The unique educational characteristics of television are discussed in this paper, which provides examples of three teaching functions to illustrate television's ability to bring students materials that would not be available through other media: (1) to demonstrate experiments or experimental situations; (2) to provide students with case study…

This paper attempts to pinpoint some of the problems involved in designing mass-media courses for adults and some of the ways in which research can assist both producers and the users of such courses. (Authors)

A visit to India to gather information on the INSAT-1B satellite project for the purpose of identifying the main issues involved in using satellites for education and teaching purposes, with respect to potential Open University of Great Britain involvement is outlined in this report. Organizations visited and individuals interviewed are…

There is no centralized policy for using television and radio for inservice teacher education in Britain. Teacher training colleges have their own low cost production units, two cities have all their schools linked on a closed circuit cable system, and the BBC broadcasts on open circuit one or two series for teachers each year. The largest user of…

The purpose of this interim report is to evaluate the potential and limitations of satellite television for education and training within the European context through an examination of the experiences of countries other than the United Kingdom. Further information is awaited; however, projects are identified for Australia, Canada, China, Western…

This lecture considers the effectiveness of television as a medium for distance education in light of the experiences of the Open University in Great Britain. The main theses of the paper are that television is an important component of high quality open and distance education, but only when its unique teaching characteristics are exploited, and…

This report on the organization, development, and dissemination of educational and commercial radio and television programs by the Swedish Educational Broadcasting Company includes some of the research being done at the Open University. A planned reorganization of Sveriges Radio into two separate television channels and several channels for local…

This brief essay explores the possible educational uses of cable television, and discusses how teachers can become involved in developing educational programs for cable. The paper begins by presenting practical steps that need to be taken if educational requirements are to be met in the highly commercial environment of cable television, and…

Argues that television has unique educational characteristics that separate it from other media and have implications for teaching and learning. Discussion of distributional and social, control, and symbolic (audiovisual) characteristics is based on published surveys and on research carried out at the Open University. Thirteen references are…

This discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of using television in an open university's distance learning program begins by examining the parameters of the use of television in distance learning, i.e., distribution, utilization, and production. It is suggested that television provides two unique presentational characteristics when used in…

The Commonwealth Secretariat commissioned Educational Technology Associates to conduct a study on the educational use of satellites for the Commonwealth Secretariat's Education Program. The study had the following aims: (1) to identify the policy issues that need to be addressed by ministries of education, universities, and other educational…

For television to be used effectively, teachers need to reorganize their teaching to increase the children's interaction with the program material. One way of getting more participation is to preview and pre-record a program, stopping the replayed cassette at key points, questioning the class, and having them discuss the sequence just seen.…