Business students make movie
By Francolse Hultzapple
"I thought I was going to be
really nervous and embarrass
ed having someone `witness'me
on the video screen. But, when
I watched our finished project
with everyone else, it made me
feel so much more at ease."
Chris Veltri, along with 19
other students from Dr. Refik
Culpan's Behavioral Concepts
in Business classes, participated
in the production of a video
case study to be used for class
discussion.
"In organizational behavior
courses," said Culpan, "in
structors often use the classical
approach to case studies. I
wanted to try something dif
ferent," he explained, "by en
couraging students to par
ticipate in a role-playing situa
tion in which they have to
create their own character and
act it out for video taping."
Carolyn R. Dexter, Acting
Head of the Business Division,
said "active courses" are
necessary in education, after
she viewed the video earlier this
week.
"The teaching profession is
responsible for providing a
package of teaching techniques
to students and we value all the
pieces of the package," she
said. "This video is another
way of providing student par
ticipation in the learning pro
cess."
Two weeks into' the fall
semester, Culpan and student,
Fran Hultzapple, had modified
an existing case study into a
video treatment format.
"The skeleton of the case,"
noted Culpan, "is about a man
working in an insurance com
pany who wants to have a sex
change operation and is cur
rently dressing as a woman in
the office."
Students were quick to sign
up for management and
employee roles for extra credit.
Surprisingly, the man/woman
role was one of the first to be
cast. Two scenes were even add
ed to accomodate the en
thusiasm of the actors.
However, the production
meant work for everyone.
Despite three planning sessions
to coordinate everyone's
research on their characters,
two rehearsals, 15 hours of
video shooting and 19 hours of
post production, the students
found the experience beneficial.
"From my research," said
Mike Turk,a management ma
jor, "I learned what legal and
illegal questions management is
permitted to ask during a job
interview. You'd be surprised at
some of the questions you can't
ask." He also said, "I'll feel
more confident wheii` giving a
speech; I have a better idea of
hoW to present myself for an in-
terview; and I learned to work
with a group of people."
Chris Veltri, an accounting
major, played a union attorney.
"Working in the production,"
she said, "I got an understan
ding of all the concepts in the
case study. I know I won't do
"Education has to have active
courses."
Carolyn Dexter
Acting Head, Business Division
some of the mistakes [manage
ment made], because I was so
close to those mistakes. For ex
ample, I won't fire someone
without investigating all the cir
cumstances first."
After the preview of the
finished production which in
cluded a bloopers tape, the rest
of Culpan's classes viewed the
video for discussion purposes.
"Real life situations aren't
College freshmen fear computers
PITTSBURGH (CPS)-Most
college freshmen are surprised,
confused and frustrated during
their first year of computer
courses, according to a newly;
released study.
The computer anxiety afflicts
incoming students in all majors,
but may be particulary severe
among liberal arts majors,
observers add.
Over 80 percent of all incom
ing freshmen are "surprised"
by the subject matter covered in
computer courses, the survey
reveals.
Moreover, one of every two
freshmen are "confused" by
computer coursework, while
nearly 70 percent say the
courses actually make them
"frustrated" and "angry."
"When freshmen go away to
college they have a lot of new
experiences. But the computer
science courses turn out to be
much different than any of the
new students expected," says
Lee Sproull, a researcher at
Carnegie Mellon University
who has surveyed CMU
freshmen over the last three
years to asses their attitudes
toward computer courses there.
Among other things, Sproull
says entering students find
computer courses "more sur
prising, more confusing and
harder to get a handle on" than
their other courses.
And such confusion over
computers "is true of liberal
arts as well as technical
students," she adds.
One, of the reasons fcir the so
called, computer anxiety,
Sproull says, is that students are
textbook situations," noted
Greg Wisloski, an accounting
major with 11 years in the work
force behind him. "I experienc
ed a situation in real life where
a problem occured," he said.
"Instead of management deal
ing with it immediately, when
it would have been easier to
handle; it got to a point where
it was an unpleasant situation
for all concerned. The lesson is
to deal with the problem when
it comes up. This video is more
like a real-life simulation and
that's what makes it interesting
and more beneficial," he said.
"Usually, our class is not a
very talkative group," said Jan
Dougherty, a business manage
ment major, who worked for
often "thrust into the computer
culture" before they learn how
comptiteriwork and understant
the special language used in
computer courses.
Like at many schools, "com
puting at CMU is not simply a
question of learning about
computers in a classroom 'set
ting. Computing is a part of the
whole work life at a campus,"
Sproull notes.
With more traditional sub
jects like history, math, or
physics, she says, student learn
in a sheltered, academic en
vironment, and ease their way
into the subjects as their abili
ty and understanding increases.
But the "hands-on" ex
perience in computer classes
catapaults students directly in
to the real-life world of com
puting, frequently without any
prior exposure to the subject or
the machines.
Thus, "students who are new
to computing end up using the
campus mainframe right beside
advanced users, which often
makes the newcomers feel in
timidated and even more con
fused," she says.
"That's a natural reaction
for just about anyone who has
to use computers in the
presence of experienced users,"
agrees Mark Tucker, director
of the Project on Information
Technology and Education in
Washington, D.C.
"And the confusion and in
timidation cycle repeats itself
each time you use a different
computer or a new piece of
software," he adds, "which
makes it a lot different from
November 29, 1984 The Capitol Times Page 3
11 years in an insurance com
pany in personnel and under
writing before coming back to
school. "We have four or five
main spokespeople. I would
judge that we had above
average participation in the
class discussion compared to
non-video days. It was not just
using video, but using students
from the class to participate in
the video that got everyone so
interested. It did have a positive
effect, even in an early morn
ing class."
"This was my first experi
ment with a participative case
study video and I am extreme
ly pleased with the class reac
tion," said Culpan. "I was
afraid they would take it as a
fun thing and miss the educa
tional nature of the video,"he
said. "But, the students reacted
maturely and rationally; they
related the video concepts to the
ones we did in class -- group
dynamics, communication
skills, conflict, managerial pro
blem solving styles, motivation,
learning other college sub
jects."
To ease students' entry into
the campus computer culture,
reasearcher Sproul! suggests
colleges offer computer orien
tation course's so students will
learn the basic rules and lingo
before taking a computer
course.
"Many of the students we
surveyed said the computer
rooms reminded them of a
scene out of '1984' because they
FRANKLY SPEAKING
© CREATIVE MEDIA SERVICES Box 5955 Berkeley, CA. 94705
and informal organizations,"
he said.
The video was produced by
four students currently enroll
ed in Behavioral Concepts in
Business courses. Three of
those students-- Zaihan Mohd
Noar, Clinton Lattany and
Fran Hultzapple -- have taken
video production courses of
fered by Eton Churchill in the
Multi-Media department of the
Humanities division. Mohd
Noar and Lattany were the
cameramen; Jim Stotler per
formed crew duties; and Fran
Hultzapple produced, directed
and edited the video project.
Culpan said, "We are con
ducting a follow-up research to
see to what extent this experi
ment was useful to the students.
The only limitation I see is that
the experiment might have been
even more useful if the classes
had been smaller and all could
have participated. I have a
hunch students will want this
kind of experiment done in the
future."
were so cold and sterile. Com
puter rooms should be more
warm and inviting," Sproull
adds.
Fortunately, the computer
anxiety many freshmen ex
perience decreases as they
become more familiar with the
subject, Sproull notes.
"Some students become very
exhilarated by their new-found
knowledge and say Wow, I
never knew this could be so
fun."
phi( frank