Teletext in Israel: a new instructional tool

The Israeli Teletext project, initiated by the Instructional TV Centre in collaboration with the British Government, is a pioneering endeavour in exploring the potential of teletext for education. As was the case for Instructional Television, teletext broadcasts for education preceded in Israel the commercial use of this technology. This sequence of development strengthens the educational impact of the new medium, while attaching the services to the Instructional TV Centre enables extensive penetration into the educational system. In May 1983, the first experimental teletext pages were broadcast to kindergartens. In November 1983, a pilot trial of teletext pages for 6th grade arithmetic was conducted. In March 1984, a pre‐pilot in teletext pages for 10th grade English was broadcast and, in May 1984, an electronic magazine for youth and a quiz on the weekly Pentateuch for 5th graders were also on air. In all areas, teletext pages were designed for small groups of 4‐5 learners. In order to meet the specific needs of different populations, the principles underlying the design of teletext pages varied from one subject area to another. Although the broadcast period of each pilot trial was short (1‐2 months), an intensive evaluation took place. The analyses of the data showed that teletext can be a useful educational medium in both kindergartens and elementary schools, but was less successful at the secondary school level.