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Instructional Television & Distance Learning - Don't Touch that Dial

By Carl Street, Pupbrothers.com

Television is one of the most effective distance education resources, as students can both see and hear what is occurring as it is happening. If you've ever seen an educational show on a public broadcasting channel, community cable channel, satellite TV or other telecommunications channel administered by the FCC such as Instructional TV Fixed Service (ITFS), you have seen instructional television.

With this delivery technique, transmission of instructional items is one-way. However, when instructional television is paired with an audio responding method and/or keypad capability, students are able to entirely participate in the instructional session.

Students engaged in distance education degree programs are generally able to interact with the course teacher by using a land-based phone system that has incorporated an audio bridge. Transmission of instructional TV occurs via microwave towers. Advancements in satellite internet protocols allow satellite broadcasts to journey across wide and local area networks.

With the correct tools, students are able to wholly participate in distance learning courses. Students can ask the teachers questions and they can cooperate with other students. In other words, students can feel like they are really part of the class although they are not actually present in the classroom. Instructional television supports a synchronous learning environment meaning that students are able to get timely responses to their questions.

With satellite used as a distance education technology, there are no bandwidth limits and thus the teacher is in no way hindered by the number or kind of instructional media that can be used in a class. Satellite also facilitates the timely transmission of instructional material to a large number of students regardless of students' physical locations. In addition, the number of remote sites that can be supported by satellite is nearly unlimited - a TRUE distance learning system.

Because of the quantity of equipment required to record and transmit the instructional material, instructional television at a center for distance learning is very costly to manage and sustain. A designated classroom must be equipped with the equipment needed to record the session. A skilled broadcast technician must also be there to do all the work that is needed in this kind of instruction. The teacher must also have specialized training. All of these issues add to the whole expense of instructional television.

Another limit of instructional television is that it removes the flexibility in scheduling class work. The ability to learn when it is convenient is one of the most important reasons why students prefer distance learning programs. Hence, while this means of long distance learning is very beneficial, some students will not be able to take part just because they cannot tune into instructional television at the necessary time.

Instructional television is used for many different types of lessons. Teachers can deliver their lectures via instructional television and they're able to do so with descriptive narration. They can transmit guided instruction and they can use it for brainstorming and for presenting case studies. Instructional television is ideal for role playing, panel discussions, simulations, demonstrations and lesson practicing and drilling.