BBCtv Series on Engineering — some thoughts after the first year's programmes

TWELVE MONTHS — and a good many headaches — ago I wrote here to introduce a new venture in educational broadcasting: the BBC's television series, ‘Engineering Science’ for the General Course. Reading that article now I am surprised at how confident I managed to sound, for in spite of a strong belief in the educational possibilities of television I was, to say the least, apprehensive about this particular assignment. This new type of television programme required a new way of thinking and new production techniques. The audience — students and lecturers alike — had, for the most part, little experience in the use of television as an aid to learning. The college organisation was usually not geared to take account of this inflexible intruder. Even the syllabus was new.