Use of Closed Circuit TV Marks the Beginning of ECU’s Technological Progress

Source: University Archives

Staff Person: L. K. Gypsye Legge

Description:

In 2008, East Carolina University celebrates the Golden Anniversary of homecoming with our Golden Class: the graduates of 1958. That year, East Carolina College, as the institution was then known, celebrated 50 years of higher education in Eastern North Carolina with an enthusiasm as great as we have seen for the centennial of East Carolina Unversity. Reviewing documents of the era for an exhibit to honor visiting alumni, I found the image below amusing and enlightening:

A 21-inch television seems almost quaint, as an educational experiment, in light of the more than 300 Smart Classrooms, complete with computer controlled projectors and web access, available today. There is also a reference to Joyner Library as the site of the studios. Even with progress, some things are constant. Today Joyner Library still contains studios, but now the focus is on videoconferencing [http://www.ecu.edu/cs-lib/systems/JL_Videoconferencing.cfm, accessed November 5, 2008.]

ECU has the largest distance education prograrm in North Carolina [http://www.ecu.edu/cs-acad/DEOrientation/upload/StudentSept07.htm, accessed November 5, 2008.] With this anonymous news item and photo, it becomes clear that many of our current achievements are the result of decades of effort pursuing all avenues to provide effective education for all students enrolled in East Carolina University.