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Show , J f I ; "" , l- 1 5 ' ' t i i I i."'" i - 2 Lamond F. Beatty, instructor in educational administration, demonstrates teaching machine which transmit audio-visual material. Edix teaching machine useless says education research director Dr. Della-Piana's counterargument counter-argument is a teacher can individualize in-dividualize instruction with methods just as effectively and for less money. For instance, the machines are hooked to response buttons in the students' desks. Students press the buttons which express their opinion or answer. But a professor could ask students to raise their hands when they agree with the answer the teacher reads. Or students could have colored cards to represent different dif-ferent answers. They could hold up the card representing their opinion and the teacher could easily tell what the students thought. Need Rare Lectures needing a multi-media presentation are rare, Dr. Della-Piana Della-Piana said. So such a computerized com-puterized system's media facilities are rarely needed. He explained that conventional machines like TV, projectors and tape recorders most often accomplish what is required anyway. He said such a system forces the instructor into not using his teaching skills. It also forces the students to proceed at the same rate, actually restricting instruction, instruc-tion, not individualizing it. Not Specialized Another major problem with the computer-like system, Dr. Della-Piana explained, is that it was not developed for a particular program, but a program had to be developed for the machine. For any teaching device to be effective, effec-tive, it should be developed to aid the program, and not vice versa, he said. Until a program is developed for the Edix machine, it is more of a hinderance than a help to educational development, Dr. Della-Piana said. He feels the money would be better spent on paying professors to develop new instruction programs for un-mechinized un-mechinized teaching. BY DENISE ADAMS Chronicle Staff The University has a useless machine, according to Dr. Gabriel M. Della-Piana, director of the educational research Department. Under attack was the Edix machine, a computer-like stimulus-response device. , In an interview Dr. Della-Piana expressed ex-pressed his dislike for the newly acquired system and Brigham Young University's similar system, the Singer-Link L-3000 Learning System. The doctor claimed the machines are useless because they do nothing better than a teacher and conventional teaching machines. He said the key to deciding if the machine is worthwhile worth-while is, "Are there things you can do better with it than you can do without it?" He thinks not. j Supporters Show Advantages J Supporters of the computer-, computer-, like system point out that the machine can give tests, instantly ! show student opinions and aid the lecture with slide projectors, motion pictures and audio-visual tape recorders. These features lead to more "individualized instruction," instruc-tion," advocates claim. |