Educational Television in the Classroom

This article discusses educational television as it is used in K-12 public classrooms in the United States. Educational television has roots reaching back as far as television itself. Owing to societal pressures, educational television was renamed and reinvented in the 1960s when a report from the Carnegie Commission on Educational Television led to the passage of the 1967 Public Broadcasting Act. Educational television took its place on the television dial as PBS; several generations of children have since watched commercial-free programs. Joining forces with burgeoning cable television in the 1980s, public television was brought into public school classrooms, through Cable in the Classroom, in the form of commercial-free programming about such topics as science, history and literature. As the 21st century began, educational television in the classroom struggled to find a role alongside more interactive educational resources such as the worldwide web.

Keywords 1967 Public Broadcasting Act; Cable in the Classroom; Carnegie Commission on Educational Television; Corporation for Public Broadcasting; Educational Television; Federal Communications Commission; Public Television; Worldwide Web

Extended Learning > Educational Television in the Classroom

Overview

Educational television, unlike its commercial counterparts on the broadcast spectrum, has as its primary purpose the spread of ideas and information designed to inform and enlighten its audience, young or old. According to Zechowski, "Educational Television (ETV) in the United States refers primarily to programs which emphasize formal, classroom instruction and enrichment programming" (Zechowski, n.d., para. 1).

Evolution of Educational Television

Educational television has its roots in educational films made almost from the start of the motion picture industry at the turn of the 20th century. As early as 1910, the Catalog of Educational Motion Pictures, a directory of over 1,000 educational films for rent by public schools, was published (Miller & Cruce, 2005a). In 1911, Thomas Edison produced a series of educational films about the American Revolution. In 1917, the Chicago Public Schools established the first educational film library in a city school system. By 1922, there were ten nationally, including Atlanta's (Miller & Cruce, 2005). Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, educators worked to develop a methodology for using films and the newly invented radio in public school instruction.

By the 1930s, television was the wave of the future, and discussion soon turned to how the television broadcast spectrum would be allocated. As what would become the Communications Act of 1934 was being debated, advocates for educational television pressed to carve out a sizable niche of the television broadcast spectrum because they understood the power of television to be a teaching tool. There was an abortive attempt through the Hatfield-Wagner amendment to set aside a quarter of the television spectrum from education television, but the attempt failed. Supporters of educational television were forced to console themselves with the promise that the Federal Communications Commission gave them a promise to continue to investigate the feasibility of educational television (Zechowski, n.d.).

What happened instead was the buying up of television licenses by commercial interests at such a rate that in 1948, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) put a freeze on the issuing of new licenses. After lobbying from the FCC commissioner Freida Hennock, and despite the objective of commercial television owners, the FCC in 1953 set aside 242 educational channels, and station KUHT Houston became the first licensee. Unfortunately, without commercial funding, many educational television stations struggled to make ends meet, and the FCC permitted many of them to sell their slice of the television spectrum to commercial television owners.

Therefore, rather than establishing a bulwark against excessive commercialism on television, educational (public access) television struggled to gain a foothold on college and university campuses even while commercial television flourished. Business joined forces with Hollywood to create free, commercial programming that captured the imagination of Baby Boomers enjoying the post-war economic boom of the 1950s and 60s. Programs like I Love Lucy, You Bet Your Life and Gunsmoke captivated audiences and made commercial television networks such as ABC, CBS and NBC household names.

The Role of the Carnegie Corporation

Educational television in the United States wasn't dead yet, however:

In 1964, Ralph Lowell, a Boston philanthropist and founder of WGBH educational television and radio, began making a case for the formation of a commission to evaluate public broadcasting. The idea was floated to Carnegie Corporation, which led to the creation of the Carnegie Commission on Educational Television two years later. Charged with studying the prospects for developing noncommercial television broadcasting "of diversity and excellence," the Commission was endorsed by President Lyndon Johnson. "From our beginnings as a nation we have recognized that our security depends upon the enlightenment of our people; that our freedom depends on the communication of many ideas through many channels," Johnson wrote. "I believe that educational television has an important future in the United States and throughout the world" (Carnegie Corporation, 2006, para. 1).

The work of the Carnegie Commission on Educational Television resulted in the publication of a report in January 1967 entitled "Public Television: A Program for Action." The Commission recommended that Congress create a Corporation for Public Television (CPT) whose job it would be to "receive and disburse governmental and private funds in order to extend and improve Public Television programming" (Carnegie Commission, 1967, sect. 2). The CPT would not be a domineering force in educational television, but would act as a grantee and advocate for local public television stations as they sought to produce educational programming to serve both their local community as well as a national audience.

This was a seminal event in the public television life of the United States. Writing in the New York Times, James Reston exclaimed that the Carnegie Commission report was "one of those quiet events that, in the perspective of a generation or even more, may be recognized as one of the transforming occasions of American life" (cited in Carnegie Corporation, 2006, para. 4).

The Public Broadcasting Act

With this wind in their sails, Congress passed the 1967 Public Broadcasting Act, which created the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and with it public television and radio. Signing the bill into law, President Lyndon Johnson said the intention of the Act was to give voice to educational radio and television by:

• Providing funds for broadcast facilities

• Launching a major study of television's use in the Nation's classrooms and their potential use throughout the world.

• Building the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which will "assist stations and producers who aim for the best in broadcasting good music, in broadcasting exciting plays, and in broadcasting reports on the whole fascinating range of human activity. It will try to prove that what educates can also be exciting" (Johnson, 1967, para. 12).

To this, Zechowski adds, "Public television promised to educate the nation through formal instruction and enrichment programming emphasizing culture, arts, science, and public affairs. In addition, it would provide programming for 'underserved' audiences (those ignored by commercial broadcasters) such as minorities and children" (Zechowski, n.d.).

Educational TV in the Schools

By the 1970s, the use of educational television in American classrooms had been firmly established. A survey conducted by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) during the 1976-1977 school year revealed that 42% of all teachers had used educational television at least once, and 33% had used educational television on a regular basis (Miller & Cruce, 2005b). A CPB study from the 1982-1983 school year revealed that Science, Social Studies, Language Arts, Reading and Health/Nutrition were the most popular topics of educational television (Miller & Cruce, 2005).

As new delivery methods for educational television content have become available, public schools have adopted them. A 1991 report from the CPB looked at the use of educational television in the classroom, noting that

[v]ideocassette recorders have become more plentiful, giving teachers greater flexibility in presentation and scheduling; the growth of delivery systems such as videocassettes, satellite, cable, and broadcast services has given educators more sources for programming; and newer technologies such as interactive videodiscs have begin to enter the nation's classrooms (CPB, 1992).

This, of course, was before the rise of the worldwide web, which had only been invented in 1989.

Time Spent Watching

By 1993, a study of public school children indicated that the use of education television in American classrooms had spread to virtually all corners of the American public school system. According to the Youth Monitor Survey, nearly three-quarters (or 73.3 percent) of students had been exposed to television or video, while almost 40 percent viewed an educational television program or videocassette weekly. Interestingly, the researchers found that more than half (or 52 percent) of students in rural areas had seen an educational television program or videocassette during the previous week. This might have been due to a lack of teachers in rural public school districts (CPB, 1993, p. 2).

A 1997 report from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting noted usage patterns for educational television in American public school classroom, which were impacted by the use of recorder media such as videocassettes. K-12 public school teachers were found on average to have used educational television or videocassettes for 88 minutes per week, with the largest chunk of that time (27 minutes) being devoted to the viewing of public television. The researchers found that feature films had declined in popularity as educational tools and thus had slipped from 22 to 17 minutes per week. Cable or satellite programming through conduits like 'Cable in the Classroom' took up another 13 minutes per week. The average use of educational multimedia was most prevalent with high school students, who watched 94 minutes per week, while elementary schools watched only 82 minutes (CPB, 1997).

Some of the most popular public television programs used in K-12 public school classrooms in the 1990s included children's science programs Bill Nye the Science Guy and the Magic School Bus, as well as multi-generational programming such as National Geographic, Nova and 60 Minutes.

Another popular program was CNN in the Classroom, which showed that even commercial broadcasters -- in this case, a cable television broadcast station -- were interested in producing programming for use in public schools. These programs were typically viewed on special cable access channels, available only to schools, through 'Cable in the Classroom.'

Impact of the Worldwide Web

Beginning in the 1990s, the reach of the Internet quickly expanded across the educational landscape: while only 35 percent of public schools were wired in 1994, the number climbed to 94 percent by 2005. In 2013 it was reported that only 39 percent of schools had wireless Internet for the entire school, however, resulting new priorities for access to Internet services and handheld digital technologies. In 2013 President Barack Obama also announced his ConnectED initiative, which aims to connect 99 percent of students and schools through broadband and high-speed wireless networks within five years.

As with many other areas of public school education, the rise of the Internet promised to change the way in which educational programming was delivered to public school classrooms across the United States:

The promise of the electronic superhighway will fundamentally change educational television. Subtle nuances continue to emerge as a result of new technologies and the combination of old ones. Satellite technology has already provided a more effective delivery system for programming. Interactivity has revitalized instructional television in particular. Teleconferencing, for example, links classrooms globally. These services not only provide access to traditional learning but enhance the cultural literacy of students worldwide. The relationship between education and television in the changing telecommunications environment continues to evolve. As television becomes more "individualized," providing, for example, "menus" of lessons, applications, and experiments, educational television may become the programming of choice. The synergisms between the significant players (broad/cablecasters, telephone, hard/software companies, educators and government) will ultimately determine new outlets for educational television across the globe, but audiences--students and users--will reap the ultimate benefits (Zechowski, n.d).

Broadening educational television to include the more general category of video-based media, researchers writing for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting agree wholeheartedly with Zechowski's assessment. According to Saltrick, Honey and Pasnik (2004), "These days what was once a somewhat rigid, one-to-many broadcast technology has increasingly become a flexible, user-controlled, and interactive medium. Such malleability obviously enhances video's instructional value" (p. 9).

Applications

Cable in the Classroom

Cable in the Classroom (CIC) was begun by America's cable companies in 1989. The popularity of CIC, however, waned in the 2000s as networks began to promote their own programming and to use new venues such as the Internet. Beyond its original mission of providing educational television via cable, CIC delivers the following services for K-12 public schools and public libraries:

• Free cable/broadband access

• Hours of educational television

• Educator resources to equip teachers to make the most of student viewing

• Online resources to reinforce what was being watched (CIC, 2007).

As we can see with CIC, educational television is evolving into educational programming that is delivered to schools through a variety of mechanisms, most recently the worldwide web.

Making the Most of Educational Television

In the decades since film, video and television became a part of the public school experience for millions of students, educators have spent time studying instructional methods in search of best practices. Experts from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting offer this advice for teachers:

• Planning ahead to consider instructional goals

• Preparing by previewing the program

• Determining the setting and length of the video

• Setting clear expectations for students

• Encouraging student participation through

• Setting the context before viewing

• Pausing during the program to ask key questions and flag priority topics promoting reflection through post-Viewing discussion and assignments

• Connecting post-viewing activities to hands-on or real-world experiences (Saltrick, Honey & Pasnik, 2004, p. 3)

Viewpoints

Is Educational Television a Good Thing?

In their report for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, "Television Goes to School: The Impact of Video on Student Learning in Formal Education" (2004), Saltrick, Honey and Pasnik draw on several convergent avenues of research to suggest that that educational impact of television is not dependent upon the amount of television viewed, but the quality of the television viewed. They note research indicating that educational television achieves several important goals:

• Reinforces reading and lecture material

• Aids in the development of a common base of knowledge among students

• Enhances student comprehension and discussion

• Provides greater accommodation of diverse learning styles

• Increases student motivation and enthusiasm

• Promotes teacher effectiveness (Saltrick, Honey & Pasnik, 2004, p. 2)

Somewhat ironically, numerous studies have drawn a correlation between excessive television viewing at home and poor academic performance and socialization. For example, excessive television viewing is often thought to contribute to:

• Insufficient time spent with friends and family members

• Poor grades

• Sleep deprivation

• Aggressive behavior (such as bullying)

Some negative effects of television viewing can occasionally be attributed to uncritical television viewing, as well as the violence and sexual content in much of the non-educational programming consumed in some American households.

The good news is that teaching kids to understand what they're watching - what experts call "media literacy" - has been shown to be effective in mitigating at least some of the negative aspects of television violence, for example. This is also the case in public school classrooms, where teachers lead students in discussions related to what they watch.

Nonetheless, it remains true that heavy TV viewing does lead to negative educational outcomes because children remain uncritical entertainment consumers. Likewise, students who are heavy television viewers are likely to have poorer academic performances than those students who watch less television.

Is Educational Television Doomed?

Some educators have suggested that the era of educational television has outlived its usefulness. With the Internet providing thousands, if not millions, of free or nominally priced multimedia resources, this can seem to be a plausible argument.

In truth, the debate over the future of educational television may be resolved through some careful distinctions. Specifically, it seems closer to the truth to say that educational video content has simply transcended the delivery device of the television set. What seems most important for teachers is not how the multimedia content is delivered, but that it is delivered in such a way that it becomes an integral part of the overall curriculum. And few, if any, experts doubt that public schools will continue to supplement text-based learning with multimedia-based learning.

Meanwhile, research shows that the ever-changing video delivery methods—such as through computers, tablets, and other kinds of digital technology—are continuing to enhance the education of public school students. Past research sponsored by the television industry, perhaps not surprisingly, cites evidence of substantial educational benefits from educational television and multimedia in general (Saltrick, Honey & Pasnik, 2004, p. 18). But further work will need to be done to replicate these findings.

Terms & Concepts

1967 Public Broadcasting Act: A law passed by the U.S. Congress that established the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and set the stage for the reinvention of education television as public television as well as the creation of public radio.

Cable in the Classroom: An initiative begun in 1989 by U.S. cable companies to provide free cable access and programming to public schools. The program has been expanded to include broadband Internet access.

Carnegie Commission on Educational Television: A commission set up in 1965 to study the value of educational programming and how to bring public broadcasting to U.S. airwaves.

Corporation for Public Broadcasting: A corporation established by the 1967 Public Broadcasting Act to oversee public radio and television in the United States.

Educational Television: A term that can be used in two senses - a. Television programming with an educational purpose, or b. A synonym for public television.

Federal Communications Commission: A federal agency established in 1934 to regulate commercial access to radio and television airwaves in the United States.

Public Television: A noncommercial, nonprofit version of television programming for children and adults that is designed to entertain as well as educate.

Worldwide Web: A collection of linked documents in hypertext form that are utilized on the Internet using a piece of software called a Web browser.

Bibliography

Akhter, N. (2011). Evaluation of educational television programs for distance learning. Turkish Online Journal Of Educational Technology, 10, 188–194. Retrieved December 4, 2013 from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=71342755

Cable in the Classroom. (2007). Mission. Accessed August 17, 2007, from http://www.ciconline.org/mission.

Carnegie Corporation of New York (2006, Fall). Many ideas, many channels. Retrieved August 17, 2007 from the Carnegie Corporation of New York http://www.carnegie.org/results/15/pagethree.html.

Corporation for Public Broadcasting. (1992). Study of school uses of television and video. 1990-91 school year. Summary report. Washington, D.C.: Corporation for Public Broadcasting. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED402919).

Corporation for Public Broadcasting (1993). How Television Impacts Kids and Learning: Lessons from the Youth Monitor. CPB Research Notes, No. 65. Washington, D.C.: Corporation for Public Broadcasting. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED402909).

Corporation for Public Broadcasting (1997). Study of school uses of television and video. 1996-97 school year. Summary report. Washington, D.C.: Corporation for Public Broadcasting. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED413879).

Gallagher, F., & Stewart, K. (2011). Cable in the classroom. College & Undergraduate Libraries, 18, 111–118. Retrieved December 4, 2013 from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=59272207

Johnson, L. B. (1967). Remarks of President Lyndon B. Johnson upon signing the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967. Retrieved August 17, 2007, from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting: http://www.cpb.org/aboutpb/act/remarks.html.

Korie, D., & Garcia, J. (2014). Teen media use, cognitive development, and academic achievement. Voice of Youth Advocates, 36, 16–18. Retrieved October 9, 2014 from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=94091160

Linebarger, D. L. (2011). Teaching with television. Phi Delta Kappan, 93, 62–65. Retrieved December 4, 2013 from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=67225173

Miller, M. & Cruce, T. (2005a). A 20th century timeline: Classroom use of instructional film, radio, and television: 1910s. Retrieved August 17, 2007, from the University of Georgia: http://www.arches.uga.edu/~mlmiller/timeline/1910s.html.

Miller, M. & Cruce, T. (2005b). Instructional Television circa 1976. Retrieved August 17, 2007, from the University of Georgia: http://www.arches.uga.edu/~mlmiller/timeline/7677survey.html.

National Public Broadcasting Archives. (1999). Carnegie Commission on Educational Television, Summary, 1967. Retrieved August 24, 2007 from the Public Broadcasting PolicyBase http://www.current.org/pbpb/carnegie/CarnegieISummary.html

Nugent, G. (2005). The public television experience. TechTrends: Linking Research & Practice to Improve Learning, 49 , 61-66. Retrieved August 17, 2007 from EBSCO Online Database Academic Search Premier. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=19070854&site=ehost-live.

Saltrick, S., Honey, M. & Pasnik, S. (2004). Television goes to school: The impact of video on student learning in formal education. Retrieved August 17. 2007, from the Center for Public Broadcasting http://www.cpb.org/stations/reports/tvgoestoschool/.

Wells, J., & Lewis, M. (2006). Internet access in U.S. public schools and classrooms: 1994-2005. Retrieved May 27, 2007, from the National Center for Education Statistics: http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2007020.

Zechowski, S. (n.d.). Educational television. Retrieved August 13, 2007, from the Museum of Broadcast Communications: http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/E/htmlE/educationalt/educationalt.htm

Zero to eight: Children's media use in America 2013. (2014). Education Digest, 79, 59–63. Retrieved October 9, 2014 from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=94360005

Suggested Reading

Aiex, N. K. (1999). Mass media use in the classroom. ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading, English, and Communication Digest #147. Retrieved August 16, 2007 from ERIC: http://www.indiana.edu/~reading/ieo/digests/d147.html -1999.

Alexander, A. (n.d.). Children and television. Retrieved August 13, 2007, from the Museum of Broadcast Communications http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/C/htmlC/childrenand/childrenand.htm.

Escribano, B. M., Agüera, E. I., & Tovar, P. (2013). Television format or research project? Team work and the opportunity of choosing classroom-led activities reinforce active learning. Advances In Physiology Education, 37, 207–209. Retrieved December 4, 2013 from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=89557595

Fisch, S.M. (2004). Children's learning from educational television: Sesame Street and beyond. Florence, KY: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Leopard, D. (2013). Teaching with the Screen: Pedagogy, Agency, and Media Culture. New York: Routledge.

National Educational Telecommunications Association. Using television in the classroom. Retrieved August 17, 2007, from the National Educational Telecommunications Association http://www.myetv.org/education/k-12/resources/classroom_tv.cfm.

Penuel, W. R., Bates, L., Gallagher, L. P., Pasnik, S., Llorente, C., Townsend, E., & ... VanderBorght, M. (2012). Supplementing literacy instruction with a media-rich intervention: Results of a randomized controlled trial. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 27, 115–127. Retrieved December 4, 2013 from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=67383968