A Strategy for Reviewing the Role of Educational Television in Infants' Schools

Minimal consideration has been given to the function of educational television in the education of young children. Teachers have to overcome habits adopted with children's home viewing, and rationalize how television can be part of the curriculum before efficacy materializes. This does not appear to be happening with many infants' school teachers. Educational television broadcasts do not seem to be used as an ongoing teaching element to stimulate experiences beyond children's normal school activities. The entire blame cannot be attributed to the teachers for they have been given little guidance on the use of educational television during initial training or in subsequent in-service provisions, and in curriculum theory. It is necessary therefore to collect and analyse carefully information about the effects of educational television on infants' school children and the conditions which appear to influence whether or not it is educationally effective, but this cannot be done until a satisfactory monitoring procedure is established.     

Language,Mathematics and Educational Television in Infants' Schools

Educational Television language series are used extensively by infants' schools teachers, but there is insufficient evidence to suggest that they are incorporated into the curriculum or that their use abides by a school's language policy. A survey of over 400 teachers indicates that the teachers' criterion for usefulness seems to be the scope which a programme offers for follow‐up, particularly for discussion and phonic training in the teaching of reading. Similarly, there is little evidence of effective use of mathematics series; follow‐up and children's enjoyment of broadcasts seem to be the emphasis. Many teachers feel that it is difficult to present aspects of mathematics on television when children vary widely in their levels of mathematical development. Others teachers follow a mathematics scheme, in which television is irrelevant. The habit of whole classes of infants' school children watching language and mathematics broadcasts is not in keeping with primary school principles. Most infants' schoolteachers appear to use the programmes as a means of direct teaching to the class at the expense of children's real life experiences. Neither do the series in their present forms appear to be flexible enough to cater for the individuality of young children. Although these factors relate to educational television, they reveal a lack of flexibility in much infants' school practice, a charge which is not often levelled at infants' schools in this country.     

Interpretative Responses to English Educational Television

The paper is concerned with the need to stimulate and evaluate pupils’ responses to educational television broadcasts in English. In particular, it presents a comparative assessment of written follow‐up work during a series of broadcasts. Case study methods are used within one comprehensive school and involve 49 15‐year‐old pupils. Results suggest that those pupils consistently engaging in small‐group discussion are likely to produce better written work and to develop greater independence in formulating their ideas.     

Factors that Influence the Use and Impact of Educational Television in School

The main arguments in this article were presented in a paper at a European Broadcasting Union (EBU) seminar on research into educational television. It focuses on factors that influence the use and impact of educational television in school, drawn from an overview of international research on educational television, mainly in the eighties. The critical factors influencing the use and impact of educational television in schools are described as quantity and variety of educational television broadcasts available, easy access to equipment, regular transmission slots in the broadcast schedule with repeats, programme series, information, support material, relation to the curriculum, new demands, attitudes to educational television and teaching style and philosophy.     

Teaching Television in the Classroom: results of a preliminary study

Against a background of concern at the effects of heavy TV viewing on young people, a number of studies have indicated the value of television studies courses. However, little systematic research has been carried out in Britain on the best ways to teach with or about television. This paper describes a course for 14‐15 year‐old children, aimed at explaining TV production techniques and approaches, and to evaluate critically TV news broadcasts and drama. The course involved analysis of specific broadcasts and the planning, preparation and production of video programmes by the pupils themselves. Detailed course evaluation, by careful pre‐ and post‐testing of experimental and control groups, has demonstrated clear improvements of the children's understanding of television.     

Critical Viewing of Television News: the impact of a Dutch schools television project

Using a quasi‐experimental pretest‐posttest control group design, the study investigated the educational effects of a six‐programme schools television series designed to teach children aged 10‐12 that television news broadcasts give a selective and thus subjective and incomplete impression of the news. Results indicated that the schools television series led to an increase in children's knowledge of the selection processes involved in the production of news programmes, and an increase in children's proficiency in recognizing the moments of selection in news items. However, the television series did not result in a decrease in the level of credibility children attribute to television news broadcasts. The reason for the latter finding probably is that the series showed that the makers of news programmes are conscious of the selection processes involved in making news programmes and do their utmost to make the choices in the most responsible way possible. As a result, the series may have unintentionally created the impression that the problem of selectivity can be satisfactorily solved.     

Teaching Children to Evaluate Television Violence Critically: the impact of a Dutch schools television project

Using a quasi‐experimental pretest‐posttest control group design, the study investigated the educational effects of a six‐programme schools television series designed to encourage children aged 10‐12 to become more discriminating consumers of violent television crime series. Results indicated that the schools television project led to an increase in factual knowledge of differences between violence as depicted in crime series and real‐life violence, and a decrease in the perceived realism of violent television programmes. Children reacted very positively to the schools broadcasts and found them instructive and useful. Teachers reacted positively to the broadcasts and the related materials (student workbook and teacher's manual) that accompanied the programmes.     

A further experimental study of the effect of television broadcasts on the G courses in Engineering Science: 1

Summary

An experiment is described which was designed to obtain evidence of the effectiveness of television broadcasts in Engineering Science for students taking G courses in Technical Colleges and Colleges of Further Education. Tests were devised to measure the attainments and attitudes of two matched groups of students, one of which had seen the series of television broadcasts while the other group was having conventional teaching.     

An Introduction to the 110 Pocket Camera System

Television is able to present information to the visual as well as to the aural senses. Further, it can show not only still pictures but moving sequences. The majority of educational broadcasts on television do not show movements as an integral part of the instructional process. It is usually present but unnecessary. On the other hand, there are times when the medium of television is used to the full when a combination of synchronised sound vision and movement is used to create an overall mental concept called a ‘dramatic effect’.     

The Language of Schools’ Radio and Television Programmes in Geography

Although increasing attention has been given to the language of teachers, pupils and published materials the language of schools' broadcasting remains largely neglected as a topic of research, study and discussion. British educationists and teachers have access to a burgeoning literature on geographical education but the contribution of schools' television, radiovision and radio programmes and associated publications to the teaching of geography is rarely, if ever, treated as a topic for serious consideration. Not surprisingly, therefore, the language of schools' broadcasting in geography is new ground to explore. Geography has figured prominently in the annual provision of broadcasts during the fifty‐four years of educational broadcasting in Britain. Added to the currently transmitted programmes are the taped broadcasts, audio and video recorded, which teachers may have retained from previous years.     

广播电视法律规制的域外经验简

广播电视是十分重要的行政规制领域,鉴于其受众的广泛性和产业的特殊性,为保障广播电视的自由与秩序,各国纷纷建立起法律规制体系。其共同特点为进行专门立法、设立独立规制机构、建立多层次的规制体系、坚持公共广播机构与商业广播机构的“双轨制”、在尊重言论自由基础上进行内容规制等。综合运用行政立法、行政许可、行政指导、行政处罚等规制手段,推动行业自我规制,是建立有序广播电视运营体制的重要机制。     

Primary Telesoftware

The Telesoftware and Education Project, which was set up in 1980 by the BBC, the IBA and Brighton Polytechnic, demonstrated the feasibility of using broadcast transmissions to distribute computer programs as teletext pages, to be downloaded (i.e. recorded) onto a microcomputer in school. The success of the project led to the setting up of a Telesoftware and Primary Education Project, to distribute software to the area of education in which programming expertise is least often available. Telesoftware is not only a means of distributing stand‐alone software but can also be coupled with schools’ broadcasts and can read relevant information from any page of teletext, providing an educational television ‘package’. The project provides a link between schools and programmers and functions as a pre‐ and post‐broadcast evaluation team. The initial feedback from schools has been very positive and it is hoped that the broadcasting of high quality, relevant telesoftware will be a useful TV service in the future.     

论我国《广播电视法》的制定

《广播电视法》的制定应当着眼于鼓励和规范广播电视媒体之间的良性竞争,对有线电视法、无线电视法、卫星电视法进行系统的整合。实行广播电视节目分级制,并建立独立、公平的监督机构,保证我国广播电视事业的蓬勃发展。     

TV's distorted vision of poverty

Avoiding almost entirely the depiction of poverty during prime‐time broadcasts, television networks present a sentimentalized vision of economic deprivation that omits or minimizes hardship while idealizing the supposed benefits of a spartan way of life. Much happier than the harried members of middle‐ and upper‐income groups, poor and working people on television seldom strive against their economic fates or against the system. Conclusions are based on a monitoring of prime‐time entertainment broadcast by the three commercial networks during “ratings month.”     

Taking Stock

Late in 1965, the Inner London Education Authority decided to set up its own television service for the schools and colleges in its area. Some questioned the justification for this in a situation where national broadcasts for schools were already available on two channels and for further education on three. Now that the ILEA service has been operational for one and a half years, it is possible to make a preliminary attempt to assess to what extent original plans and expectations are being realised, and how far initial thinking has been modified in the light of experience.     

Next time somebody asks: "Is it good for young people to watch TV?" say YA TV,the Young Asia Television: the eyes and ears of young Asians

This article presents a profile of the Young Asia Television (YATV) initiative by the WorldView International Foundation. The YATV channel brings news and analysis of Asia-focussed environmental concerns, current affairs, population and reproductive health issues, social problems including poverty and illiteracy, arts and culture, and other topics. In addition, it broadcasts programs produced by different countries on reproductive and sexual health, including AIDS and sexually transmitted disease prevention, and youth/adolescent awareness of sexual health. It was launched by the Foundation with a thrust stating that "television must encourage dialogue and debate; advance the creativity of people, especially the younger generation who will be the leaders of the future." In order to reach many more millions of viewers, YATV programs are networked with the Asian Broadcasting Union and 1000 other organizations through the Foundation's own NGOs network. This network provides the medium for value-based broadcasts in an entertaining fashion. The International Office of Worldview International Foundation in Colombo monitors the program activities on a continuing basis and uses the information gathered for impact assessment and long-term planning.     

Educational Television in Israel: spotlight on the future

The author was based at the Educational Television Centre in Tel‐Aviv with a remit to study the development of educational television in Israel from its inception in 1966. The article briefly discusses the political and technological factors which led to the development of an educational television channel in Israel. At that time television in Israel consisted solely of educational television broadcasts in the mornings and afternoons. This was extended when the Israeli Broadcasting Authority started to broadcast on the one Israeli channel in the evening slot. The article concentrates on the recent development of educational television and its bid for a new niche in the constellation of Israeli broadcasting. Inevitably the development and future of educational broadcasting is intimately linked with Israel's religious and political schisms and its military and cultural preoccupations. At the moment Israel still only has one television channel, although test programming has been piloted on a second channel. This article explores the future options open to the Educational Television Centre in the context of satellite and cable broadcasting and the development of a second channel. Evidently the factors affecting the future of broadcasting in Israel are not dissimiliar from those which now face the UK, given the publication of the 1988 White Paper on Broadcasting     

The Business Café Project: viewing to browsing?

This paper describes and discusses critically a unique experiment in using a combination of broadcast television and an interactive Web site to reach people interested in business and management. The Open University's Business School, in collaboration with the BBC mounted the project, called The Business Café . The paper outlines the contents of the nine broadcasts and the site, which changed weekly. Developing the broadcasts and maintaining the site required complex procedures and teamwork. The broadcasts attracted an audience of 300,000 UK viewers and the Web site recorded over 60,000 visits during the series. The stakeholders and others who offered much constructive criticism, identified more project outcomes during an evaluation. Useful lessons emerged, in particular about cross-team working and about learning from asynchronous networks like the Web. Web site: http://www.open.ac.uk/businesscafe     

Engineering Studies at the Open University

Over the first 25 years of its existence, the Open University has developed a range of high‐quality courses in engineering subjects. Printed texts are complemented by radio and television broadcasts, audio‐ and video‐cassettes, home experiment equipment, computing packages and laboratory‐based summer schools. Recent developments using new technologies are outlined.     

Television Viewing and the Learning of Expectations for Problem Resolutions

As children spend greater amounts of time watching television, there is the increasing likelihood that what they see and hear will factor prominently into their educational experiences. Indeed, in many countries, it has been demonstrated that children spend more time in front of the television than they do in a formal classroom. In terms of exposure time alone, there is a potential for television to serve as an informal educational tool. A variety of studies have demonstrated not only the potential for television to teach its young viewers, but the reality that children are learning a host of lessons through this constant exposure. While most previous studies have looked at the learning of content from television exposure, the present research considers the learning of structure, and specifically learning about the nature of problem resolutions. This paper reports evidence that among heavier viewers, there is the perception that problems in real life are resolved in a manner consistent with the way television depicts them: problem resolutions are certain, and they are achieved quickly. Observational learning theory is proposed as a possible explanation for these findings.