Educational Television in India PDF

Educational Television in India  Educational Television: Introduction Educational television or learning television is the use of television programs in the field of distance education. It may be in the form of individual television programs or de...

Educational Television in India  Educational Television: Introduction Educational television or learning television is the use of television programs in the field of distance education. It may be in the form of individual television programs or dedicated specialty channels as in Doordarshan. There are also adult education programs for an older audience; many of these are instructional television or "telecourse" services that can be taken for college credit. Examples of these include Open University programs on BBC television in the UK. Many children's television series are educational, ranging from dedicated learning programs to those that indirectly teach the viewers. Some series are written to have a specific moral behind every episode, often explained at the end by the character that learned the lesson. In the social aspects of television, several studies have found that educational television has many advantages. The Media Awareness Network, explains in its article, The Good Things about Television, that television can be a very powerful and effective learning tool for children if used wisely. The article states that television can help young people discover where they fit into society, develop closer relationships with peers and family, and teach them to understand complex social aspects of communication.  Edutainment and Telenovelas Some television programs are designed with primarily educational purposes in mind, although they might rely heavily on entertainment to communicate their educational messages. In children's programming, edutainment becomes fun and interesting for the child but can still be educational. Other television programs are designed to raise social awareness. One form of edutainment popular in Latin America is the educational telenovela. Miguel Sabido, a producer of telenovelas from the 1970s on, has combined communication theory with pro-health/education messages to educate audiences throughout Latin America about family planning, literacy, and other topics. He developed a model that incorporated the work of Albert Bandura and other theorists, as well as research to determine whether programs impacted audience behavior. The "Sabido Method" has been adopted by a number of countries, including India, Kenya, Peru, and China. The first ever television series produced in the Pacific Island country of Vanuatu, entitled Love Patrol and launched in 2007, was praised as an edutainment series, as it aimed to educate viewers on the issue of AIDS, while simultaneously providing an entertaining story. Some programs are primarily aimed at entertainment, but may contain an incidental amount of educational content.  Educational Television in India: Introduction Television constitutes an important medium widely used to disseminate information to its viewers. It has the unique feature of combining audio and visual technology, and thus considered to be more effective than audio media. It serves multiple purposes of entertainment, information and education. Besides performing motivational function it helps in providing discovery learning and cognitive development of its viewers. Because of its better accessibility, it can bring learning materials to the masses in more direct, effective and personal way than other educational media. Starting with 41 sets in 1962 and one channel (Audience Research unit, 1991) at present TV in India covers more than 70 million homes giving a viewing population more than 400 million individuals through more than 100 channels. Easy accessibility of relevant technology, variety of programmes and increased hour of transmission are main reasons for rapid expansion of TV system in India.  Major Educational Television Projects in India - 1 In India, since the inception of TV network, television has been perceived as an efficient force of education and development. With its large audience it has attracted educators as being an efficient tool for imparting education to primary, secondary and university level students. Some of the major educational television projects are: 1. Secondary School Television Project (1961): T This project was designed for the secondary school students of Delhi. Its aim was to improve the standard of teaching in view of shortage of laboratories, space, equipment and lack of qualified teachers in Delhi. This project started on an experimental basis in October 1961 for teaching of Physics, Chemistry, English and Hindi for students of Class XI. The lectures were syllabus-based and were telecasted in school hours as a part and parcel of school activities.  Major Educational Television Projects in India - 2 2. Delhi Agriculture Television (DATV) Project (Krishi Darshan) (1966): The project named Krishi Darshan was initiated on January 26, 1966 for communicating agricultural information to the farmers on experimental basis for the 80 selected villages of Union territory of Delhi through Community viewing of television and further discussions among themselves. The experiment was successful and that there was substantial gain in the information regarding agricultural practices. (IGNOU, 2000)  Major Educational Television Projects in India - 3 3. Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE) (1975): This project, one of the largest techno-social experiments in human communication, was commissioned for the villagers and their Primary School going children of selected 2330 villages in six states of India. It started on August 1, 1975 for a period of one year in six states Rajasthan, Karnataka, Orissa, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. The main objectives of this experiment, were to study the process of existing rural communications, the role of television as new medium of education, and the process of change brought about by the community television in the rural structure with following two type of telecast: i. Developmental education programmes in the area of agriculture and allied subjects, health, family planning and social education, which were telecast in the evening for community viewing. ii. The school programmes of 22 ½ minutes duration each in Hindi, Kannada, Oriya and Telugu were telecast on each school day for rural primary school children of 5-12 years age group to make the children realize the importance of science in their day to day life. SITE experiment showed that the new technology made it possible to reach number of people in the remotest areas. The role of television was appreciated and it was accepted in rural primary schools as an educational force (IGNOU, 2000).  Major Educational Television Projects in India - 4 4. Post-SITE Project (1977): The target group for this post SITE project was the villagers of Rajasthan. This was a SITE continuity project and was initiated in March 1977 when a terrestrial transmitter was commissioned at Jaipur. The main objectives of SITE continuity project were to: i. Familiarize the rural masses with the improved and scientific know how about farming, the use of fertilizers and the maintenance of health and hygiene. ii. Bring about national and emotional integration iii. Make rural children aware of the importance of education and healthy environment. This project was also successful. Major Educational Projects in India - 5 5. Indian National Satellite project (INSAT) (1982): The prime objective of the INSAT project was aimed at making the rural masses aware of the latest developments in the areas of agricultural productivity, health and hygiene. It was initially targeted at villagers and their school going children of selected villages in Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujrat, Maharastra and Uttar Pradesh. As a part of INSAT Education project, ETV broadcasts were inaugurated and continued through terrestrial transmission from 15 August 1982 in Orissa and Andhra Pradesh. Later, other states namely Bihar, Gujrat, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh were covered under INSAT service using INSAT-1B in June 1983. In each state, a cluster of 3-4 districts were selected on the basis of backwardness of the area, availability of suitable developmental infrastructure and utilization of existing production facilities. Besides developmental programmes for community viewing, educational programmes (ETV) for two different age groups of school children (5-8 years and 9-11 years) are telecast daily. A capsule of 45 minutes duration consisting of two separate programmes - one for the lower age group and the other for the upper age group - were telecast regularly. Each programme runs for a duration of 20 minutes with five minutes change  Major Educational Television Projects in India - 6 6. UGC-Higher Education Television Project (HETV) (1984): University students were the beneficiaries of this project. The University Grants Commission in collaboration with INSAT started educational television project, popularly known as ‘Country wide Classroom’ on August 15, 1984 with the aim to update, upgrade and enrich the quality of education while extending their reach. Under this programme, a one-hour programme in English on a variety of subjects is presented with the objective of general enrichment for undergraduates, educated public and the teachers as well. An inter-university Consortium for Education Communication (CEC) along with a chain of about 20 audio-visual media Mass Communication Research Centres were set up by the UGC at different institutions in the country, to ascertain high quality of programming for this project. Besides producing programmes at these centres, some programmes are imported from other countries, and are edited to  Major Educational Television Projects in India - 7 7. IGNOU-Doordarshan Telecast (1991): The IGNOU-Doordarshan telecast programmes, designed mainly for Distance learners started in May 1991. Initially they were telecast on Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 6.30 to 7.00 A.M through the national network of Doordarshan with an aim to provide tele- counselling to students of open universities in remote areas. Owing to the encouraging response from viewers, the frequency of this project was increased to five days a week. This programme is very popular.  Major Educational Television Projects in India - 8 8. Gyan-Darshan Educational Channel (2000): Ministry of Human Resource Development, Information & Broadcasting, the Prasar Bharti and IGNOU launched Gyan Darshan (GD) jointly on 26th January 2000 as the exclusive Educational TV Channel of India. IGNOU was given the responsibility to be the nodal agency for uplinking/ transmission. It started out as a two-hour daily test transmission channel for students of open and conventional Universities. This duration was increased in February to nine hours a day. The time slot transmission was further increased due to good response up to 16-hours by 1st June and by 1st November it turned out to be a 19-hour channel. Within one year of its launching, 26th January 2001, it became a non-stop daily 24 hour transmission channel for educational programmes. Major Educational Television Projects in India – Gyan Darshan Contd. The programming constitutes 23 hrs of indigenous programmes sourced from partner institutions and one hour of foreign programmes. Transmission of 12 hrs each for curriculum based and enrichment programmes is being made. The programmes of IGNOU CIET-NCERT including NOS are telecast for four hours each, IIT programmes for three hours, CEC-UGC programmes for two and a half hours and one hour each for TTTI and Adult Education. Although Gyan Darshan has made its presence felt in all Open Universities and most of the prominent conventional Universities /schools, it still has the potential to reach to the door steps of learners through cable TV network. At present Gyan Darshan through the cable transmission covers about 90% in Kerala, most parts of Tamil Nadu, a few pockets in the North East, Nashik, Ahmedabad and Pune. AsiaNet has been providing it free of cost in Kerala. Efforts are being made to make Gyan Darshan available through terrestrial transmission.  Other Avatars of Educational Television - 1 Television may be used along with other media in distance education for interaction and to support learning materials, depending on the educational system and desired outcomes. Below are some of the possible types of technology integration: 1. Open Telecast: In Open Telecast, television is the only instrument for learning, and student learning is not monitored. Such Open Telecast has been found most suitable for presentation of abstract mathematical concepts (Ahrens et al, 1975); construction of physical models to represent abstract ideas (Bates, 1975); Natural sciences; Laboratory based practical demonstrations in the area of science including medical and engineering where experimentation design is complex, costly and some times inaccessible; Arts and culture music and drama; Space sciences; and Community education such as public awareness on developmental issues including public health. 2. Telecast with print support: Television along with the print support may be an appropriate combination to reinforce the concepts dealt in a course-book. Here printed word may be adopted for Telecast for effective viewing,  Other Avatars of Educational Television - 2 3. Telecast with print and feedback: Here the students may submit their assignments to their learning centres for necessary evaluation and feedback, after learning through television supported by print. Learners may also interact with resource person through mail or telephone after viewing the transmission. Teleconferencing has perhaps emerged from this type of interaction. Such a system could also be used to provide learner’s feedback to Course developers and resource persons on the effectiveness of lesson. 4. Group Telecasts: Learner groups may participate in pre and post lesson academic activities and have discussions among themselves. Counsellors explain the difficult concepts and encourage learners to participate, which acts as reinforcement to their learning. This stimulates group and cooperative learning. Such experiments have been successful in many countries including India. Educational TV During Covid In India, as in many countries across the world, schools are closed. To help ensure students continue to learn while out of the classroom due to Covid-19, the central government is promoting the use of its smartphone-based ed-tech platforms. Instead, the centre and states should follow Punjab’s lead and spend more effort building out educational TV, or ETV, targeted at early grade learners. Compared to smartphone-based ed-tech, ETV is more accessible, easier to produce, and has more rigorous evidence to back it up. Targeting ETV at early grade learners would provide help to those students who need it most. Teaching children when they are in a classroom is hard. Teaching children when they are at home is much, much harder. In response to school closures, the central government is encouraging the use of its existing online learning apps, DIKSHA and ePathshala, and has announced an initiative to crowdsource additional content for the DIKSHA platform.  Smartphone Vs TV for Delivering Educational Content - 1 According to industry statistics, in 2017 there were over 400 million smartphone users in India. Yet, a household survey conducted by Intermedia a year later found that only 17% of Indian households owned a smartphone. Even if smartphone ownership has grown by 50%, as industry figures claim, that is still a small proportion of households. In addition, delivering educational content over a smartphone screen is not easy. Some education technology programmes like Educational Initiative’s Mindspark have led to large effects on learning. Yet, to our knowledge, all ed-tech programmes with proven effects have used computers or tablets and provided on-site support to students. We are optimistic that, with careful design, these results could be replicated on a smaller screen without on-site support but DIKSHA and ePathshala are likely still some ways off from that goal. By contrast, many households own a TV and even more have access to one. According to the latest NFHS and IHDS surveys, about two-thirds of all Indian households and a little less than one-third of the poorest households own a TV. TVs are also easier to share – 37% of households without a TV report that their children watch TV at a neighbour’s house.  Smartphone Vs TV for Delivering Educational Content - 2 India has a long and successful history in delivering ETV and the central government is currently promoting its existing Swayam Prabha ETV channels. In addition, some states have added ETV content to Doordarshan in response to the crisis. Yet existing Swayam Prabha content and the new Doordarshan content is targeted at Classes 9 to 12. This targeting may have made sense pre-Covid-19, when ETV was accessed mainly by especially motivated learners but should be expanded to all classes now. Secondary school students are more likely to have access to books and other learning resources and less likely to need extra help. Instead, governments should follow the approach taken by Punjab, which has announced that all classes will be aired on Doordarshan. Expanding ETV to target early grade learners would not be difficult. A large amount of high-quality content already exists – such as Gali Gali Sim Sim, the videos produced by Planet Read, or perhaps even existing DIKSHA and ePathshala videos – and according to the World Bank, new content could be produced by high-quality teachers without much additional training.  Smartphone Vs TV for Delivering Educational Content - 3 Reaching out to students during lockdown DD and AIR are broadcasting virtual classes and other educational content through their regional channels on TV, radio and YouTube. They include curriculum based classes for primary, middle and high school level students. Many of these classes help students prepare for competitive exams. Doordarshan Kendras that are already broadcasting virtual classes are Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Gujarat, and Jammu and Kashmir. All India Radio stations broadcasting virtual classes are Vijaywada, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Tiruchirapalli, Coimbatore, Puducherry, Madurai, Trivendrum, Tirunelveli, Panaji, Jalgaon, Ratnagiri, Sangli, Parbhani, Aurangabad, Pune, Nagpur, Mumbai, Gangtok, Guwahati, Bikaner, Udaipur, Jodhpur and Jaipur. The stations broadcasting educational content are Bhopal, Chennai, Kozhikode and Thrissur. On an average, a DD channel is airing two-and-a-half hours of educational content daily and an All India Radio channel 30 minutes. Also, the total number of hours of daily content across DD network is 17 hours and 11 hours across All India Radio network.