Category Archives: Education

Drive-In Educational Programs and Meetings for COVID-19

I’ve previously written about why I believe outdoor spaces should be utilized for learning and other group activities during the COVID-19 emergency. Since I’m in the business of providing continuing education programs for attorneys, a few weeks ago, I presented an outdoor program at a city park.

The weather for that program was excellent, and everyone enjoyed the opportunity to be outside. However, the weather can be unpredictable, and it won’t always work to be outside. For that reason, today, I presented a live drive-in program in a parking lot. The attendees watched from their car, and listened on their car radio. If there had been questions or feedback, they could have phoned me at any time.

Why a Drive-In Program?

It was a bit more work, and it would actually have been more pleasant to just get out of our cars and do it outside, as with the previous program. But a drive-in program is a very viable option for any group that needs to be meet in person, since the weather won’t always cooperate completely.

I didn’t bring it today, because the weather was nice, but if there had been a chance of rain, I would have brought a canopy such as the one shown here. For an outdoor presentation of any kind, the speaker obviously needs to dress for the weather. But the attendees can take advantage of their car, or even run the car for heat or air conditioning if needed.

My transmitter was the InfOspot Talking House transmitter, which I previously reviewed. As expected, my transmitter easily covered the parking lot. I parked near a tree, and tied the end of the 10 foot antenna to a convenient branch. I should have tested everything, since the audio quality wasn’t quite as good as I had expected. In most of my tests at home, I fed the transmitter with an MP3 player, and the audio quality was absolutely astounding. Today’s audio quality was quite good–certainly good enough for a lecture. But if the transmitter was used for any kind of musical presentation, it wouldn’t have been quite good enough. I’ll need to experiment with a different mike, or possibly run the existing mike through a preamp and feed the auxiliary input rather than the mike input. (The audio quality through the line-in jack is excellent, so if you’re broadcasting from a location where another PA system is in use, that’s the best option, but you will need an inexpensive isolation transformer to prevent 60-cycle hum.)

Caveat Emptor: The Importance of a Legal Transmitter

When buying a transmitter, it’s important to buy a transmitter that is legal. Unfortunately, most of the transmitters in use for drive-in events these days don’t appear to be legal. In particular, it would be very difficult to use a legal FM transmitter for an event such as this, because FCC rules (section 15.239) limit the transmitted signal to an extremely low level. Amazon and eBay are full of FM transmitters that claim to be legal for unlicensed use, but even a cursory examination of their specifications reveal that their power level is many times what is allowed. On the other hand, the rules governing AM transmitters (section 15.219) are much less restrictive. The Talking House transmitter is certified as complying with this section of the rules, and has a very good range for this type of use. It is, therefore, the transmitter that I recommend for this application. Chances are, nobody will complain to the FCC. But if they do, and especially if there is interference with aircraft communications, which are near the FM band, the fines are typically in the range of $10,000. It’s best to use a transmitter that you know is legal, and the Talking House is.

Here’s another writer who agrees with me that most FM transmitters used for this purpose are illegal. As he puts it, they are all lying when they say on eBay or Amazon that they are legal. And in my experience, as both a lawyer and a licensed radio engineer, he’s right. Some of the listings claim that the transmitters are FCC certified. In some cases, the certification appears to be for use by a licensed radio station. In one case, the transmitter appeared to be certified for unlicensed use. I checked the FCC website, and sure enough, there was a report from a Chinese lab certifying that the transmitter was compliant. The report even contained test results showing compliance with some of the requirements. But noticeably absent was any report showing that the transmitted field strength was compliant. It couldn’t have been, because the transmitter was using hundreds or thousands more times power than allowed. It appears than an overworked FCC simply failed to notice that this critical measurement was missing from the report. Let the buyer beware. Just because an eBay listing says that a product is legal doesn’t mean it’s legal.

A Good Way to Conduct In Person Meetings

As with my previous program, we could have just as easily done it over the phone, or via Zoom. But some activities are best done in person, and after a long quarantine where everything has been done remotely, it’s refreshing to interact with others in person, even if they are six feet away and/or on the other side of a windshield. Creatively making use of outdoor locations, whether it’s for business, education, or worship will serve an important role until things get back to normal. And history tells us that yes, eventually, things will get back to normal.

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Making Use of Outdoor Spaces for Learning

During the current public health emergency, it is important that to the extent humanly possible, everyone should maintain social distancing from everyone other than their own household. Therefore, most traditional live educational activities cannot be done safely at this time.

I’m not a doctor, but to me the evidence seems obvious that in most cases, the main problem is indoor gatherings. This New York Times article, for example, discusses the issue, and this WebMD article, discusses the possible role that building air conditioning systems might play in the spread of COVID-19. Being outdoors does not completely eliminate the possibility of the spread of coronavirus. But it seems like common sense that it’s a lot safer being outside than being inside a building with other people. The CDC’s recommendation is that “in many areas, people can visit parks, trails, and open spaces as a way to relieve stress, get some fresh air, and stay active.”

I believe that the use of outdoor spaces is an excellent way to re-start many activities that have been put on hold. For example, I believe that schools should seriously consider the use of outdoor spaces for classrooms. You can read more about that idea at the website of
Green Schoolyards America. This New York Times article shows how outdoor learning spaces were used by schools during earlier public health emergencies.

Unfortunately, even though some students thrive with distance learning, not all of them do. Whether it’s because of their family situation, a poor internet connection, or just because it’s not their learning style, many students are falling behind both socially and educationally due to the lack of in-person schooling. The use of outdoor spaces can provide these students with a safe place for their education to continue and help stop a new achievement gap.

Similarly, the CDC recommends that communities of faith should consider holding their services outdoors.

I believe the outdoors is a suitable venue for many in-person activities that have otherwise been put on hold. After months of being isolated, it can be refreshing to see colleagues in person, even if they’re behind a mask and six feet away.

Since I’m in the business of presenting educational programs (namely, continuing legal education programs for attorneys), I decided to take the initiative and see whether my programs could be done outside, so I went ahead and scheduled one in a nearby city park. I wanted to start with a small group, so I advertised by e-mail to only about 20 attorneys who live in the general area. The response rate was actually higher than usual, and three attorneys sent an RSVP that they would be attending. Since I wanted the initial group to be small, I didn’t advertise any further.

I asked all of the attendees to either bring their own chair, or plan to sit on the ground. The program was paperless. Ordinarily, I would print the course materials, and there would be a sign-in sheet. Instead, the course materials were downloaded from the web, and I took attendance at the beginning of the program. In the course description, I outlined the physical distancing guidelines.

There were a few bugs (including a few literal ones), but overall, I don’t see why larger events can’t be done outside. The weather was perfect. It was a sunny day, but as you can see from the photo above, we were able to sit in the shade. Obviously, this won’t work as well in January in Minnesota, but for much of the year, the weather is suitable. I announced that this program was going to take place rain or shine, and I don’t think rain would have been much of an issue, if attendees simply brought an umbrella or raincoat.

I did learn a few lessons:

Face masks make it harder for people to hear. I started the program wearing a mask, and I asked whether it made it difficult for them to hear me, and they said that it did. Since I was standing more than 20 feet away, we decided that it would be best for me to speak without a mask.
If we had a larger crowd, it would have been advisable to have a sound system. In an indoor setting, I can easily speak to 20 or 30 people without a PA system. But outdoors, my voice doesn’t carry as well, particularly when airplanes fly over or trucks drive by. Also, if any of the speakers are wearing a mask, the sound system is even more important.
Some planning does need to be done for seating. One attendee didn’t bring a chair and instead sat on the ground. Apparently, there were enough ants in the park that he had to stand up after 45 minutes.

The outdoor air is not a magic bullet that kills germs. However, it seems to me that an outdoor location is much safer than corresponding indoor spaces. At this time, it ‘s probably not safe to go back to business as usual with respect to things such as education and business. But it seems to me that creative use of outdoor spaces will bring us much closer to normal than we would be able to do with virtual gatherings alone.

In education, for example, some kids simply require in-person instruction. Some of them thrive learning online, and that’s great. But I think even occasional in-person sessions might make a huge difference for some kids. If it’s too risky for them to have their math or English class in a traditional classroom, then it seems to me that educators should at least consider the idea of having those classes outside.

For distance learning, technology is required. But for outdoor learning, very little technology is necessary. As my experience shows, a small public address system would be useful. But other than that, little more than chairs, desks, and a blackboard are required. If there’s a video to be watched, then the students can watch it at home. But it seems to me that many kids need some attention where things can be explained in person, so that the teacher has in-person feedback of whether they’re being understood. That doesn’t require a building–it merely requires a space, and in most cases, an outdoor space will serve the purpose.

I’ll be doing future programs outdoors, and it seems to me that many activities that are normally done indoors, such as meeting with clients, can be safely conducted outdoors. As the weather gets cooler, being outdoors will be less suitable. Therefore, some of my future programs will be in a drive-in format where participants can listen on their car radios.

The Class of ’20

Shown here is the Class of ’20 (1920, that is) who graduated from the Furness School of Philadelphia on this day a hundred years ago, June 22, 1920. These girls are performing the “Welcome to Summer” dance as part of the commencement exercises, and this picture appeared in the next day’s issue of the Philadelphia Evening Public Ledger.

Since the school was a junior high at the time, these were probably eighth graders, probably born in about 1906. Their older brothers very well might have gone to war, and we hope that most of them came back to attend the graduation.

A few years after this picture was taken, their families probably got their first radio. They were 23 years old when the stock market crashed, and they lived through the depression as young adults. Then, another war came. They were a little too old to go to war, and most of their children were too young. All of them, boys and girls, undoubtedly fought on the Homefront.

When they were in their 40s, they saw their first television, and probably bought one soon thereafter. They worked hard and retired with more wealth than their parents. A handful of them bought a computer and sent e-mails to their grandchildren. A few of them lived to see 9/11 on their television screen.

Welcome to Summer, Class of ’20.

A few weeks ago, I recorded this message to the Class of 2020:

School Distance Learning: 1930s

Due to the cornavirus pandemic, schools around the country and around the world are grappling with the issue of how to provide instruction to students by distance learning. It isn’t a new phenomenon, however, as shown by this article from the October 15, 1937, issue of Broadcasting magazinei

During a Chicago polio epidemic, schools were closed, and the city’s radio stations banded together to broadcast classes for students at home. The program was so successful that it was to continue even after school was back in session. Broadcasts would not duplicate material from school, but would supplement it, with a cultural value directed at both adults and children. The city’s stations would each donate 15 minutes per day of airtime to the programs.

Other schools facing quarantine were looking to Chicago’s successful venture as inspiration for their own. The Chicago schools had been contacted by educators and broadcasters in the U.S. and Canada for pointers.

The photo above is another example from 1938. This one isn’t because of an epidemic, but because of a fiscal emergency in Dayton, Ohio, as recounted in an earlier post.

March 7 1970 Eclipse

Crowds descending on Virginia to view 1970 eclipse. NASA photo.

Today marks the 50th anniversary of the total solar eclipse of Saturday, March 7, 1970. As I previously recounted, this was the first eclipse I witnessed. That eclipse began in the Pacific and had a path of totality that crossed southern Mexico before entering the Gulf of Mexico.

Then, the shadow hit the United States , first in Florida, then Georgia, then the Carolinas and Virginia, then grazing Maryland before heading back out to sea, saying goodbye to the United States at Nantucket.

For those with Learjets, it then crossed Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and the French island of Miquelon, before heading out to sea again into the North Atlantic.

Wikipedia image.

Where I was in Minnesota, it only covered 47% of the sun at high noon. If nobody had told me about it, I probably wouldn’t have noticed. It didn’t get dark outside, and no animals were confused by sudden darkness. But that day, it was the biggest deal in the world. The moon contained fresh footprints of Americans who had walked on its surface less than a year earlier. Now that same moon was casting its shadow over me.

To me and my fellow third graders, it was presented as a big deal. And it was a big deal. If there had ever been any doubt about it, yes, the moon went around the earth, the earth went around the sun, and sometimes they got in the way of each other. Any third grader could see tangible proof.

In school, we had learned all about umbras and penumbras, and by the time the big day came, I was an expert on all things eclipse. With a shoebox, some foil, and a note card, I constructed myself a pinhole viewer. I figured that if a pinhole was good, then a giant hole would be even better. Fortunately, my mom corrected my error and got the viewer in good working order.

I pointed the box at the sun coming in the window, and sure enough, there was a little crescent shape of sunlight coming in through the round hole, plainly visible on the note card.

Perhaps I was a little disappointed at the tiny size of the image, but it didn’t matter. Right there in my shoebox was proof positive that the moon orbits the earth. I didn’t have to take anyone else’s word for it. The proof was right before my eyes.

The home movie here shows some of my contemporaries in North Carolina who had the fortune of being in the path of totality:

Wikipedia image.

From our location, we had to turn on the TV to see the full effect, and we witnessed the darkened skies and the amazed reactions of those who went outside to see it. I don’t remember too many details about the TV coverage. Mostly, I remember some poor confused rooster in Georgia crowing in the middle of the day.

I believe it was the CBS coverage that I watched on TV fifty years ago today, and that broadcast is available on YouTube. (You can hear the rooster at 22:23.)

Examining the confused rooster. CBS-TV via YouTube.

Here is another reminiscence of another kid who was older than I was and who lived closer to the path of totality. As he recounts, he was able to talk his dad into driving him the 200 miles to totality where he was able to set up his telescope and take some photos.

When my friends and I got back to school the next Monday, the eclipse was the topic of conversation. We knew how the universe worked, because we had seen it with our own eyes. It was a big deal, and the kids remembered it.

In 1970, we were over a thousand miles away from the path of totality, and going to see it wasn’t really an option. But I envied those people and roosters on TV who got to see it in person.

The next total solar eclipse in North America will take place on Monday, April 8, 2024, just over four years from now. The path of totality will be a narrow strip passing through Mexico and Canada, and the states of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. The path of totality includes a number of large cities, including, San Antonio, Austin, Fort Worth, Dallas, Little Rock, Indianapolis, Cleveland, Buffalo, and Rochester. That path through Canada will include Windsor, ON, and Montreal.

My family went to see the 2017 eclipse, and the 2024 eclipse will be within a days’ drive of most of the population of the United States. It’s an unforgettable experience, and you should plan on seeing it, just over four years from now. It will be a school day, and if 2017 is any guide, most schools will fail to do anything meaningful. I rarely encourage truancy, but kids should skip school that day, and instead travel to the zone of totality. When I’m substitute teaching, I tell kids to ask their science teacher on the first day of the 2023-24 school year if there will be a field trip to see the eclipse. If the teacher balks, then I tell them they should plan on skipping school. From where I live in Minnesota, it’s a day’s drive to Illinois or Indiana to view it. Kids who are currently sixth grade and older will probably have their driver’s licenses by then. And all of the kids probably have parents who can take them.

You should also pencil in the 2024 eclipse on your calendar. Keep following OneTubeRadio.com, and we’ll certainly remind you. My experience from 2016 is that if you make your travel plans about one year in advance, there will be plenty of inexpensive accommodations available. If you are a student or parent, then you should plan on bugging the science teacher in September 2023 about organizing a trip. Just as I tell the kids here, if he or she doesn’t seem enthused, then you should take matters into your own hands.

When I’m teaching a class, there are often one or two kids in the class whose parents took them to see the 2017 eclipse. I ask them if it was the coolest thing they had ever seen, and they invariably say that it was. If you had asked me fifty years ago, I would have said that it was pretty cool, even though I was stuck mostly watching it on TV. It took 47 years to actually go see a total eclipse in person, and I can vouch for the fact that it was indeed the coolest thing ever.

University of Wisconsin Extension Classes, 1944

For a snapshot of wartime higher education 75 years ago, here is a schedule of extension courses offered by the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, from the Milwaukee Journal, September 17, 1944.

The engineering and management courses were offered under sponsorship of the U.S. Office of Education to meet war needs. Accordingly, no tuition was charged for those courses, other than the cost of texts and materials. Tuition for other courses ranged from $4 to $25.

For a larger version of the image, from most browsers, click twice to enlarge.

Review of Keystone School Credit Recovery

US Gov’t image.

My son’s high school freshman year didn’t include stellar grades. In fact, it included failing his geography class. There were two causes of this. The major cause was the traditional reason, namely, a failure to apply himself. He might have squeaked by with a passing grade, but when he finally handed in quality work, the teacher was already convinced that he was incapable of quality work. So she accused him of cheating, even though she admitted that she couldn’t prove it. Since she couldn’t prove it, she instead gave him poor grades, meaning that the average score for the course was still a failing grade. As a result, he had to make up the course over the summer.

One option, of course, was to send him to summer school. Logistically, this wasn’t a convenient option for us. And there was still a chance that subjective grading would keep him from passing the course. Therefore, after some research, we settled upon The Keystone School, which offers a number of “credit recovery” courses. The school, even though it is apparently accredited in Pennsylvania, does not actually offer the credit itself. Instead, before enrollment, an official from his home school, in his case, the counselor, has to sign the application. Keystone School then reports the scores to the home school, and the home school changes the grade from an F to a grade of P, a passing grade. The school agreed that this was a suitable option, and signed the application.

We were a bit hesitant, since many of the online reviews I saw were rather poor. Many of the criticisms in these reviews were justified, but for our purposes, the course actually served us quite well. For families in different situations, those shortcomings could prove to be very frustrating, so please use caution before registering.

The school’s course catalog can be found at this link. The course my son took was entitled “Geography Online Credit Recovery Grades 9-12,” and the tuition was $155 for two semester credits. It was also possible to take one semester credit for $116. The course goes quite fast, so I’m glad I paid for both credits at the same time.

There were many technical glitches with the course. In fact, he was never able to view some portions of it. I suspect we would have eventually figured out how to view all of the material, as we probably needed to update some of the software on our computer. For example, most of the lessons included at least a few videos and Flash presentations that we never were able to open.

The bulk of the lessons consisted of slides similar to the one shown at the left. These are interspersed with videos, links to other websites, and the various Flash plugins that we weren’t able to view. Fortunately, most, but not all, of the missing elements had a PDF transcript that he could open, which contained the same information. These actually proved to be more convenient, since the text could be searched when taking the open-book quizzes.

For some students, the missing elements might have caused a major problem. It’s likely that problem could have been solved by updating our software, but in my son’s case, having the missing items wasn’t a major problem.

This is because the course is set up so that the student takes a quiz for each unit before reviewing that unit. Each quiz can be taken up to three times, and the student is instructed to take it the first time as a pre-test for the unit. If the student passes the quiz (it appears that 70% is the passing score), then the student simply moves on to the next unit.

With one exception, my son passed all of the quizzes (usually with a score of 90% or 100%) on the first try. Therefore, he was never required to actually review the lessons. However, for many of the chapters, he did open the lessons and quickly review them. (The method for doing this was somewhat counter-intuitive. From the course main page, he had to click on “Start Here,” and then on “Table of Contents.” From the table of contents, he had to right click on the unit he wanted to view, and then open that unit in a new tab. For some reason, it didn’t work to open the lessons by left clicking.) He usually had one or more tabs open with the course materials, with the open book quiz in another tab. He was able to answer most of the questions from his prior knowledge (much of it presumably learned in the class he failed). Other questions required him to regurgitate material from the lessons, so he would search for the material in the other tab.

Most questions were relevant, but quite a few were somewhat confusing. A few of the answers were simply wrong, such as the one below. But he picked the least wrong answer, which turned out to be the right answer. (Thailand is not east of Cambodia):

Over the course of about a month, my son passed the course (with a score in the high 90’s). He probably learned a few things (such as the true location of Thailand in relation to Cambodia), but more importantly, the school will accept the credits and change his grade from failing to passing. The technical glitches weren’t a problem, because he used the Keystone course essentially only to “test out” of the subject. If he needed to actually learn something from the course, it wouldn’t have worked very well. But despite the shortcomings, it was vastly superior to bringing him to summer school, and the $155 was well spent.

Radio Goes to School: 1944

Seventy-five years ago, the over 170,000 students in the Philadelphia schools were getting a good dose of the fourth “R.” In addition to reading, ‘riting, and ‘rithmatic, the schools were taking full advantage of Radio. Thanks to the community spirit of the city’s commercial radio stations, regular lessons were scheduled. For example, for the elementary grades, WFIL carried “Studio Schoolhouse,” an educational program three days a week. The Monday program allowed the students, left, to participate in dramatized scripts about how they could help the war effort.

The pictures and accompanying article appeared in the June 1944 issue of Tune In magazine.

Electronics in the Classroom: 1959

The student and instructor shown here are demonstrating properties of sound, thanks in part to $300 million in federal funds made available to high schools by the Science Education Bill. The February 1959 issue of Radio Electronics gives some ideas of how electronic equipment can be worked into the curriculum. The article suggested that many phenomenon, such as sound, can be converted into electrical energy by appropriate transducers. Here, a scope, audio amplifier, and giant VTVM are used to demonstrate properties of sound.

Radio in Education: 1939

Eighty years ago this month, the January 1939 issue of Radio Retailing devoted most of its pages to the use of radio in education. Of course, the focus was on how the dealer could tap this market. The most basic use of radio, of course, is shown above. A set is brought into the classroom for these Midwestern students to listen to a program of educational value.

Wiring the school with a public address system would be, of course, a lucrative sale. In addition to being able to make announcements immediately, the magazine suggested educational uses for the equipment. Below, for example, students who handed in the best writing are allowed to broadcast their work over the PA.