Personal Blogs

• Deployment of radio for distance learning and education in Canada
• Beginning in early 1920’s
• Morgan (1930) – ‘not since the invention of movable type by Gutenberg in the middle of the fifteenth century has there been any force so revolutionary in its effect on the human mind’
• Cantril & Allport (1935) – Educators are confronted with a new medium for public instruction whose magnificent possibilities daze them, but whose technical and psychological peculiarities they do not yet fully understand’
• Large scale of Canada, scattered population, difficulty in accessing remote areas, disparity of education between rural and urban areas and the need to access vast areas with a minimum infrastructure were all drivers to use radio as an educational medium
• By 1940 educational radio in higher education in North America was history
• Canadian National Railways CNR – Sir Henry Thornton was being competitive with CPR (Canadian Pacific Railway) and introduced many innovations to make the CNR more attractive to the traveller than the CPR.  One of which was putting radios in parlour cars (with headphones)
• The rail track formed the network of radio stations.  This meant that CPR could sponsor and control the content
• Thornton saw the social and commercial value in providing educational programmes as a public service
• 1925 – educational programmes for young children – this then expanded to reach people who were deemed to be learning disabled
• Content included: Lectures; Recitations; Music and activity broadcasts.  For  the activities, instructions to create projects would follow.  Therefore the teacher required advanced knowledge of the activity sessions and info gathered before
• Radio Train – the programme was about an imaginary train that travelled to different locations – presented by ‘Ronnie’ it covered info on sights of the location and some history all delivered in an entertaining way.  It was felt that Ronnie could explain locations to blind listeners as he was blind himself.
• Audience Participation was encouraged to try and retain listeners and encourage new listeners
• Issues that impacted on the success of CNR’s project – Education is a provincial responsibility in Canada and some provinces did not want educational content that had originated outside.  Curricular differences across the provinces meant some broadcast content did not link well
• Many schools lacked the funds to purchase a radio or their budget was prioritised to text books
• Due to the time difference across Canada some broadcast times did not work for some provinces

References

Journal of Distance Education

Revue De L’Education A Distance

Spring/Printemps 2006 Vol. 21, No 1,75-88