The beginning television course

All too often, strong opinions are held without regard to detailed knowledge of the subject involved. Current controversies show that the question of course content in professional broadcasting education is no exception. Regardless of the viewpoint held, a supply of adequate data relevant to the question should be welcomed by all. The Journal undertakes to supply as much data as possible relevant to broadcasting education, the most recent example being Harold Niven's “Fourth Annual Survey of Colleges and Universities Offering Course Work in Radio and Television, 1958–1959”; published in the Fallissue.     

Cox broadcasting corporation: A group‐ownership case study

One of the oldest and largest of the group owners in radio and television is historically traced in this article, taken from the author's dissertation on group ownership in television, written under the direction of past BEA‐President Rod Right‐mire at Ohio University. The author is on the broadcasting faculty at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.     

Books in review

DYNAMICS OF IDEALISM: WHITE ACTIVISTS IN A BLACK MOVEMENT. By N.J. Demerath, III, Gerald Marwell, and Michael T. Aiken. San Francisco: Jossey‐Bass Inc., Publishers, 1971. $9.75.

TOMS, COONS, MULATTOES, MAMMIES, AND BUCKS: AN INTERPRETIVE HISTORY OF BLACKS IN AMERICAN FILMS. By Donald Bogle. New York: The Viking Press, 1973. $12.50.

RADICALS AND MILITANTS: AN ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY OF EMPIRICAL RESEARCH ON CAMPUS UNREST. By Kenneth Keniston in collaboration with Mary‐Kay Duffield and Sharon Marti nek. Lexington, Mass: D.C. Heath and Company, 1973. $15.00     

Patronizing young and elderly adults: Response strategies in a community setting

Within the context of an elaborated model of the communication predicament of aging, the effects of particular response strategies to patronizing, intergenerational talk were investigated with written vignettes depicting a community situation. Young adults (N = 222) evaluated a patronizing speaker more negatively than a non‐patronizing speaker, and they also judged both conversational partners to be more satisfied when patronizing speech was absent. As compared to cooperative responses, assertive responses from the patronizee led to evaluations that she was higher status, more controlling, less nurturing, and less satisfied. Patronizing individuals receiving an assertive response were evaluated as less in control and satisfied than when they received a cooperative response.     

Using Performance to Learn How to Balance Reporting with Compassion

In this study we examine performance as an approach to train journalists in order to alleviate negative public perceptions of media victimization and to identify behaviors more conducive to effective, but compassionate reporting. After an overview of literature related to public perceptions of media victimization and the potential of applied performance, we describe a collaborative partnership between an advanced journalism seminar exploring media victimization and an introductory performance studies course. We conclude by sharing implications and suggestions for using performance to train journalists covering tragic events.     

Accommodating Translational Research

This is an article in a series illustrating the way scholars in communication have pursued translating their research into practice. The translational nature of communication accommodation theory and examples of its application are the focus of this contribution.     

Affect and acceptability: exploring teachers’ technology-related risk perceptions

Project-based learning in Web courses present challenges and opportunities that groups in conventional settings may not encounter. This study is based on five project-based learning activities that 17 graduate students in a Web-based educational telecommunications course developed and conducted over a semester. A qualitative investigation was conducted of two issues related to project-based learning activities in a Web-based course: characteristics of activities that enable students to meet learning objectives and strategies that student facilitators and student participants use to prepare and conduct the activities. Characteristics of project-based learning activities were identified as environments that students perceived as authentic or meaningful, collaborative work and communication via telecommunications, and activities that provided students with opportunities for both knowledge enhancement and skill building. Strategies of the students-as-facilitators were related to planning and conducting the activity for the participants. Strategies of the students-as-participants were related to carrying out the activities specified by the facilitators. La collaboration obtenue grâce à la simulation et au jeu de rôle à distance. Cet article identifie les caractéristiques de la simulation des jeux de rôle qui favorisent la collaboration dans l'enseignement à distance utilisant la méthodologie des études de cas nous avons étudié comment les étudiants ont collaboré dans un jeu de rôle simulé dans une classe de diplômés (graduates) en ayant recours à la vidéoconférence et au Web. Nous avons trouvé que la nature de l'activité elle-même, le rôle des acteurs de la simulation du jeu de rôle et l'infrastructure technologique ont aidé à créer un environnement favorable à un enseignement en collaboration. Cette étude contribue à la compréhension des éléments clé pour l'élaboration de cours donnés à distance, le contenue, les activités d'enseignement, les supports d'enseignement et le développement d'un sens de la communauté. Rollenspiele, Podiumsdiskussionen und Simulationen: Projektbasiertes Lernen in einem web-basierten

Kurs. Projektbasiertes Lernen in Webkursen beinhaltet Herausforderungen und Möglichkeiten, die konventionelle Lerngruppen eher nicht haben. Diese Studie beruht auf fünf projekt-basierten Lernaktivitäten, die 17 Graduierte in einem web-basierten Bildungstelekommunikationskurs während eines Semesters entwickelten und durchführten. Wir führten eine qualitative Untersuchung von zwei Vorhaben, die mit projekt-basierten Lernaktivitäten in einem web-basierten Kurs verbunden waren, durch, um herauszufinden, welche Merkmale Aktivitäten besitzen, die Studenten ermöglichen, Lernziele zu erreichen und welche Strategien die Studenten verwenden, um diese Aktivitäten vorzubereiten und durchzuführen. Merkmale von projektbasierten Lernaktivitäten wurden als Milieu festgestellt, das Studenten als authentisch oder bedeutungsvoll empfanden, als kooperative Arbeit und Auseinandersetzung via Telekommunikation, Tätigkeiten, die Studenten Möglichkeiten zu sowohl Wissensverbesserung als auch zu Fertigkeitszuwächsen lieferten. Strategien der “Studenten als facilitators" bezogen sich darauf, die Aktivitäten für die Teilnehmer zu planen und zu leiten. Die Strategien der “Studenten als Teilnehmer" waren darauf gerichtet, die ihnen vorgegebenen Tätigkeiten auszuführen.     

Differentiating Reinforcement Priorities of Junior High School Students

Two hundred seventh grade Ss were administered a paired comparison scale for the purpose of predicting reinforcer effectiveness of fifteen stimuli. These stimuli were selected from three categories of reinforcement: 1.) verbal and social, 2.) tangible and manipulatable, and 3.) knowledge of progress. Results of the study indicated that the paired comparison scale of determining reinforcing preferences was moderately reliable. On the validation task, Ss performed equally well for the most and least preferred reinforcers. This finding suggests that a S, when selecting from several reinforcers, cannot choose the stimulus which would be most effective in increasing his performance.     

McLuhan,Mass Media,and Education

A lesson in Gestalt theory was presented to college students via lecture, videotape, audiotape, and printed notes. Comparing the effectiveness of various mass media, it was found that the group with the printed notes performed best on an examination of the material, followed by the lecture and videotape groups who fared equally well, and by the audio tape group who did the poorest. A test of prolonged retention two months later revealed that each group showed a significant drop in level of retention, but the relationship between the various medias remained the same. The general findings gave no support to McLuhan’s theory that the medium is the message. The content of the material and the attitude of the students greatly influenced the effectiveness of the media.