SOUTHWORDS
January 1968
Electronic hall to spark up talks
no author
Teachers in the Maine South history department feel that technology can be used to increase student interest in classes. In an attempt to prove this fact, lecture hall C-127 is being used as an experimental room for new electronic devices.
The equipment being used has been designed and built by the department with the help of the expert custodial staff. This experiment, which is constantly undergoing change and improvement, is designed to allow complete control of all sound and light from the lectern.
Because of the foresight of this school's designers, C-127 is perfectly adaptable to the new devices. The controlled equipment includes: light dimmers; a dropping wall screen, overhead projector, and its large stationary screen, a projection booth with the operation of an "off," "forward," "reverse," and "focus" controller.; fading, an effect produced by two projectors alternating light projection; a public address system for large classes; remote controlled tape-recorders; telelecture, a lecture on the telephone from outside the classroom which allows questions from the class to be answered; and sophisticated radio equipment from which foreign programs can be heard, live or on tape.
The department has equipment for making its own slides and therefore most visual presentations are made by the teachers themselves. All of the remote controlled devices are controlled by computer relays and a basic control current of 24 volts.