Broadcasting systems as an educational information resource Available to Purchase

Resources are provided for teachers in various ways and forms, from funding and support resulting from national and regional policy to specific components in an educational system like books and microcomputers. Underlying such a transactional process are models of communication and assumptions about communication. Among these assumptions lie that of assuring that teachers need to know in order to teach effectively, that the provision of structures to inform teachers is a desirable feature of an effective educational system, that the choice of communication media is affected by cost factors which constrain free curricular choice, and that each of the broadcasting media used to enrich the process of teaching has attractive and frustrating features. In using systems like educational broadcasting, interactive video, cable and satellite TV, and videotext, teachers and educationalists can readily see the potential benefits and challenges of each medium, both in terms of their use in teaching and in terms of how and what they tell teachers about availability and cost and appropriateness to particular tasks. In looking at these issues, it is argued that there are many opportunities for enriching teaching but that at the same time there is a risk of abuse (e.g. education as entertainment, ideological manipulation, skills‐based learning instead of conceptual learning, lack of integrated media planning).