Examining the Partnership of Educational Television in American Classrooms
In 1952, the Federal Communications Commission issued the Sixth Report and Order, allocating more than 200 high-frequency television channels for educational use. Since then, public broadcasting systems increasingly have empowered educational or instructional television to mediate interactive classrooms and expand access to learning by providing cultural programming, literacy education, and adult education from the national to state to school levels.
Despite the pedagogical shifts from traditional, in-class modes of instructional delivery to online or virtual delivery formats over the recent decades, educational television remains a vital option in the inventory for distance education delivery formats — even in the twenty-first century. For instance, during the COVID-19 pandemic that began in 2020, many countries sought alternatives to continue instruction when classes could not meet in person during moments of lockdown. Poland, as an example, broadcast a series of educational television programs at the end of March 2020, covering all levels and most subjects of primary and secondary education.[i] Although distance education in the United States in the twenty-first century primarily includes online delivery platforms via the internet, educational television set the stage for distance education to surface. Therefore, preserving the history of educational television is important.
To begin, the phrases “educational television” and “instructional television” tend to be used interchangeably, but it is helpful to observe the nuance. In 1964, in A Guide to Instructional Television, editor Robert M. Diamond defined “educational television” as a “broad term usually applied to cultural and community broadcasting which may include some programs for in-school use.”[ii] He also defined instructional television as “television used within the formal classroom context on any educational level.” Although this essay uses the two terms interchangeably, educational television differs from its broadcast counterparts in the development of curriculum and instructional aids for teachers to use in their classrooms. This essay illuminates the pedagogical function of educational television, a fixture in American broadcast history.
The idea to use television for education surfaced as an experiment between 1932 and 1937 at the University of Iowa, after the military used audio-visual media for training purposes.[iii] Despite the prevalent use of video in the classroom, television’s role in distance education had not been realized.[iv] The pioneers of educational television, and those who recognized the potential of educational television early on, were the University of Iowa, Iowa State University, Kansas State University, the University of Michigan, and American University.[v]
Educational television’s development amplified after World War II when more scientific and technical knowledge guided schools to start implementing new technology that included television in the classroom.[vi] Training for teachers also was a focus. The introduction of the coaxial cable in 1938 and microwave transmission in 1945 set the stage for stations to transmit television signal over vast areas.[vii] With financial support from two nonprofit organizations — the Fund for the Advancement of Education and the Ford Foundation — instructional television programs were broadcast at several grade levels from 1954 to 1963. For instance, during the mid-twentieth century, Montclair State College in New Jersey and the Midwest Program on Airborne Television Instruction broadcast fifth-grade U.S. history lessons to area schools.[viii]
Although the technology and the use of video as a teaching medium continued to evolve throughout the 1960s and 1970s, the role of television in distance education still faced challenges. Teachers used classroom television as a tool to help them explain concepts to students, but in the latter part of the twentieth century, television’s presence in distance education diminished, arguably because of courses being broadcast or produced poorly.[ix] Further, learners generally saw the instructor only on the screen, reducing learner attention.[x] In addition, radio also was delivering instruction through public airwaves. For instance, the National Educational Radio Network (NERN) distributed tape-recorded radio programs by network headquarters in Urbana, Illinois, to educational radio stations in the United States between 1961 and 1970. With funding from the Ford Foundation, the network began broadcasting on six radio stations on April 3, 1961. Programs were duplicated on high-speed equipment and distributed through the mail to more than 150 NERN affiliates. It was a self-supporting and extensive scheduled tape program service, through the payment of fees by affiliates, for much of its existence.
While enhancements to broadcast technology were made throughout the remainder of the twentieth century, computers entered and dominated the educational scene, becoming a medium for delivering instruction and staking a claim in distance education. Communication technological advancements led to the fast-changing landscape of education and the progress of distance education, which includes the prominence of online education. Educational television helped to pave the way for instructional progress in the classroom — not just for in-person classes but online as well. However, as was observed during the COVID-19 pandemic, educational television played a vital role, remaining viable through the public airwaves in places where internet connections might not be possible. Hopefully, this focus on the partnership of educational television in classrooms will serve as a broadcast signal that catches the attention of media historians in the twenty-first century.
Photo caption: Students watch a course aired through the Midwest Program on Airborne Television Instruction, which used a Purdue-owned aircraft to televise videotaped courses from fall 1961 until 1968. (Photo courtesy of Purdue University Archives and Special Collections)
About the author: Dr. Melony Shemberger is a full professor of journalism and mass communications at Murray State University in Murray, Kentucky. A former newspaper journalist who specialized in education news reporting, she studies education news history and is pursuing a Master of Library and Information Science degree at the University of Arizona in Tucson, with a focus on academic librarianship.
Notes
[i] Tatsis, Konstantinos, and Bożena Maj-Tatsis. “Teachers’ reactions to educational television programs during the pandemic and their implied images of mathematics teaching,” Education Sciences 13, no. 5 (2023): 454. doi:10.3390/educsci13050454.
[ii] Diamond, Robert M. A guide to instructional television, 1964, p. 278.
[iii] Koenig, A. E., and Hill, R. B. The farther vision: Educational television today. Madison, WI: The University of Wisconsin Press, 1967.
[iv] Verduin, J. R., and T. A. Clark. Distance education. Oxford, UK: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1991.
[v] Koenig and Hill, The farther vision.
[vi] King, Karen. “Television in the schools: Instructional television and educational media resources at the National Public Broadcasting Archives,” TechTrends 52, no. 4 (2008): 59.
[vii] Ibid.
[viii] Blakely, Robert J., and McGeorge Bundy. To serve the public interest: Educational broadcasting in the United States. Syracuse University Press, 1979.
[ix] Verduin and Clark, Distance education.
[x] Kentnor, Hope E. “Distance education and the evolution of online learning in the United States,” Curriculum and Teaching Dialogue 17, no. 1 (2015): 21-34.
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