Hi Everyone,

Last week we talked about learner self-study in terms of the prevalence,
the support porgrams can provide, and some examples, including distance
education. We also recommended another article about the "GED via TV"
program as another example of self-study. (see below) To follow up on
this, today's FOB Article-of-the-Week is about another use of TV for
adult learning, from issue 5 b:

Letting Learners Lead: Theories of Adult Learning and TV411
by Debby D'Amico and Mary Ann Capehart 
http://www.ncsall.net/?id=267

Do adult learners benefit from educational television? Can educational
television support learner leadership and help teachers position
themselves as facilitators? What do viewers actually learn? What can
practitioners learn from research on the impact of educational
television? These and other questions guide researchers from the
Institute for Social Research (ISR) at the University of Michigan, as
they study what viewers learn from TV411. Created by the Adult Literacy
Media Alliance (ALMA), TV411 is a national television series that aims
both to reach learners not enrolled in adult basic education (ABE)
classes and to enhance the education of learners enrolled in such
programs.


The GED Via TV
by Molly K. Robertson
http://www.ncsall.net/?id=1154 

What happens to adult students who are afraid to go to a classroom, who
can't afford the gas to drive to classes, who work during the times
classes are available, who have small children and no child care, or who
simply have no transportation? In Indiana they can enroll in the
statewide GED ON TV program. The series of 39 half-hour GED Connection
television programs is broadcast throughout the state on the eight
Indiana Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) channels and is carried on
dozens of cable channels.

*****************************************
Molly K. Robertson is the founding director of the Indiana GED ON TV
program. She left high school at 16, earned a GED in 1982, and holds a
bachelor's degree in journalism and a master's in telecommunications.
She lives in Muncie, Indiana, with two large, rowdy, black poodles. 
*****************************************

How many of you out there have incorporated some form of TV into your
teaching? What were the results?

Feel free to share any thoughts,
Julie

Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org