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…

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 paper discusses four major developments in the use of media at the Open University: (1) the move from radio to audiocassettes; (2) use of broadcast television vs. videocassettes; (3) increased use of interactive video; and (4) CYCLOPS tutorials, which provide immediate two-way communication via the telephone together with visual pictures.…

This paper is a response to a presentation by Joseph Pelton at the 15th World Congress on Distance Education (Caracas, Venezuela, November 1990). The response argues that, while newer technologies will impact on distance education, they will not be the panacea suggested by Pelton. The response also points out that not all "new" technologies are…

The Open University of Great Britain provides home-based instruction to nearly 50,000 predominantly-working students via broadcasts and correspondence. Each unit of instruction consists of a combination of text, broadcasts, cassette recordings, assignments, and experiment kits. The per student cost of this delivery system is impressively low,…

Very little is known about how students learn from television, particularly when television is used in conjunction with a prescribed set of written materials. At the Open University of Great Britain, classes have proliferated to the extent that it is not longer possible to broadcast one lecture to accompany each unit of instruction. To reduce air…

The Open University of Great Britain is an open-enrollment, home-based institution in which the majority of the instruction is conducted via broadcasts and correspondence. There are over 50,000 students ernolled in nearly 100 courses which require the transmission of 1,000 television and 1,000 radio broadcasts each year. Recently, research has…

Multimedia is developing fast due to the convergence of different media (text, data. graphics, video, audio) into a common digital platform, and due to the convergence of telecommunications, television, and computing. Parallel to these technical convergencies is another set of developments in work and leisure that is opening up new markets for…

The Open University of Great Britain relies heavily on broadcasting as a mode of instruction. Because increased course offerings have made program scheduling a problem and because production costs have risen sharply, a survey was conducted to determine the use patterns of students so that the system's resources could be allocated in the most…

The Open University of Great Britain is an open-enrollment, home-based institution in which the majority of the instruction is conducted via broadcasts and correspondence. The student is required to interact with printed materials, broadcasts, tutors, counselors, assignments, cassette recordings, experiment kits, etc. The choice of media is…

This book examines old and new technologies that can be used in distance education and provides cost-benefit comparisons among them. The first chapter of the book summarizes the findings of the next 10 chapters and provides a framework for decision making for all the technologies. The following criteria for choosing educational technology are…