Los Angeles Valley College - Crown Yearbook (Valley Glen, CA)

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Students who might fall behind in classes because they need supplemen- tary drill have found they can easily keep up with their classmates. How? With a learning machine. Firmly established at Valley is an altogether new concept in education- the Study Skills Center featuring a scientifically structured lesson given by machines. Anyone walking past Bungalow 36 wouldn't notice anything out of the ordinary. There are no gigantic in- struments, lights blinking, keys tabula- ting, or wires coming out of the heads of students working with the machines. A learning machine is about the size of a notebook but contains much more. And although inexpensive to pur- chase, the machines are priceless con- sidering the knowledge that can be obtained from them. Valley has six such machines. They are manually powered and are avail- able to all students interested in learning. No grades, no cost, all that is in- volved is time and effort. Students work and learn at their own speed and with the help of the blue machine they tutor themselves. Simple instructions from Allan Keller starts a student out right in a session withthe learning machines. 0' ,if , Algebra, arithmetic, electricity, gram- mar, punctuation, spelling, elementary physiology and statistics are subjects offered at the Study Skills Center. It was Dr. B. F. Skinner, psycholo- gist at Harvard, who perfected the idea of the study machine. He, along with others, realized how effectively subject drill by machine conditions the student. For example, spelling courses start where the student needs help. It may be at the middle of the course or at the beginning. The alphabet, its divisions, consonants and vowels, long and short vowel sounds and association of spelling with sound are basic ideas presented by the machine. w Mr. Allan Keller, counselor and head ofthe Study Skills Center, helps a student choose the portion of a course most suitable to her needs. When a-student needs help in course fundamentals, the machine starts at the beginning, going over and over the material until the student has a firm foundation. At the end of each study unit, the machine offers a test. If the student feels he has passed-that he knows the subject-he goes on to the next assign- ment. If necessary, the machine starts over again. Other forms of this concept in learn- ing have been successful at other schools. At Valley, as at other colleges, sessions with a study machine may be the secret of success for many students. 23 l v LA

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L E Student success secret: learning machines

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Learning through involvement