11. 7 Programming and Utilization

• Programming for preschoolers
• Programming for classrooms
• Programming for subject-matter teachers
• News programs
• Advertising on television
• Utilization studies

11.7.1 Progranuning for Preschoolers

11.7.1.1. Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. Fred Rogers has stated that television can either facilitate or sabotage the development of learning readiness. According to Rogers, for a child to be ready to learn, the child must have at least six fundamentals: (a) a sense of self-worth, (b) a sense of trust, (c) curiosity, (d) the capacity to look and listen carefully, (e) the capacity to play, and (f) times of solitude. Television can help children develop the sense of uniqueness essential to their self-worth, or it can undermine this sense of uniqueness by teaching children to value things rather than people and by presenting stereotyped characters (Rogers & Head, 1963).

Rogers' program to develop learning readiness is the longest-running series on public television. Its goals are affective in that the programs are designed to increase selfesteem and valuing of self and others. Research shows that the program is successful in achieving these goals (Coates, Pusser & Goodman, 1976). Research has also shown that the program uses almost exclusively positive reinforcement to accomplish this goal (Coates & Pusser, 1975).

In 1992, McFarland found that the program helped childcare teachers and providers enhance the emotional development of preschool children. Parents had positive attitudes toward the use of quality children's programming in childcare. She found that while the behavior of adult childcare providers could be positively affected by watching Mister Rogers'Neighborhood, there were ambiguous effects for children's behavior. She concluded that Fred Rogers provided positive modeling that helped childcare providers to develop attitudes and behaviors that enhance the emotional development of preschool children. McFarland used a three-part study that included surveys, observations, and written feedback. Part 2 of the study used the programs plus accompanying materials for 5 months. To some extent, the success of the program is due to the use of supplementary materials, such as books, puppets, and tapes of songs on the show. Research has not determined the role of such materials in the instructional effectiveness of the program.

One issue that has been pursued in the research is the comparative effect of Sesame Street and Mister Rogers' Neighborhood on attention span. Studies on the effects of pacing on attention span are equivocal. Children who watched an hour of fast-paced programming were compared with children who watched an hour of slow-paced programming. No significant differences were found in effects on attention or perseverence. Two other studies showed that children who watched typical children's programming had increased impulsiveness and reduced perseverence. In another study, children who watched the slow-paced Mister Rogers' Neighborhood were found to be increasingly persistent in preschool activities (Anderson & Collins, 1988; Friedrich & Stein, 1973, cited in Huston et al., 1992). Anderson, Levin, and Lorch (1977) found no evidence that rapid television pacing had a negative impact on preschool children's behavior. Nor did they find a reduction in persistence or an increase in aggression or hyperactivity. Their research was an experiment using slow-paced and rapidpaced versions of Sesame Street, followed by a free-play period in a room full of toys.

11.7.1.2. Sesame Street. In a series of classic studies of cognitive learning, Bogatz and Ball (1970,1971) found that children who watched the most, learned the most, regardless of age, viewing or geographic location, socioeconomic status, or gender. Not only did children who watched gain basic skills in reading and arithmetic, they also entered school better prepared than their nonviewing or low-vi.ewig peers. Encouragement to view was found to be an important factor in viewer gains. Paulson (1974) did an experiment to determine whether children learned social skills from watching. When tested in situations similar to those presented on the program, children who watched learned to cooperate more than children who did not. Reiser and his colleagues conducted two studies (1988, 1984) and concluded that cognitive learning increased when adults who watched Sesame Street with children asked them questions about letters and numbers and gave feedback.

More recent research on the relationship of viewing by preschool children to school readiness has been reported (Zill, Davies & Daly, 1994). Zill et al. used data from the 1993 National Household Education Survey to determine who viewed the program and how regularly. Data from the survey were also examined to determine the relationship between viewing and (a) literacy and numeracy in preschool children, and (b) school readiness and achievement for early elementary students. The study found that the program reached the majority of children in all demographic groups including the "at risk7 children. The findings revealed:

• Children of highly educated parents stopped watching the program earlier than children of less-educated parents.
• Children from disrupted families were more likely to watch the program.
• Children whose parents did not read to them regularly were less likely to watch the program.
• Children from low-income families who watched television showed more signs of emerging literacy than children from similar families who did not watch.
• Children who watched the program showed greater ability to read and had fewer reading problems in first and second grade.
• First- and second-graders who watched the program did not show less grade repetition or better academic standing.

The established value of Sesame Street for children in poverty is reviewed by Mielke (1994). In an article for a special issue of Media Studies Journal on "Children and the Media," he argued that the program is reaching and helping low-income children who have a narrower range of educational opportunities in the critical preschool years and that therefore it should be an important element in a national strategy for reaching our educational goals by the year 2000.

Recent research on CTW's educational programming is summarized in several documents that can be obtained from their research division, including:

• "Sesame Street" Research Bibliography 1989-1994 (Petty, 1994a)
• A review of "Sesame Street" Research 1989-1994 (Petty, 1994b)
• "Sesame Street" Research Bibliography: Selected Citations to "Sesame Street" 1969-1989 (Research Division, CTW, June 1990)

The first of these documents provides an annotated bibliography. The second is a report of research in the areas of(a) educational, cognitive, and prosocial implications; (b) effects of nonbroadcast materials; (c) formal features and content analyses; and (d) Sesame Street as stimulus material for other investigations. The third is also an annotated bibliography, but it covers research done both nationally and internationally.

11.7-1.3. Cartoons. Much of the discussion about the effects of cartoon programming has centered around the extent to which children of different ages assume that the fantasy presented in such shows is real. Fictional characters vary from realistic portrayals to superheros and heroines.

The photographic and dynamic qualities of television can make characters seem real. Children were shown photographs of television cartoon characters intermixed with photographs of familiar real people. Then, children were given tasks and asked questions designed to reveal their beliefs about these characters. There were 70 boys ages 5 to 12 participating. All the boys attributed unique physical characteristics to the characters, but the younger children generalized this uniqueness to other characteristics. For example, they believed a superhero could live forever because he was strong, or that he was happy because he could fly. Older children described the characters more realistically and were aware that physical ability doesn't ensure happiness. The study concluded that young children may miss important traits and consequences because visual effects heighten the physical dimension (Femie, 198 1, cited in Meringoff et al., 1983).

One of the problems with research on cartoons is that it is commonly done and reported within the Saturday morning children's programming context. A cartoon is typically a fantasy program with humor, mayhem, action, and drama. However, today realism is often mixed with animation, and there are many types of content represented in cartoons for children. Furthermore, religious training or calculus lessons can be put within an animated format that will influence children differently than will a Saturday morning entertainment cartoon. There has been much debate about whether cartoons are violent. All of these questions suggest that it is difficult to generalize from the research, because content becomes as important as format, and often these two variables are not separated, nor is their interaction studied.

11. 7.2 Programming for Classrooms

After 40 years, the collective evidence that film and television can facilitate learning is overwhelming. This evidence is available for all forms of delivery, film, ITV, ETV, and mass media. It is reinforced by evaluation of programming prepared for these formats and delivered by newer delivery systems such as cable and satellite. The next section will review recent representative examples of this body of research. The section will be organized by these topics: general findings; video production*; educational series programming, including Children's Television Workshop productions; programming for subject-matter areas; satellite programming; and utilization studies.

11.7.2.1. General Findings. The findings reported here are the ones that are most important for futher research. In 1993, Katherine Cennamo critiqued the line of investigation initiated by Gavriel Salomon in the 1980s, with his construct of amount of invested mental effort, or AIME. Cennamo posed the question: Do learner's preconceptions of the amount of effort required by a medium influence the amount of effort they invest in processing such a lesson and consequently the quantity and quality of information they gain? Factors influencing preconceptions of effort required and actual effort expended were found to include characteristics of the task, media, and learners. In her summary, she noted that, in general, learners perceive television as a medium requiring little mental effort and believe they learn little from television. However, learners reported attending more closely to educational television programs than to commercial programs. The topic of the program also influenced preconceptions. She stated that in actuality, learning from television may be more difficult than learning from a single-channel medium because of its complexity. Leamers achieved more from a lesson they were told to view for instructional reasons than from a lesson they were told to view for fun. This is consistent with many other findings about the importance of intentional use of the medium to help children learn, such as those reported in the Reiser et al. (1988, 198.4) Sesame Street studies, which concluded that children learn more when an adult is present to guide and reinforce learning.

It is important to identify the types of learning that programs are designed to facilitate and the types of learning for which television can be used most effectively. Cennamo (1993) points out that the types of achievement tests used may not reveal mental effort or achievement in intended areas. For example, tests of factual recall cannot document increased mental effort or inferential thinking. Beentjes (1989) replicated Salomon's study on AIME and found that Dutch children perceived television to be a more difficult medium to learn from than did the American children in Salomon's study.

In 1967, Reid and MacLennan reviewed 350 instructional media comparisons and found a trend of no significant differences when televised instruction was compared to face-to-face instruction. However, their analysis of other uses of video instruction yielded different conclusions:

When videotapes were used in observation of demonstration teaching, teacher trainees gained as much from video observations as from actual classroom visits. In addition, when used in teaching performance skills-such as typing, sewing, and athletic skills-films often produced a significant increase in learning and an improvement in student attitudes (Cohen, Ebeling & Kulik, 1981, p. 27).

Another general finding is that the potential for television's effectiveness is increased when teachers are involved in its selection and utilization, and when teachers are given specialized training in the use of television for instruction (Graves, 1987). Teachers can integrate television in the curriculum, prepare students, extend and elaborate on content, encourage viewing, and provide feedback. They do this best if they themselves are prepared. If a distinction is made between television as a stand-alone teacher and television's capacity to teach when used by a teacher, the evidence indicates that although television can teach in a stand-alone forinat, it can teach more effectively when utilized by a competent teacher (Johnson, 1987). We turn now to the effects of specific programming used in classroom settings.

11.7.2.2. Film/Video Production.

Interest in the effects of production experience on students (see 9.7.3.3) started many years ago. In the early 1970s students learned how to produce Super 8-mm films. With easy access to half-inch videotape and portable equipment, they ventured into producing video. Since cable television has made more equipment, facilities, and training available, there has been an increase in video production by schools for educational purposes. Nevertheless, students have been producing programs for class assignments and school use since the 1960s. It is surprising, therefore, that there is very little research on the effects of video production by students on learning and attitudes. This may be due to the fact that most researchers are in university settings, and most video production is in school buildings, or to the difficulty of controlling variables in a field setting. Nevertheless, the effects of video production and the variables that mediate these effects are not being investigated. It may be that the strongest effects related to learning from television come from student productions, because the strongest commitment and identification is possible in these cases.

The Ford Foundation funded studies related to learning from film and television production. One such study reported on the effects of filmmaking on children (Sutton-Smith, 1976). Subjects attended a workshop on filmmaking. The researchers used the workshop to determine (a) the processes through which children of the same or different ages proceeded in the acquisition of filmmaking mastery, and (b) the perceptual, cognitive, and affective changes that resulted in the children. Observation, videotaping, and interviews were used for documentation. One interesting finding was that there were striking differences between younger and older children in filmmaking, despite repeated instruction in the same areas.

Young children tended not to make:

• Establishing shots
• Films about a major character
• Films about a group of characters
• Multiple scenes
• Markers in films (titles, ends, etc.)
• Story themes
• Story transitions
• Causal linkages
• Use of long shots, close-ups, pans, zooms, or changes in camera position
• Long films (18 seconds versus 65 seconds for older children)

Children 5 to 8 years old were considered young, and children 9 to I I constituted the older group. It would be interesting to replicate this study today, because sophistication with the television code could generate different results.

Tidhar (1984, cited in Shutkin, 1990) researched the relationships between communication through filmmaking and the development of cognitive skills in children. She compared classes who studied scenario design, photography, and editing in different combinations and concluded that necessary mental skills for decoding film texts are developed during film production.

Those who encourage students to produce video assert that the process teaches them goal setting, creative problem solving, cooperative learning, interpersonal skills, and critical analysis skills. In addition, they claim the experience improves a student's self-esteem and self-concept. Furthermore, they contend that students who have trouble verbalizing or are "at risk" can succeed with this approach to learning when they can't in traditional classroom activities. There is little evidence to support such claims, because little research has been reported other than testimonials from teachers and students. Generally, the studies reported are subjective case histories that are likely to be both perceptive and biased. Another problem is that. often intact classes are compared over long periods of time. Thus, lack of control of variables limits interpretation and confidence.

Barron (1985, cited in Shutkin, 1990) found that a comprehensive course for fifth-graders, involving both video production and media studies, led to the development of mental skills necessary for understanding television programming. Torrence (1985) reviewed research findings about the features that should be incorporated in school video production experiences. These features are offered through guidelines on message design and utilization factors. Laybourne (1981, cited in Valmont, 1995) states that children who make their own television productions become more critical viewers.

This assertion of an association between video production experience and media literacy is common in the literature, although few report studies that investigated the phenomena. Messaris (1994) addresses "production literacy," meaning competency in the production of images. He conducted a study in 1981 (cited in Messaris, 1994) that compared subjects with various levels of competency in filmmaking, from expert to apprentice to novice. They were shown a film containing both traditional naturalistic style (narrative) editing and experimental editing. All three groups ignored visual conventions in their interpretations of the traditional editing sequences and instead discussed the events in the film as if they actually occurred. With the experimental sequences, however, there were differences among the groups. The novices became confused and struggled to interpret. The apprentices and especially the experts discussed explicit intentions of the filmmaker and the visual conventions used. In a follow-up study (Messaris & Nielsen, 1989), the significance of production experience was confirmed. The researchers interpreted the findings as indications that production experience heightened awareness of manipulative conventions and intent and thus improved media literacy.

Shutkin (1990) has urged the development of a critical media pedagogy, because the adoption of video equipment in the schools is not politically neutral and, therefore, is Potentially problematic. In support of his theoretical position, Shutkin offers a review of the research and theory around video production education and filmmaking. He points out that video production involves interpersonal and group process skills that can be researched, as well as other aspects of the communication process that suggest variables for researchers to pursue. Shutkin raises questions such as, "If video production is being used to lower the dropout rate, raise self-esteem, or develop technological skill, why are we not determining whether and how these results occur and what mediates the processT'

11.7.2.3. Educational Series Progranuning. The most important research on educational programs designed for home and classroom use comes from Children's Television Workshop (CTW). The contribution of this organization to television research is of such overwhelming importance that this section will devote much of its discussion to CTW. In 1990, Keith Mielke, senior research fellow at CTW, edited a special issue of Educational Technology Research and Theory devoted to CTW. In a case study of CTW, Polsky (1974) concluded that historical research supports the conclusion that systematic planning was the key to C1V's success.

CTW produced several series that were used in the classroom as well as broadcast to die home. Among these series were Sesame Street, which was used in some elementary schools, Electric Company, 3-2-1 Contact, and Square One. Research on Sesame Street has already been discussed; however, the research on each of the other series will be discussed separately in this section.

11.7.2.4. Electric Company. Electric Company was aimed at children in early elementary grades who were deficient in reading skills. It focused on blending consonants, chunking of letter groups, and scanning for patterns. Learning outcomes were supposed to be discrimination of vowels from consonants, scanning text for typical word structures, and reading for meaning by using context. The series was an experiment in using a video medium to teach decoding skills for a print medium.

Stroman (1991) stated that summative evaluations of Sesame Street and the Electric Company indicated that African-American children improve their cognitive skills after exposure to these programs. Graves (1982) pointed out the importance of adult coviewing. Learning increased and reading performance improved after children viewed these programs with an adult present. When teachers made sure children viewed, used additional learning materials, and provided practice, children learned these skills, with the greatest gains being made by the youngest children and children in the bottom half of the class. A comparison made with home viewing indicated that it was important to attract the viewers for a sufficient number of shows to have a measurable impact on reading skills. Research on the series suggested the difficulty of depending on the home as the context for learning (Johnson, 1987).

11.7.2.5. 3-2-1 Contact. 3-2-1 Contact was designed to harness the power of television to convey to children the excitement and fascination of science. Its objective was to create a climate for learning about science, in other words to provide science readiness. It was aimed at 8- to 12-yearold children. After 2 years of research, CTW offered some surprising insights about 8- to 12-year-olds and television:

• They attended to stories where a problem was posed and resolved through relations between recurring characters, particularly those dealing with life and death themes.
• They attended primarily to the visual channel. A dense or abstract audio track overwhelmed them.
• They thought in terms of their personal experiences rather than abstractly.
• Boys favored action and adventure programs, while girls favored programs about warm, human relationships.
• They identified with and preferred the cast of members Eke themselves in terms of gender or ethnicity.
• They preferred role model's who were somewhat older. They preferred the characters on the show who were competent or striving to be competent.

They liked humor in sequences only when it was age and subject appropriate.

They had a traditional image of scientists as middleaged white males working in laboratories to invent or discover. However, younger scientists were often more impressive to these children than Nobel Prize winners.

• They needed a wrap-up at the end of the program to make connections and reinforce learning.

All of these findings were taken into account when the format and content of the program were determined (Iker, 1983). Research on the program indicated that significant gains occurred in comprehension and in interest and participation in science activities. However, there were no significant effects on career attitudes (Revelle, 1985; Research Communications, 1987, cited in Sammur, 1990). Gotthelf and Peel (1990) reported the steps CTW took to make the program, which was originally designed for home viewing, a more effective science teaching too] when used in school classrooms. Instructional technologists who read their article will be interested in the barriers that needed to be removed and the resources that needed to be provided. An annotated research bibliography on 3-2-1 Contact is available from CTW (Research Division, CTW, n.d.).

11.7.2.6. Square One. This series was introduced in 1987 with the objective of addressing the national need for early positive exposure to mathematics. Its primary audience was intended to be 8- to 12-year-olds viewing at home. The content was to go beyond arithmetic into areas such as geometry, probability, and problem solving. However, the program was designed to be motivational rather than to teach cognitive skills. The program was used in classrooms. Chen, Ellis, and Hoelscher (1988) investigated the effectiveness of reformatted cassettes of the program. Chen et al. mention that previous studies of educational television identify two classes of barriers to school use: technological (i.e., obtaining equipment); and instructional (i.e., finding supplementary materials, designing lessons, and finding time). Teachers found the cassettes especially helpful in demonstrating connections between mathematical ideas and real-world situations. The most researched variable related to this program is problem-solving outcomes. In studies done in the Corpus Christi, Texas, public elementary schools, viewers demonstrated more skill in problem solving than nonviewers. This was generally true in the research done on the effects of Square One (Debold, 1990; Hall, Esty & Fisch, 1990; Peel, Rockwell, Esty & Gonzer, 1987; Research Communications, 1989, cited in Sammur, 1990). In addition, viewers recalled aspects of mathematics presented on the show and displayed more positive attitudes and motivation towards science (Schauble, Peel, Sauerhaft & Kreutzer, 1987, as reported in Sammur, 1990; Debold, 1990). A five-volume report on a National Science Foundation study of the effects of the series reported an interesting finding:

Across all of these themes, there were no substantive differences among the viewers' reactions as a function of their gender or socioeconomic status. The reactions described above came from both boys and girls and from children of different economic backgrounds (Fisch, Hall, Esty, Debold, Miller, Bennett & Solan, 1991, p. 13).

A research history and bibliography on Square One available from CTW (Fisch, Cohen, McCann & Hoffman, 1993).

11.7.2.7. ThinkAbout. ThinkAbout was a series created by the Agency for instructional Television in the early 1980s. It consisted of 60 15-minute episodes designed to strengthen reasoning skills and reinforce study skills. There were 13 program clusters on topics such as estimating, finding alternatives, and collecting information. The series was aimed at upper elementary students. Research on ThinkAbout is reported in a series of ERIC documents from the late 1970s and early 1980s (Carrozza & Jochums, 1979; Sanders & Sonnad, 1982).

Students who spent 2 hours a week watching the program improved their thinking skills to a very limited extent. Although the program added a new element to the classroom, research did not support its effectiveness (Sanders, 1983, cited in Johnson, 1987). Johnson also reported that the research itself was flawed in two ways. First, the criterion of effectiveness was performance on the California Test of Basic Skills, which was too general a test to provide a realistic measure of success. Secondly, the research was done after I year of uncontrolled use. There was no assurance that teachers had been trained to use the series as intended or that they did. This is documented by a series of case studies on how Think4bout was used in classrooms, which reported that the series was both used effectively and misused (Johnson, 1987). Over 80% of the teachers reported that the series presented complex ideas better than they could and that the programs stimulated discussion (Sanders, 1983, cited in Johnson, 1987).

Television series for classroom as well as home use have come from other sources. The British government funded the Open University, which has a library of over 3,000 instructional video programs keyed to courses. The British have also produced many series, such as The Ascent of Man, which are suitable for instructional purposes. Several series for secondary and postsecondary education in the United States have been funded by the Annenberg Foundation. Unfortunately, most of these fine series have neither been researched nor used in classroom settings.

11.7.2.8. Subject-Matter Instruction. Secondary teachers in subject-matter areas have used film and video to enhance their teaching. The areas in which they have been used most extensively are social studies and science.

Because television is the main source of news for most Americans, the area of social studies has a mandate to teach critical-viewing skills. In addition, television has become the primary medium for political campaigning in the United States. Thus, educating voters requires attention to television and its effects. Fortunately, there is plentiful research on learning from television news, some of which will be discussed later in this section (Hepburn, 1990). The other area in which research is available to help the social-studies teacher use television is economics. Huskey, Jackstadt, and Goldsmith (1991) conducted a replication study to deterinine the importance of economics knowledge to understanding the national news. Of the total news program, 13% (or 3 minutes) was devoted to economic stories, but knowledge of economic terms was essential to understand the stories (Huskey, Jackstadt & Goldsmith, 1991).

There are many studies on the effectiveness of using television and film to teach science and mathematics. Two recent interesting approaches need to be researched. One suggests that science fiction films and programming be used to teach science (Dubeck, Moshier & Boss, 1988); another uses teacher-training institutes for science, television, and technology to impact classroom teaching. This project is called the National Teacher Training Institutes for Science, Television and Technology. Managed by Thirteen/WNET, the New York City public television station, it is an alliance between education, business, and public television (ThirteenfWNET, 1992). The research was supported by Texaco Corporation. By the end of 1993, the Teacher Training Institutes will have reached 17,000 teachers and 2 million students. So far findings have been that students in classes exposed to ITV outperformed peers in non-ITV classes, that they scored higher on creative imagery and writing, that they are more confident in problem solving, and that they learn more in proportion to the time spent on rrV.

11.7-2.9. Satellite Programming. Programming delivered to the classroom via satellite can be divided into two categories: news programs and subject-matter courses. The most famous of the news programs is Channel One, but there are others, such as CNN Newsroom, which is broadcast by Ted Turner's news network (Wood, 1989). The courses are distributed from many sources, the most commonly known of which is the Satellite Educational Resource Consortium (SERC). Very little research has been done on courses distributed by satellite to schools, because this is a relatively recent phenomenon.

Zvacek (1992) compared three classroom news prograins: Channel One, CNN Newsroom, and the front-end news segment of Today. Although each show followed a pattern of different segments, there was variability between the programs. She found differences in the proportion of time devoted to news and features, in the content of news stories, in the length of the news stories, in a national or international orientation, and in format. Channel One devoted slightly more time to features than did the other programs. Today spent more time on news than did the other programs. CNN Newsroom had more stories on world events and Channel One on national events. Late-breaking news often did not make it onto the pretaped school news programs. Channel One includes advertisements, while CNN Newsroom does not.

Some research has been done specifically on Channel One. Generally, the findings from different studies are consistent about these points:

• Viewers like the features more than the news.
• Viewers ignore the advertisements.
• Knowledge of current events does not improve significantly.
• The program is not integrated in the school curriculum; teachers do not prepare students for watching or discuss what was watched.
• Knowledge of geography and map reading is increased (Knupfer, 1994; Knupfer & Hayes, 1994; Thompson, Carl & Hill, 1992; Tiene, 1993, 1994).

There are many ethical and social issues associated with the use of Channel One in the schools. These issues arose because Whittle Communications offered free equipment to each school that would agree to require students to watch the news program for 10 minutes a day for 3 years. In exchange, a school received a satellite dish, two videocassette recorders, a color television set for every classroom, and all necessary internal wiring, installation, and servicing. Over 8 million teenagers in more than 12,000 schools currently view the program and its advertisements. The issues provoked by the acceptance of the program are explored in Watching Channel One, a book of research edited by Ann De Vaney (1994). In many ways, the book is an example of a postmodernist approach to research on television effects. As such it is interesting both for the methodologies incorp~rated and the ideas presented. In the book, John Belland raises questions such as whether it is ethical for educators to deliver a mass audience for advertisers, and whether the time invested is defensible even if used for a discussion of popular culture.

11. 7.3 News Programs

Television news programs are essential sources of information for citizens of all countries. Because learning from television news programs is important, especially in a democracy, extensive research on learning from television news programs has been done nationally and internationally. Unfortunately, methodological problems have hampered researchers and limited the usefulness of this body of literature. For example, Robinson and Levy (1986) discredited the methodology of studies, which detennined that television is the primary purveyor of news. Their criticism centered on poorly designed survey questions.

This section will address four variables after methodological issues are explained. Two of the variables will be independent variables: news item or story (content) characteristics and presentation variables.* One will be a mediating variable, viewer characteristics, and one will be a dependent variable, learning outcomes.

11.7.3.1. Methodological Issues. The major methodological issue is the confounding of variables. For example, it is difficult to determine to what extent differences in knowledge are affected by exposure to other media or by talking with family and friends. Without controls for other important variables, the independent effects of television news viewing on learning cannot be determined (Gunter, 1987). Another example is the confounding of two independent variables, content and presentation. It is difficult to determine whether effects are due to design or content factors or to an interaction of the two, because a message must incorporate both factors. This confounding is further complicated by additional mediating factors outside of television (Berry, 1983). Research that examines the relationship between dependence on newspapers or television for news and mediating factors, such as viewer characteristics or exposure to a variety of media, provides another example of the difficulty of controlling for confounding variables (Gunter, 1987).

A second major methodological issue is consistent with definitional issues reported in other sections, such as scholastic achievement and family context. It is difficult to make comparisons across studies, because variables are defined or interpreted differently. This is especially true with the variables of attention, recall, and comprehension. There are at least three distinct levels at which attention to news can be measured: (a) regularity of. watching, (b) deliberateness of watching, and (c) degree of attentiveness to the screen (Berry, 1983). Recall can be free,* cued,* or aided, and can vary within each of these categories. Recall is sometimes incorrectly interpreted as comprehension of news stories.

An additional weakness in television news research is the generally narrow interpretation of the data without reference to a theoretical base. Consequently, it is difficult to relate the findings of different studies, and it's especially hard to relate them to what is known about learning in general. One reason for this is that research on television news is often done by those in mass-media areas who do not focus on theories of learning. This issue has been addressed from an information-processing perspective by Woodall, Davis, and Sahin (1983) in an article on news comprehension.

11.7.3.2. Viewer Characteristics. Educational level, gender, intelligence, frequency of watching, interest, motivation, and knowledge of current events have all been found to be significantly related to learning from television news. Of these factors, the most significant seems to be knowledge of current events, because the other factors are only slightly related, or there are conflicting studies. Berry (1983) speculated on whether the importance of knowledge of current events is due to its correlation with education or its role as an indicator of ability to assimilate knowledge and thus retain it.

While there has been considerable interest in the effect of motivation on learning from television news, the evidence is not clear. Several studies claim to show motivational effects; however, there are not many studies that can be compared (Berry, 1983; Gunter, 1987). For example, differences in mean news recall from television bulletins were found to be greater in those with higher motivation than with higher educational level (Neuman, 1976). However, statistical controls for the effects of knowledge might change these results. Nevertheless, the finding that those who watch for information learn more than those who watch for purely entertainment is consistent with other research in education on learning from intentional set (Gantz, 1979, cited in Gunter, 1987).

Research on the effect of frequency of viewing is characterized by the same methodological problems as other research on learning from television news (Gunter, 1987). Cairns has studied comprehension of television news since 1980, using children from the North and South of Ireland and has found an interaction with age. Children aged 11 years who reported greater viewing frequency knew more about current events (Cairns, 1984, cited in Gunter, 1987). In 1990, Cairns reported research on how quantity of television news viewing influenced Northern Irish children's perceptions of local political violence. Based on a correlation between viewing frequency and perceptions that matched social reality, Cairns (1990) concluded that children's frequency of viewing affected comprehension. The findings on gender as they interact with learning from violent segments on television news will be discussed under the next topic, news item characteristics.

11.7.3.3. News Item Characteristics. This variable describes the content of news stories. Much of the research has centered around the effects of violent segments and the interaction of violent content with presentation and viewer variables. An important finding in the literature is that there is an interaction between gender and violence in television news. Visual presentation of violence affected how well females recalled the news. Violence negatively affected females recall of other contiguous, nonviolent news stories, but male subject recall was not affected similarly (Gunter, Furnharn & Gietson, 1984; Furnham & Gunter, 1985, cited in Gunter, 1987).

This finding highlights an important aspect of the content of television news, its visuals. The visuals are importaut because they are selected by the producers and thus influence story interpretation, just as the words and announcer's tone do. Cognitive scientists have argued that imagery has an important role in memory. It is generally concluded that memory for pictures is better than memory for words (Fleming & Levie, 1993). The selection of dramatic visuals, therefore, can enhance or impair memory and comprehension.

Violence in a news story can increase interest. However, violent events can distract from attention and learning even though they heighten impact (Gunter, 1987). This finding is in contrast to findings that violent visuals are often remembered better. Gunter (1980) reported on Neuman's study of recall associated with economic news as compared with news of the war in Vietnam. Recall of the war news was much greater, probably due to the visuals used.

The organization of the message is also an important aspect of a news story. Cognitive frames of reference, known variously as schemata or scripts, which individuals utilize during learning, facilitate memory and comprehension. Thus, the absence of an organization compatible with the learner's schemata can contribute to poor comprehension and recall (Graber, 1984; Collins, 1979, cited in Gunter, 1987). Krendl and Watkins (1983) examined the components of a television narrative schema and the effect of set on learning. They concluded that the process of learning from television becomes a function of both the messages sent and the perceptual set with which the messages are received and interpreted. The groups with an educational set scored consistently higher than groups given an entertainment set. There were no significant differences between groups in understanding the plot; however, groups with an educational set had better recall and higher-level processing. Thus, the organization of die message seems to interact with motivation for watching.

Lang (1989) has studied the effects of chronological sequencing of news items on information processing. She hypothesized that a chronological organization would facilitate episodical processing and reduce the load on semantic memory, thereby reducing effort and increasing amount of information processed. This hypothesis was supported, in that chronological presentation of events was easier to remember than broadcast structure, which presented what is new followed by causes and consequences of the change.

11.73.4. Presentation Variables. Another term for these aspects of television news is formal features. With television news, research has centered around factors such as humor, recapping* and titles, narrator versus voice-over, and still and dynamic visuals (see 26.4.3). Kozma (1986) wrote a review article that examined the implications of the cognitive model of instruction for the design of educational broadcast television. In the article he reviews research related to pacing, cueing, modeling, and transformation that has implications for design of presentation features. By transformation he meant having the learner change knowledge in one form to another form, such as from verbal to visual form. He suggested that designers cue cognitive strategies for older learners and increase salience for Younger learners.

Perloff, Wartella, and Becker (1982) and Son, Reese, and Davie (1987) investigated the use of recaps in television news. Both articles reported an increase in retention when the news was recapped. Son et al. (1987) speculated that this was due to time for rehearsal. Snyder (1994) analyzed scripts and stories used in television news and concluded that comprehension can be increased by captioning.

Edwardson, Grooms, and Pringle (1976) compared the effect of a filmed news story with the same story relat ed by an anchorperson without visualization. They found that the filmed news story was remembered no better than the story told by the anchor. Slattery (1990) conducted an experiment to determine whether viewer evaluation of a news story would be influenced by visuals when the verbal information was held constant. Treatment number I used visuals both related and relevant to the information presented by the audio channel, i.e., visuals of a landfill when a landfill issue was presented. Treatment number 2 used only related visuals, i.e., a shot of a council meeting where an issue was discussed, instead of a visual of the home or people involved. Treatment number 3 consisted of audio information only; no visuals were used. The hypothesis was supported because the visuals influenced the interpretation of the news. Those in treatment number I found the story more interesting, important, informative, unforgettable, clear, and exciting than those in treatments number 2 or 3.

11.7.3.5. Learning Outcomes. The learning outcomes related to television news that have been investigated are attention, recall and retention, comprehension, and attitude change. Of these, the most researched areas are recall and comprehension. One important finding related to recall is that there are dramatic increases when cued or aided recall* is used (Neuman, 1976, cited in Gunter, 1987). Educational level is related to amount of recall. Stauffer, Frost, and Rybolt (1978, 1980, cited in Gunter, 1987) found that spontaneous recall was highest among educated subjects and lowest among illiterate subjects. It is not surprising that education and social class/occupational status were correlated with comprehension of television news (Trenaman, 1967, cited in Gunter, 1987). One must be careful when findings on recall and comprehension are reported, because sometimes measures of comprehension are actually measures of recall.

11. 7.4 The Effects of Advertising

Ellen Now (1989) argues that television is a curriculum, and as such it is the ultimate example of individualized instruction. She questions why we have left it almost entirely in the hands of the profitmakers and why children are not being taught to question the assumptions presented by advertising. She summarizes the situation:

Recently, I did an analysis of both programming and commercials aimed at children. Unbelievable results! The data were worse than an aDalysis I did in the late 1970s. Commercials were at least 12 to 14 minutes of each hour, repeated over and over again. The sound levels were higher than the regular programs. The messages were violence solves problems, advertisers'products will make you happy, and popular, sugar products are selected by the best and the brightest. Ile graphics, photography, and audio were invariably superior to the programs they surrounded, guaranteed to capture children's attention if program interest waned. Television advertiser's spend over $800 million a year on commercials directed at children under age 12! The average child watching television 4 hours a day sees more than 50 of these spots daily and about 18,000 per year! (p. 66).

11.7.4.1. Evolution of the Research Base. Concern for the effects of advertising on television has a 30-year history. In 1977, the National Science Foundation (NSF) published a review of the literature on the effects of television advertising. The issues addressed are still controversial today:

1. Children's ability to distinguish television commercials from program material
2. The influence of format and audiovisual techniques on children's perceptions of commercial messages
3. Source effects and self-concept appeals in children , s advertising
4. The effects of advertising containing premium offers
5. The effects of violence and unsafe acts in television commercials
6. The impact on children of proprietary medicine advertising
7. The effects on children of television food advertising
8. The effects of volume and repetition of television. commercials
9. The impact of television advertising on consumer socialization
10. Television advertising and parent-child relations (National Science Foundation, 1977, p. ii)

The report considered both fantasy violence in commercials and commercials adjacent to violent programs. They concluded that there was relatively little violence in commercials, that the types of violence in commercials were rarely iniitable, and that the duration of the violence was too short to suggest instigational effects on viewers. The question of definition arose again in regard to research on television; what should be interpreted as violence in commercials and in programming for children is still being debated.

The principal investigator for this report and some of his coinvestigators (Adler, Lesser, Meringoff, Robertson, Rossiter & Ward, 1980) subsequently published another review of the literature on the effects of television advertising. In 1987, Comstock and Paik recognized the importance of the issue for public-policy formation by reviewing its evolution, the points of contention, and the empirical evidence in a report commissioned by the ERIC Clearinghouse on Information Resources. In 1988, Liebert and Sprafkin reviewed the studies on effects of television violence and advertising on children. The areas they synthesized reflect the continuing issues: children's understanding of commercials, effects of common advertising tactics, concerns about products advertised, and training young consumers. A British review of advertising effects of television (Young, 1990) brought attention to many variables that need to be investigated: for example, the effects of formal features used in advertising. In 1991, Comstock and Paik expanded their ERIC review into a book on Television and the American Child that reviewed empirical evidence in five areas related to television advertising: recognition and comprehension, harmfulness, parenting, programming, and program content.

The report of the American Psychological Association task force on television effects included a review of research on advertising around topics such as nutrition and health, advertising content and effects, and cognitive abilities necessary to process advertising (Huston et al., 1992). The members of the task force concluded that although the number of commercials increased due to federal deregulation in the early 1980s, many issues related to advertising were not addressed by the research. Some of these issues are the effects of (a) heavy viewing on materialistic values, (b) interruptions for commercials on attention span, (c) health-related commercials, and (d) individual differences in persuadability. Today, new issues have arisen that need to be investigated, because information is important for shaping public-policy positions. Ile effects of home shopping channels, infornerrials, and Channel One are among these issues.

11.7A.2. Consistent Findings. Some findings have been consistent over these 30 years of research. The strongest is that the effects of television advertising diminish and change as the child ages. Attention to commercials decreases as children get older (Ward, Levinson & Wackman, 1972). Young children have difficulty distinguishing commercials from programming (Zuckerman, Ziegler & Stevenson, 1978), although this ability increases throughout the preschool years. Eventually by age 8, most viewers can make this distinction (Levin, Petros & Petrella, 1982). Kunkel (1988) found that children ages 4 to 8 were less likely to discriminate commercials from regular programming when a host-selling format was used, and that older children were more favorably influenced by commercials in this format. Television commercials influence children's food selections (Gom & Goldberg, 1982), but the degree of influence is disputed (Bolton, 1983). The combined information seems to indicate that television commercials do have an effect on product selection that is limited when all aspects of a child's environment are taken into account. Nevertheless, young children may be affected greatly by television advertising and need help dealing with it.

Another finding of consistent importance over the years is the interrelationship of formal features and the effects of advertising. As early as the 1977 NSF report, there was speculation on this relationship. The report stated that the type of violence in children's commercials and programming almost always fell in the fantasy category. Thus, the impact of violence might vary according to the number of fantasy cues. Cartoons have at least three cues to indicate violence (animation, humor, and a remote setting); makebelieve violence generally has two cues (humor and a remote setting); and realistically acted violence generally. has only one cue (the viewer's knowledge that the portrayal is fictional). Real-life violence (i.e., news footage) has no cues to suggest fantasy. It easy to imagine a young child without media literacy becoming confused and misunderstanding such messages.

11.7.4.3. Important Findings. An important study, "A Longitudinal Analysis of Television Advertising Effects on Adolescents," was conducted by Moore and Moschis and reported in 1982. This study is mentioned because the effects of television advertising on a society of widely differing economic groups is another area that needs researching. Moore and Moschis concluded:

in addressing the question of whether television advertising has a direct effect or is mediated through interpersonal processes, it was found that the family communication environment may perform such a mediating function. Specifically, television advertising appears to have some effects on the development of materialism* and traditional sex roles among those families which are not likely to discuss consumption matters with their children, apparently placing the child at the mercy of advertising, a finding consistent with previous research (Churchill & Moschis, 1979, p. 3).

Another important study was done by Jalongo in 1983. She investigated "The Preschool Child's Comprehension of Television Commercial Disclaimers." She used "The Personal Interview Questionaire" (Blatt et al., 1971; Ward, 1972), which assessed general knowledge about television. Results indicated that linguistic ability was a poor predictor of paraphrase and standard/modified disclaimer scores. Scores reflecting general knowledge about television were the most effective predictors of disclaimer comprehension.

11. 7.5 Utilization Studies

Research that investigates the use of instructional television, including factors such as (a) availability of equipment, programming, support personnel, and training; (b) attitudes towards television in the classroom and informally; and (c) the impact of instructional television, is grouped in a category called "utilization studies." There is a long tradition of utilization studies which dates back to the early 1950s when the FCC reserved channels for education and to film studies done earlier. Nevertheless, there are many gaps in this area of the literature. In a comprehensive review of ETV as a tool for science education, Chen (1994b) outlines the lack of research, especially developmental research, on the many science series broadcast nationally. Compared to the investment in production, minimal resources have been devoted to research on learning from most of these series.

The category "utilization studies" encompasses research on using television processes and resources for learning (Seels & Richey, 1994). This discussion of utilization research will cover several topics:

1. Variables investigated
2. Projects of historical interest
3. Studies from the Agency for Instructional Technology (AIT), formerly the Agency for Instructional Television
4. Studies from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB)
5. Other utilization studies

11.7.5.1. Variables Investigated. Chu and Schramm (1968) reviewed research on television before the ERIC Clearinghouse began to compile and organize the literature on learning from television. They summarized the variables that interacted with learning from instructional television. Today, many of these variables are being investigated under questions related to message design. The remaining variables are still pursued in the area of utilization studies. As identified by Chu and Schramm, these variables are:

• Viewing conditions, e.g., angle, context, grouping, interaction (see Chapter 36.)
• Attitudes towards ITV, e.g., students, teachers
• Learning in developing regions, e.g., visual literacy, resistance
• Educational level, e.g., elementary, adult
• Subject matter, e.g., health education, current events
• Relationship to other media, e.g., effectiveness, cost, integration.

Over the years, two of Chu and Schramm's variables have assumed increasing importance: the variable of effectiveness of instruction as measured by formative and summative evaluation, and the variable of impact on the individual, organization, and society.

11.7.5.2. Projects of Historical Interest. A good overview of the television utilization studies done in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s is obtained when projects in the Midwest, Hagerstown (Maryland), Samoa, and El Salvador are examined. Most of these projects received funding through Ford Foundation grants, local funds, and corporate equipment. Three districtwide patterns emerged. Studies revolved around investigation of the effectiveness of these patterns, which were (a) total instructional program presented by television teacher, (b) supplemented television instruction, and (c) television as a teaching aid. Total instruction meant that all curriculum was presented through television and the teacher acted as supervisor. With supplemented instruction, the teacher prepared the class and followed up after the program. Only part of the curriculum was presented through television. When television was used as a teaching aid, the classroom teacher just incorporated television into lessons, and use of television was more infrequent (Cuban, 1986).

The Hagerstown, Maryland, project was an early demonstration of supplemented television. Up to one-third of the school day was devoted to televised lessons, with teacher preparation and follow-up. From 1956 to 1961, the Fund for the Advancement of Education and corporations invested about $1.5 million in improving education in the Hagerstown schools through closed-circuit broadcasting. The initial experiment was a success, because costs were reduced while standardized test scores improved.

By the end of the experiment, over 70 production staff, including 25 studio teachers, telecast lessons in 8 different subjects at the elementary level and 15 subjects at the secondary level. All teachers were involved in the planning, because a team approach was used. Assessment of programs was continuous. Elementary students spent about 12% of their time with televised programs, the junior high students about 30% of their time, and high school students about 10% of their time. Fewer teachers were hired; however, master teachers were hired to teach televised classes. Student improvement was most dramatic when students who learned by television were compared with those in rural schools who did not receive televised lessons. Although standardized test scores were used to compare groups, there was no control for socioeconomic background. Still, when surveyed, parents, teachers, and administrators favored use of televised instruction.

Unfortunately, when funding was withdrawn after 5 years, problems began to arise because local resources were insufficient, especially for capital expenditures. This is a common pattern in utilization of instructional television. By 1983, the project had been reduced to a service department for the district, using a variety of technologies. The annual budget of $334,000 was justified, because all art and music lessons were offered through television, thus saving the cost of 12 itinerant teachers, a practice that would certainly be debated by aesthetic educators. Despite this and other exemplary supplemental television instruction projects, most schools used television simply as a teaching aid during this period (Cuban, 1986).

The Midwest Program of Airborne Instructional Television Instruction (MPATI) began in 1959 and continued in conjunction with the Purdue Research Foundation at Purdue University. Ibirty-four courses were televised to 2,000 schools and 40,000 students through 15 educational television stations in 6 states. In addition, to reach schools not served by these stations, MPATI transmitted programs from an airplane circling at 23,000 feet over North-Central Indiana. Broadcasting began in 1961, with a cost of about $8 to 10 million annually (Seattler, 1968).

In contrast, television provided the total instructional program in American Samoa between 1964 and 1970. This approach was justified because the existing teaching staff and facilities were totally inadequate in 1961 when Governor H. Rex Lee was appointed. When Lee made restructure of the school system his top priority, Congress approved over $1 million in aid for the project. Soon four of every five students were spending one-quarter to one-third of their time watching televised lessons, especially in the elementary schools. The rest of the day was built around preparing for the televised lessons. The packets of material that accompanied the programs became the textbooks.

Researchers examined test scores before and after the introduction of television and found little difference in language scores, although slight advantages in reading and arithmetic were documented. There was little control for mediating variables. The English-speaking ability of the classroom teachers was generally poor, while English was the native language of television teachers. It is interesting, therefore, that the greatest advantage was found in the area of mathematics, not English language (Wells, 1976).

The project was initially reported a success, but by the early 1970s, objections to orienting the whole curriculum to televised lessons increased among students, teachers, and administrators, especially at grades 5 and above. By the eighth year of the project, students wanted less television, and teachers wanted more control over lessons. In 1973, policymakers shifted authority from the television studio to the classroom teacher and cut back the amount of television. In 1979, a utilization study conducted by Wilbur Schramm and his colleagues concluded that television's role had been reduced to supplemental or enrichment instruction, or at the high school level to little more than a teaching aid (Cuban, 1986).

In El Salvador, a major restructuring of education included the use of television to increase enrollment without a loss of quality. Overall educational reforms included (a) reorganization of the Ministry of Education, (b) teacher retraining, (c) curriculum revision, (d) development of new study materials, (d) development of more diverse technical program, (e) construction of new classrooms, (f) elimination of tuition, (g) use of double sessions and reduced hours to teach more students, (h) development of a new evaluation system, and (i) installation of a national television systems for grades 7 through 9. An evaluation project showed no advantage for the instructional television system. The only advantage was in the seventh grade. However, in the eighth and ninth grades, the nontelevision classrooms often obtained better scores. Positive scores during the first year of the reform were dismissed as due to the "halo effect," because scores diminished as novelty of the delivery method diminished (Wells, 1976). As with the Hagerstown project, however, an advantage was found for rural students (Hornik, Ingle, Mayo, McAnany & Schramm, 1973). Thus, "the consistent advantage of television seems to be in improving the test scores of rural students. One of the reasons for this improvement is that the technology provides for the distribution of the scarce resource of high-quality teaching ability" (Wells, 1976, p. 93).

Each of these projects generated related research and guidelines for practice. As television personnel learned about utilization, they shared their experience through handbooks for teachers on how to use television for instruction (Hillard & Head, 1976). Studies of process and impact were done. For example, Nugent (1977) reported a Nebraska State Department of Education field experiment that addressed whether teacher activities increased learning from television. She concluded that telelessons impacted leaming, achievement in television classes was higher, and the nature of activities used had an affect on achievement but not the number of activities.

Tiffin (1978) used a multiple case study approach to analyze "Problems in Instructional Television in Latin America." After doing case studies on 8 of the 14 ITV systerns in Latin America, critical subsystems were analyzed, especially in regard to conditions that were symptomatic of problems. Thus, problems and causes were traced until root causes were revealed. In many instances, these turned out to originate outside the ITV system. A hierarchy of casually interrelated problems, called a problem structure, was generated. Problems of utilization subsystems were analyzed. "In four cases the visual component of television was not being used and did not appear to be needed. If the television receiver were replaced by radio it appears unlikely that the measured learning outcomes would be appreciably effected" (Tiffin, 1978, p. 202).

Another project of historical significance is the research done by Educational Facilities Laboratories around the best use of space for the utilization of television. A nonprofit corporation established by the Ford Foundation, Educational Facilities Laboratories (EFL), encouraged research, experimentation, and dissemination about educational facilities. In their 1960 publication on "Design for ETV. Planning for Schools with Television," EFL recommended effective designs for seeing, hearing, and leaming, and for group spaces. The issues of cost, equipment, and support were also discussed (Chapman, 1960).

11.7.5.3. Agency for Instructional Technology Studies. AIT is a nonprofit U.S.-Canadian organization established in 1962 to strengthen education. AIT, which is located in Bloomington, Indiana, provides leadership and services through development, acquisition, and distribution of technology-based instructional materials. Although AIT's research program currently centers primarily around formative evaluation of materials, the organization has sponsored utilization studies. A few representative ones will be mentioned here. Dignarn (1977) researched problems associated with the use of television in secondary schools, including equipment, scheduling, availability of programs, and teacher resistance. She reported a continuing debate about the extent to which teacher training should be emphasized in relation to systematic evaluation of utilization. Her report, which is based on a review of the literature, concluded that the relaxation of off-air taping regulations granted by some distributors eased scheduling and equipment difficulty, as did videocassette and videodiscs. -

It Figures is a series of 28 15-rninute video programs in mathematics designed for grade 4, in use since 1982. AIT (1984) did a survey of 117 teacher-users of this series. This survey gathered information on (a) teacher's backgrounds, (b) how teachers discovered and used the series, (c) perceived cognitive and attitudinal effects of the series, (d) teachers' reactions to the teacher's guide, and (e) overall reactions to the series. Seventy-six teachers responded that they perceived the series positively and used it in diverse ways. This is an example of an impact study.

AIT used a series of minicase studies to report on "Video at Work in American Schools" (Carlisle, 1987). This report takes the form of a compilation of experiences the author, Robert Carlisle, had during his travels through 12 states, visiting applications of ITV. He talked to almost 160 people about television utilization and documented them and their projects through photographs. Carlisle concluded that access to equipment is no longer a sizable problem, nor is availability of programming, and the VCR has proved to be a very flexible tool for instruction. Nevertheless, the strength of the human support network behind the teacher was questionable.

1.7.5.4. Corporation for Public Broadcasting Studies. Peter Dirr, director of the Catholic Telecommunications Network, did the first school use television studies for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Diff and Petrone (1978) conducted a study in 1976-1977 that documented the pattern of greatest use of ITV in lower grades and diminishing use in higher grades. They used a stratified sample of 3,700 classroom teachers. This was the first indepth and rigorously conducted study of public school use since the introduction of television in schools (Cuban, 1986). Estimating based on data collected, they speculated that over 15 million students watched televised lessons daily. As is typical with most subsequent utilization studies, they investigated teacher attitudes, accessibility of equipment, and patterns of use in schools.

CPB sponsored two subsequent school utilization studies, one covering 1982-83 and another covering 1990-91. The research was conducted by CPB and the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). The final report of the 1982-83 study compared the use of instructional television in 1977 and 1983 (Riccobono, 1985). This 1982-83 study surveyed the availability, use, and support (financial, personnel, and staff development) of instructional media in public and private elementary and secondary schools.

While the 1977 survey focused on television, this study was expanded by adding audio/radio and computers. Queries about instructional applications and equipment were directed to 619 superintendents, 1,350 principals, and 2,700 teachers. Responses were grouped by district size, wealth, and school level. The results indicated that although media use varied across districts and levels, almost all teachers had access to audio, video, and digital media. Over 90% of the districts offered in-service teacher training in media. The status of television for instruction remained relatively stable since 1977, except that fewer elementary teachers and more secondary teachers reported using television (CBP & NCES, 1984).

CPB sponsored the "1991 Study of School Uses of Television and Video," which surveyed almost 6,000 educators (CPB, n.d.). The results can be generalized to virtually all of the nation's public education system: 11,218 school districts, 72,291 public elementary and secondary schools, and 2,282,773 school teachers. The survey measured the use of instructional television and video, the availability of equipment and programming, and the support and resources devoted to instructional television. It replaced the audio/radio and computer component of the 1982-83 report with questions related to several new television-based technologies. The results of the survey show that instructional television is a firmly established teaching tool that is positively regarded by classroom teachers and increasingly well supported with equipment and programming. Programming availability was reported to be one source of frustration for teachers.

11.7.5-5. Other Utilization Studies. The major methodologies used for utilization studies have been experimentation and questionnaire survey. An example of an experimental design would be a study designed to investigate the relative effectiveness of three methods of instruction: conventional classroom instruction, televised instruction only, and a combination of classroom and televised instruction for teaching science content and vocabulary. A 1971 study done in the Santa Ana Unified School District reported no significant difference obtained by either classroom or televised instruction alone. The combination of televised and classroom instruction resulted in the greatest achievement (Santa Ana Unified School District, 1971). Such comparative studies have fallen into disfavor because they cannot be related to individual differences or mediating variables.

An example of a questionnaire approach is Tumer and Simpson's (1982) study of the factors affecting the utilization of educational television in schools in Alabama. The researchers gathered information pertaining to five variables: (a) the percentage of students using ITV, (b) the ratio of students to videotape recorders, (c) ratio of students to television receivers, (d) ratio of students to color television receivers, and (e) students within districts using television. Scheduling was found to be the most important variable. This 6ndijig holds true in some cases today. Many districts that contracted for satellite telecourses when they were first offered were surprised to learn that some of the programs required one and a half of their regular periods and that students scheduled for such classes were therefore unable to take some regular classes.

Utilization studies (see 37.4) in the United States have focused on the availability of resources, attitudes towards ITV and ETV, and impact of programming. In comparison, utilization studies of television in developing countries have looked at resource issues from the perspective of the design and support of both educational and television systems.

11.7.1 Summary and Recommendations

Although a great deal of research has been done on programming for preschoolers and classrooms, there are major gaps in the literature. One such gap is in the effects of video production by students. Another area in which the research is confusing is that of newer programming genres for which it is difficult to compare findings. Contemporary varieties of advertising on television also present a very complex topic that warrants more research. Greater attention should be paid to the effects of genre differences and program formats, as well. It is important for researchers to investigate the interaction of the content and form of programming with other variables.

Many areas identified by research have not been adequately pursued, such as the effect of programs and utilization practices on rural children. Barriers to greater utilization are teachers' lack of knowledge about sources of programming for their subject-matter area and research on utilization. Utilization may be facilitated through "Cable in the Classroom," a nonprofit service of the cable television industry, which will offer educational programming for the classroom, curriculum-based support materials, and a clearinghouse for information on cable use in schools. Over 500 hours of high-quality programs will be delivered to schools each month, without commercial interruption (Kamil, 1992). Opportunities for research will arise as a result. KIDSNETT, a computerized clearinghouse concerned with programs for children preschool through high school, will be another source of information for researchers. Its "Active Database" has detailed information on 5,000 children's programs and public-service announcements and on 20,000 programs available for use in classrooms (Mielke, 1988).