable technology employed in systems of instruction. I cannot overstate the commission's interest in the instructional possibilities of technical instruments. When these are employed in instructional systems which relate them effectively to one another do the purposes and total activities of the instructional staff. Here are a very few questions of the type which we are raising and for which we are seeking answers. What changes may be necessary in the organizational patterns and administrative procedures of schools and

colleges. In order for new technologies to effectively improve instruction. I should add that we are raising the same question with a respect to all technology. What effect would be the extensive use of instructional technology on teaching on the teaching profession. What are the costs of selected programs and technical systems. What can we learn from craft costs and resolves Arkan hypothetical car studies establish guidelines and rules for the future. How can cost benefit analyses be made of present activities and future activities. Arkin instructional technology be employed to improve the quality of teaching and learning in ghetto schools and in schools in other poverty errors. The report will in no sense be a technical manual nor a chapter by chapter handbook

on each individual technology or media. Instead we propose to prevent the present findings under such tentative headings as if occasional need and instructional technology. The present state and future possibilities of the art. New goals and possibilities of instruction. Administration management and policy making cost and financing. The commission's report will provide information and explicit recommendations. It will be directed primarily to the federal government to the administration and the Congress but it will be of special interest and value to all leaders in education local state and national to teachers and students to technical specialists to decision makers in civic affairs and to the general public. And now a few comments on the matter of education

and technology do turn to the role of technology in education and the task of education in a society where technology is rapidly becoming the key determinant of the culture. It is now commonplace to say that we are at the beginning of a revolution in education. Certainly all the ingredients for a revolution are at hand and the signs are promising. But we cannot yet say for sure whether the revolution will be productive or abort. And if it is productive we do not know for sure just what it will produce. What we do know is that one of the tasks of education are becoming more complex and more difficult. Great possibilities seem to be opening up before us and that in the months and years immediately ahead the schools must make a series of decisions which will importantly affect the character and quality of education and will have a determining impact upon the total life of our

society. For a long time to come. Genuine openness to innovation readiness Corps experiment commitment to a continuing assessment of Van Ness and of the most effective ways for achieving these are the decisions which must be made now and can be made now. It is here of course where technology enters the picture. There are at least two kinds of school men who are likely to short change their schools in the future. Those ultra conservatives who refuse to believe that the new developments in educational technology have something genuinely important to bring to the improvement of instruction and those altars at the other extreme who planted too hastily in too expensive investments without reliable knowledge of their value and without adequate competence to employ the equipment successfully and effectively. It is

entirely obvious that the destruct discussion of the process of instruction becomes inevitably involved with the problems of the substance of education. It is clearly impossible to answer the question of power in education without at the same time coming to grips with the question of what. But judging from the energy expended on these matters it apparently is not equally clear that neither of these questions can be properly pursued without including the question of why the question of the larger aims and purposes of education and their relation to the goals of instruction. In recent decades much attention has been given to math. Fortunately over the past decade and a half the substance of Education has begun to find its proper place in research and development and effective techniques are being developed for the conception and production of

improved instructional materials. We are here to be on the threshold of a major breakthrough in instructional prophecies. Moreover the close relation between substance and method is receiving more respect. But the serious discussion of educational purposes and goals and their relation to the substance and techniques of instruction still lags far behind. The importance of this predicament. Is immediately seen when we consider the possibilities of the new instructional technology possibilities for a more effective individualization of instruction and for a generally larger return on the investment in the schools return in the form of increased knowledge improved skills and cultivated towers.