When "Sesame Street" launched in 1969, it was the first show to attempt to teach young children school-readiness skills with catchy songs and playful Muppets. Not only did it revolutionize the children's media landscape, the program sparked a love of learning among generations of children all over the world. For "Revisiting the…

Ways in which instructional design specifications for television production may be extended into a more precise domain, where forms of representation may be cataloged and culturally defined, are suggested in this study. Differences between film and television are discussed, and a distinction is made between format codes (i.e., culturally and…

This description of a project offering live television transmissions as an addition to the University of Regina's (Saskatchewan, Canada) distance education system includes: (1) an introduction; (2) a description of and rationale for the evaluation model used; (3) a description of the data collection process; (4) a summary of the findings; and (5)…

A model affective education program was conducted for 109 boys, aged 7 to 15, with special education needs and social and emotional difficulties. Ten programs from the "Inside/Out" series were used at twice a week showings for five weeks and discussions followed each presentation. The program was designed to increase children's ability…

A 10-minute videotape program that reviews library skills was evaluated with 8 fifth and sixth grade classes in the St. Louis area to determine both the effectiveness of the program itself and the method of formative program evaluation. The program used videotaped slides to present program ideas. Questions focused on whether students who viewed…

This paper summarizes formative evaluation activities during the development of a pilot program by the Consortium for Mathematics and Its Applications for a telecourse on introductory data analysis. These activities included: (1) two major design activities--selection of a statistician host teacher and script development; (2) production phase…

This study evaluated the practicality of using videodiscs to distribute the television programs that are part of the courses of the International University Consortium (IUC) for Telecommunications in Learning, a network of colleges and universities in partnership with public broadcasting stations and cable systems. Fifteen videodisc players, along…

This paper reports on a needs assessment undertaken as preparation for implementing Instructional Television Fixed System (ITFS) in the Denver metropolitan area as one solution to the problems of broadening access to and improving learning experiences offered by colleges and universities. An introduction describes problems of access to…

"Tax Whys: Understanding Taxes" is a series of six video/film instructional programs being produced for the Internal Revenue Service to provide middle school students with an understanding of the reasons for and effects of taxation. This report details both student and teacher evaluations of one of the first programs to be scripted: "Taxes…

Documentation of the status of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Television Department's Cable Television Communications Research Project is provided, along with a report of an evaluation which was undertaken both to determine the impact and effectiveness of the EduCable program service to cable system subscribers and to assess the viability of…

This study assessed the second year of a 5-year project--the Carroll Instructional Television Consortium--which uses two-way interactive cable television (both audio and video) as an alternative method of delivering courses in four small rural high schools in Illinois. Specific evaluation questions investigated the instructional effectiveness of…

Solutions Unlimited is a computer/video project developed by the Agency for Instructional Television (AIT) in collaboration with a consortium of state, provincial, and local education agencies. The goal of the project is to improve the problem-solving skills of students in grades 6 through 8 through the use of brief instructional television…

The educational television series "Across Cultures" was evaluated to examine the effectiveness of the series and how the programs were structured to attain objectives. Designed to complement sixth- and seventh-grade social studies textbooks, the series on world cultures is composed of thirteen 15-minute programs about three widely…

"Give and Take" is a series of twelve 15-minute television/film programs and related print materials on economics and consumer economics designed to improve the knowledge and decision-making skills of 13- to 15-year-old students. This paper reviews six separate research studies that help to determine the effects of "Give and Take" on students'…

Math Works is the fifth grade component of the "Mathematics for the '80s" project, a series of 28 video programs and related material developed by a consortium of state and provincial education and television agencies. A formative evaluation of Math Works programs (9 and 25) was conducted to assess the instructional effectiveness and general…