Some achievements and limitations of educational television

Educational television in almost all of its forms is used successfully at Purdue University. Two particular courses are described, one involving taped lectures to small classes of electrical engineering sophomores, and the other enabling two professors and two graduate classes to meet simultaneously at locations 100 miles apart. Although the use of television has improved many aspects of these courses, limitations in the receivers prevent optimum performance. The video and audio quality of the receivers is discussed, and suggestions are made for an improved unit. Disadvantages in the external design of the receivers are in-d icated, and the current status of talk-back systems is described.