HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Citizens News, 1976-08-25, Page 6Page 6 -Zurich Citizens News, August 25, 1976
Learn by listening to tapes
There's a new explosion on the
education horizon --correspond-
ence courses on tape --and at the
University of Waterloo, where it
all began, it is now possible to
obtain a B.A., B. Math. or
B. Sc. degree without setting a
foot on campus.
Next month Waterloo will
begin mailing upwards of 100,000
tape cassettes to more than 4,000
students who are expected to
enrol for correspondence courses
in 1976-77.
The rapid growth of the Water-
loo program with more than 150
courses available this year has
made it the largest university
level correspondence program in
the country. As a result, complete
degree requirements can now be
met in several fields.
"It is now possible to obtain
a general bachelor of arts degree,
either non -major or major in
psychology or history, for ex-
ample," sayd Dr. A.D. "Ted"
Dixon, a UW physicist and associ-
ate director of the correspondence
program. "A student can also
get a general non -major bachelor
of science degree or a pass
degree in mathematics."
Dr, Dixon believes Waterloo is
the only Canadian university
mailing out lectures on tape.
"From our experience, I think
it will become the biggest thing
to happen to universities since
the massive expansion of the
60's."
Waterloo, founded in 1957,
was one of the first of the new
universities and its emphasis on
off -campus activities began with
co-operative education programs
in which students alternate four-
month on -campus academic
terms with four-month work
terms gaining practical experi-
ence intheir chosen field. Some
6,000 of Waterloo's 12,000 full-
time undergrads now take their
studies via the year-round co-
op system.
The oft -campus trend went a
step further in 1968 with the in-
troduction of the correspondence
program by Dr. Jim Leslie, also
a physicist and director of the
program.
Taped lectures
The backbone of the system are
the sets of taped lectures the
university sends out to corres-
pondence students. Students
provide their own cassette tape
players; listen to the tapes in
the comfort and convenience of
their homes, and study the tests
and supplementary materials the
university also sends them.
Students also complete a variety
of work assignments and pro-
jects which they mail back to
U W . Later, they get back further
"tutorial" tapes on which the
professors offer comments on
the way the assignments have
been completed. In addition,
students may write to professors
in connection with any particular
difficulties that may arise.
Correspondence bringf UW's
education programs to Canadians
in the far north, in Newfound-
land, in British Columbia...and
even to those, both Canadians
and non -Canadians, in a number
of other countries as well. Most
of those taking the courses live
in Ontario, however. There are
literally hundreds in the Toronto
area alone.
"We launched this program to
provide three or four science
courses to high school teachers
who were interested in upgrading
their qualificiations," says Dr.
Jim Leslie. "But today there are
people from all walks of life tak-
ing the courses. We see almost no
limit to the number who can
become interested."
Dr. Leslie claims the taped
lectures give the student some
of the feel for and enthusiasm
for the subjects that would ordin-
arily be imparted in a classroom
lecture. But there are important
advantages: it is not necessary
for a part-time student to travel
long distances to take them; the
student can take as many subjects
at a time as he or she wishes;
there is great convenience and
flexibility...it's like having the
professor come right into your
home to teach, whenever you
request him or her to do so.
"We even provide complete
sets of lecture notes so students
don't have to spend time copy-
ing material down from the black-
board, as university students
customarily do," Dr. Leslie says.
Some disadvantages
He admits there are a couple
of disadvantages: For one thing,
there ' is not the immediate
question -and -answer exchange
one can get in a classroom with
a live professor; for another,
there may not be library mater-
ials handy.
"We try to get around these
problems by sending out course
materials that are as complete
as possible," says Dr. Leslie.
"This tends to reduce the number
of questions. In some cases too,
the library availability problem
isn't too bad, because these
students do have access to other
universitieslibraries.
"We also try to help students
get together to whatever extent
this is possible. We do this be-
cause we feel student -to -student
interaction is an important part
of the university education. So
we send each student a list with
the addresses of all the other
students in the class." -
This year the program will add
a new dimension by combining
with TV Ontario to offer a gen-
eral interest history course, "The
Meaning of Civilization," in
which the mailed -out tape cas-
settes will be supplemented by
twice weekly TV showings of
Sir Kenneth Clark's "Civiliza-
tion" series.
4
4
4
1
0
4
4
I
r
4
4
4
4,
x
i
4
1
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
I
4
4
r
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4.
s
S
1,4"1:%S"'N."41.%."4:‘;‘,,,,1/404"‘ max.**, •
Y MUTUAL
•ANCE COMPANY
Welcomes you to Zurich's annual
FES
AL
We congratulate the Bean Festival Committee for
making this annual project a success.
HAY MUTUAL
INSURANCE COMPANY
HEAD OFFICE - Z RICH ONT
PHONE 236-4381
AGENTS
Elgin Hendrick, Dashwood — 238-2611
Jack Scotchmer, Bayfield — 565-5270
Glenn Webb, Dashwood — 237-3229
•%1.1.1".11.104..% %:*0 x067104 -1.w.•....% %'4' '%"• v',
MUM
4
4
4
I
4
4
4
1
I
s
1
t
4
"dog^':_• . .,..,.... . _�""`" . A �:
LONG
to the Zurich Bean
Festival Committtee
on their 11th Annual
Bean Festival
TUIATIONS
We hope everyone enjoys themselves
on Saturday and we are proud
to support the Zurich Bean Festival
W G TNOMPSON £ SONS LTD.
HENSALL
MITCHELL
K I RTON