The Case Method of Accounting Instruction and Microwave Television.

Abstract This article discusses the success achieved in presenting a case method course over the microwave television system installed at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. In the fall of 1970 the University of Michigan installed a microwave television system linking the main Ann Arbor campus with two outlying campuses. The transmitting studio is in Ann Arbor and receiving studios are located in Dearborn and in Southfield, thirty to forty miles away. In the transmitting studio two cameras were in continuous use. In each of the remote classrooms two television sets were located so that each student had a clear view of at least one set. The voice transmission from the instructor came over exactly as on a normal television. The physical process of carrying on the discussion over closed circuit television was as follows. The most important result or conclusion is that there is absolutely no evidence that any student learned any more or any less than he would have learned in the same course under the previous system. The initial adverse reaction seems to be emotional, not educational. Technically the system seems to be capable of conveying just as much information as the professor is capable of transmitting live.