Marg,
Thanks for sharing that story! It certainly shows how TV can reach a
larger audience than classroom programs, due to the factors you
mentioned and more. It would be nice to study how many viewers turned
into learners or pursued further study on their own. According to
Molly's studies, the GED on TV program in Indiana (US) produced 7,600
GED completers in the state! (See #1. below)

And, according to the study of the TV411 program by the Institute for
Social Research, the use of programs like this can improve skills,
increase participants' plans to engage in both formal study and everyday
literacy activities, and encourage learners to take more of a leadership
role in classroom-guided programs. (See #2. below.)

This is all encouraging news!  Who else has experienced a similar
program?

All the best,
Julie

*********************
#1. 
The GED Via TV
by Molly K. Robertson
http://www.ncsall.net/?id=1154 

#2. 
Letting Learners Lead: Theories of Adult Learning and TV411
by Debby D'Amico and Mary Ann Capehart 
http://www.ncsall.net/?id=267



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


>>> "Marg Rose" <bcmrose at telus.net> 02/01/07 1:38 AM >>>

Thanks for the open invite to comment, Julie.

Given the low enrolment in adult literacy programs due to
funding/hours/transportational barriers/lack of child care etc, and IALS
survey results that showed that many adults with low literacy did not
state
they perceived a problem with their own literacy skills, we secured
$100K
from the Manitoba Lotteries Corporation to produce a ten week television
series called Mathworks.

It was based on a series of videotapes that came from the Nova Scotia
Coalition on Literacy in Canada. We hired a TV producer who jazzed up
the
content, timing, added features like MathFACTS, Math Trivia, teaching
tips,
"streeters" asking questions about math in real life, and authentic
interviews with local shopkeepers, etc who showed how math was used in
daily
life. It also had an on-air hostess who "taught" basic concepts. We
embedded
a website URL and call to action to visit www.mathworkstv.com and/or to
call
our LEARN LINE phone number "for help or to help" in the television show
as
a bumper (little advertisement) to track how many viewers we were
attracting
when it ran on satellite television over the first run.

Well....the viewer numbers were staggering. The first night it ran, we
had
10 calls to the LEARN line and 60 hits on the website. To make a long
story
short, by the time the end of the ten week run was over, a total of
60,000
people had logged onto the website (hopefully different people, not one
busy
person over and over!) and 66 extra calls to the LEARN line to inquire
about
programs. Given that only 2,200 people were enrolled in adult literacy
programs across the whole province for the whole year, we were happy
with
the results. We did not measure the conversion factors of how many
callers
turned into learners (due to no funding to evaluate the project).

The TV show went on to run three more times on the satellite network
SCN,
because we wanted to reach the remote who did not have access to
programs. I
hope it worked.

We went on to convert the 10 week series into DVDs and CDs for teachers
to
use, tutors to try, adults to have in their homes, youth to use, and
more.
Many adult literacy instructors come from a Humanities background and
may
appreciate a bit of help with facilitating numeracy learning.

 YOu can order them from Grassroots Press for a ridiculously low price
of
$42.95 US for the CD and $71.95 for the DVD from
www.literacyservices.com
and enter Math Works TV in the search engine.
http://secure.cartsvr.net/catalogs/catalog.asp?prodid=3129088&showprevnext=1

Marg Rose, Former Exec Director of the adult literacy coalition of
Manitoba,
Canada

----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
Message sent to jmckinney at worlded.org.