Nowadays,
the utilization of technology in education is a popular technique used by
teachers in educating their students. Various multimedia tools are almost
incorporated in all lessons of different subjects. One of the most used media
in education is television. Generally, television is perceived as a relaxation
medium (Zajc, Alic, Battelino & Tassic, n.d.). Television is a tool for
people to get entertained or to obtain information. In a school setting,
television is used for academic purposes through playing educational programs
for students to watch. These programs help teachers to further explain concepts
that are taught in a specific subject. It also simplifies these concepts
through visual representation. These
educational programs do not only train the student about the subject matter but
enhance their various senses such as visual and hearing senses. Thus, when
creating educational programs, one must consider several factors in order for
it to be effective in delivering its message to the target audience. An
effective educational television program should be direct, clear, informative
and age-appropriate to its target audience.
For an educational television to be
effective, investment on these cannot be kept low compare to other television
program (Akyurek, 2005). Thus, in preparing educational television program,
there must be a sufficient funding and materials in creating an effective
program. Research works, script writing, program development, pre and
post-production assessment are some of the necessary steps in creating an
effective educational television program. Researching the background and
expectations of the target audience is essential to the creation of script and
program development. The data will become the basis for the over-all structure
of the program itself. The script should be made simple yet informative for the
target audience to understand. In the program development, in which the script
writing is also included, the presentation style, production fund and time
management, sequencing of scenes such as video footages and interviews are
considered during this time. Assessment during pre-production is done through
the reading of written text, assessment of dramatic specialties and education
content and sending them to the producer-director for shooting after the
necessary corrections are done (Akyurek, 2005). The finished program will be
shown to a group of target audience for assessment before its broadcasting
proper. Changes in the script will be made after getting the response from the
audience. Afterwards, the program will be ready for broadcast.
In the process of creating an
educational television program, one must consider its affectivity to its target
audience by having certain characteristics. Not all educational television programs
are equally effective, or have an equally strong impact to its audience (Fisch,
2005). Therefore, having the following characteristics of an effective
educational television program can have its intended message reached its
audience.
1. The
language and the topic used for the program must be age-appropriate to its
targeted audience. This is helpful in the process of comprehension of the
watching audience.
2. The
educational content of the program should be clear and direct. The information
must be easily understood by the audience for the intention of the program is
to educate them. Also, this is also to prevent confusion to the audience when
they watch the program.
3. The
program should encourage and motivate its audience in an active participation
during the viewing. This could be done through an interactive video
presentation which is included in the program. This would help the audience to
be an active viewer rather than a passive one. By incorporating interactive
video presentation in the program, the audience can have a better learning
performance and higher level of learning satisfaction compared to those
programs that do not have one (Zhang, Zhou, Briggs & Nunamaker Jr., 2006).
4. Having
appealing elements such as humors and diagrams that connects conceptually
related segments can help the program grasp the attention of its audience
during the viewing proper. It also helps simplifies concepts and how it can be
applied to different problems or situation (Fisch, 2005).
5. Repetitions
of concept during the program can help the reinforcement of it in the memory of
the audience.
These
are some of the important characteristics that one may consider in creating an
effective educational television program. By incorporating these
characteristics in an educational television program, one may be assured that
the intended message in the program can be understood by its target audience.
Educational television program has
an effect to its target audience, especially to children. It is during these
early life stages where learning is an important factor for human development.
These effects can be seen in their academic performance and social behavior.
Watching educational television programs has a short and long term effect in
the academic performance of children. The immediate effect of watching these
programs has to do with the academic readiness and prowess of the children
before and during their pre-school studies (Fisch, 2005). These academic skills
are letter-word knowledge, math skills and vocabulary size. Thus, allowing
children to watch educational television program helps them become prepared to
school in a much early stage compared to those who do not watch these programs.
These effects have been observed on a longer term. According to Fisch, high
school students who watched educational television programs during their early
childhood days have high grade in subjects such as English, Mathematics and
Science (Fisch, 2005). They are also observed to have a high academic
self-esteem. In terms of social behavior, children who watch educational
television programs have a positive effect to their social behavior (Fisch,
2005). This effect can be seen on several domains of social behavior such as
friendliness, altruism and cooperation, self-control and delay of gratification,
and delay of gratification. However, this effect can be mediated by values
learned from their families and peers. In general, watching educational
television programs can have a positive effect on students’ academic
performance and social behavior.
Having a clear, direct, informative
and age-appropriate educational television program can help its effectiveness
towards its audience. Also, these factors must also be observed in the process
of preparation of the educational television program, from research to its
broadcasting proper. Aside from these factors, there are also some
characteristics that an effective educational television program should have
such as an appealing program, clear and age-appropriate language and the like.
Without these, an educational television program will lose its impact to its
targeted audiences. Thus, creating educational television program is necessary
because if its positive effect to its audience, specifically to children. Educational
television program does not only restrict itself in providing academic skills
that children need to learn but they also provide the necessary social skills
as well, which is essential in having a well-rounded personality.
Akyurek, F. (2005). A
Model Proposal for Educational Television Program. Turkish Online Journal of
Distance Education, 6(2), 55-64.
Fisch, S. (2005).
Children’s Learning from Television. 10-14.
Zajc, M., Kemal, A.,
Battelino, I., & Tasic, J. (2006). Challenges of Interactive Digital
Television. Faculty of Electronic Engineering
Zhang, D., Zhou, L.,
Briggs, R., & Nunamaker Jr., (2006). Instructional video in e- learning:
Assesing the impact of interactive video on learning effectiveness. Information
and Management, 43, 15-27.