Distance Education at TVOntario:
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TVOntario, Ontario's educational broadcaster, offers non-formal distance education courses on a wide variety of subjects. These are broadcast on an English network (TVO) and a French network (La Chaîne). An evaluation of the English courses and a separate evaluation of the French courses were conducted by the Evaluation and Project Research Department. These looked at data available from already-existing courses, from telephone interviews, and from focus groups (English only) with course participants. Demographics tend to show an equal split between men and women, with a tendency towards higher socio-economic and educational categories. A majority were also familiar with continuing or distance education. Registrants signed up in a rather casual manner but joined for very specific reasons. They did not usually use materials in a linear, step-by-step fashion but, instead, strategically located and synthesized information. The consistently high level of satisfaction with the courses indicates that they provided the registrants with what was wanted.
TVOntario, le télédiffuseur éducatif de l'Ontario, offre sur les ondes de son réseau anglais (TVO) et celles de son réseau français (La Chaîne) des cours de formation à distance non formelle traitant de différents sujets. Le Service de recherche et d'évaluation a fait deux études distinctes examinant respectivement les volets français et anglais de cette formation à distance non formelle. Ces études ont utilisé des données déjà disponibles sur les cours offerts de même que des données provenant d'entrevues téléphoniques et de groupes de discussion (en anglais seulement) avec des personnes inscrites à ces cours. Les données démographiques indiquent que les cours attirent autant d'hommes que de femmes mais un plus grand nombre de personnes favorisées au point de vue socio-économique ou hautement scolarisées. La majorité des participants avaient une expérience préalable de l'éducation à distance. Ils s'étaient inscrits d'une façon quelque peu informelle mais pour des raisons précises. Ils n'ont pas utilisé le matériel d'une façon linéaire mais ont plutôt cherché et fait la synthèse de l'information qui les intéressait. Le haut niveau de satisfaction des participants montre que les cours ont su répondre à leurs attentes.
Research on distance education has tended to concentrate on the evaluation of individual post- secondary courses offered by colleges and universities, usually for credit. However, a substantial proportion of adult distant education learning takes place outside of the formal educational environment.1 This type of learning is usually undocumented because of the difficulties in tracking these unregistered (if one can use that word) students (some of whom would not regard themselves as students). They go about their learning in isolation from the academic community, making the occasional appearance as a general statistic or individual anecdote.
A most interesting example of this is the non-formal television course, which, as a means of education, has enormous potential. Television is, after all, the medium most Canadians turn to for information; the one they consider the most fair and objective, and the one they would turn to, over radio, magazines, and newspapers, to learn about new things (Crowley, Jeffrey, & McAninch, 1988, pp. 32–33). Many appear to have done so according to the Eighth OISE Survey on Public Attitudes towards Education in Ontario. Fourteen percent of participants (or approximately one in seven) said they had followed a course carried on educational television, while 46% would consider following such a course (Sharon, 1991). So, theoretically, 60% of the Ontario population could follow a telecourse at one time or another.
Of the television courses available to Ontarian adults, most are provided by the French and English networks of TVOntario. The province's educational broadcasting authority has offered hundreds of non-formal courses over the past decade, on a wide range of subjects in both official languages. Although its involvement has been mainly in the area of non-formal education, TVOntario has also worked in partnership with post-secondary institutions in the development and the broadcasting of a number of television-based credit courses.
To be a course registrant in a non-formal course, one simply contacts TVOntario and pays for material to supplement the television component. Distance education can be thought of as a continuum - with people watching the occasional information program on one end and registrants in formally accredited courses on the other end. In this construction, TVOntario participants in non-formal courses would occupy a middle point on the continuum.
In order to better understand these registrants, TVOntario's Evaluation and Project Research department undertook two studies that looked at the non-formal summer courses offered at TVOntario: an evaluation of the 1989 summer courses offered on the English network (TVO) and an evaluation of the 1990 summer courses on the French network (La Chaîne).
The English network has been offering telecourses since the mid 1970s. Spring-Summer 1989 was the first time that a large portion of the broadcast schedule was devoted to non-formal courses over a designated period of time. There were 61 non-formal courses offered by TVO between May and August. All series were produced between 1976 and 1989 with three quarters in the last four years. Individual program length and time varied: most (82%) were half an hour in length. Total viewing time averaged 6 hours, with the shortest being half an hour and the longest 30 hours. On average, approximately 46 hours of programming were devoted to these series every week. A third were offered on TVO for the first time. Two-thirds were Canadian; about half of all courses were TVOntario productions or coproductions.
Of the courses, a quarter were in the "Leisure and Hobbies" section, a fifth related to business in one way or another, a sixth were on "scientific" topics, and the rest were related to a wide range of other topics, such as gerontology, English, and archaeology.
A total of 18,176 people registered in Home Studies during this period, for an average of 298 registrants per course. However, the 10 most popular courses accounted for almost half (49%) of registrants. The course titles are an apt illustration of the diversity of "Home Studies" offering: The Successful Landlord, French in Action, Focus on Watercolor, Cartooning with Yardley Jones, The Weight Craze, How Will you Manage?, Beyond Stress, The Business of Better Writing, Jerry Baker's Lawn Care Tips and Tricks, and R-2000, the Better Built House.
All the courses had some support material: most had companion guides (called "study guides," "viewers' guides," and the like); about half had textbooks. The average cost was $32 but varied from $10 to $96.
The English and French studies shared similar goals, even though they followed slightly different methodologies.
In a first step, a descriptive analysis of the courses offered was under-taken. The analysis synthesized information about the courses that was already available at TVOntario: characteristics of the series offered, the audience (people who watched the programs), and the registrants (those who sent for the material). On the English side, audience and historical data were available and it was possible to look at previous audiences and registrants, to identify viewing and registration patterns. On the French side, because of the recent origin of La Chaîne network, such historical data was not available.
The second phase of the studies consisted of summative evaluations of the courses offered. They examined the registrants' reasons for registering, their previous experience with distance learning, and their use of the programs and support material. The registrants were also asked about their degree of learning from the courses, their level of satisfaction with the programs and support material, their suggestions and comments on the courses, and the topics they would like for future inclusion. The English study went a little further by examining the perception of TVO Home Studies in general, what participants thought of specific terms used in the Home Studies area, and how Home Studies relate to other courses and free-time activities.
Both summative studies used phone interviews with a number of registrants. There were 99 randomly selected registrants from 5 courses in English (a response rate of 70%) and 43 registrants (out of 78, or 55%) from the whole array of the courses offered in French. In English, the phone interviews were supplemented by four focus groups with another 27 registrants. The focus groups were intended to follow up the results of the phone interviews: they answered the same questions but in greater depth.2
We do not present and discuss the complete set of results for these studies but rather concentrate on the aspects that were shared by the two studies:
Crowley, Jeffrey, and McAninch (1988) made some generalizations from research studies about the composition of the audience for information programming. "Information seekers" were more likely to
In the English sample, registrants were equally split between male and female, but this composition varied from course to course. The French sample was predominantly female, but this may have been because of the small sample size, the types of courses, or the "treatment" accorded to subject matter. Previous TVOntario evaluations have shown overall gender equality but major differences in who registers in the various courses (see Brown, 1986). For example, the registrants in Parents and Children: Six Vital Issues were mostly female (Thyssen, 1986); the registrants in Coming to a Factory Near You were mostly male (Brown, 1988). We will not comment on why more men or women registered in specific courses; this was not the purpose of this study. However, the literature in distance education suggests that the decision by men or women to register in a specific course is motivated not only by topic but also by course format, treatment, and delivery style (Kirkup & von Prümmer, 1990).
Participants tend to be adults but most are below 50 (59% of the English sample, 79% of the French sample). A higher proportion of the English sample was 60 years of age or older (20% of the English compared to 7% of the French sample). Other studies have repeatedly shown that these courses attract younger and early middle age adults and fewer older adults. In fact, the English sample may have an atypically large proportion of older adults.
Most participants had post-secondary training (79% of the English sample, 86% of the French sample), with university training predominating (60% of the English sample, 81% of the French).
A majority of the English sample fell into three occupational groups: professional (27%), office clerical (16%), or skilled/craftworker (15%). Over a fifth (22%) of the English sample were retired, understandable in light of the age demographics. The French sample was largely professional (47%) or office/clerical (30%).
A specific question regarding television usage was not asked in either the English or French study. However, other studies have consistently shown registrants to be moderate or light viewers of television. In the Evaluation of Five Reading-Viewing Courses (Brown, 1986), the majority of registrants reported that they watched 14 hours or less a week.3
A logical conclusion to the above description is that although much of Ontario's population may be "open" to following educational telecourses, only a much smaller subset is likely to do something about it - that is, register for these courses. These registrants appear to be demographically similar to the television "information-seekers" profiled above and much the same as the participants in formal distance education courses found in numerous evaluations (see Knapper & Wasylycia-Coe, 1982).
Indeed, TVOntario registrants are familiar not just with the academic system but specifically with distance education. Nearly two-thirds of the English telephone sample (61%) and two-thirds of the French sample (67%) had taken a continuing education or distance education course in the five years prior to registration.
Since most participants were aware of formal educational alternatives, why did they choose to register for TVOntario courses? Actually, "registration" - with its connotations of a considered, planned educational strategy - may be inappropriate. Signing up for a TVO course may, for many, be a much less organized affair. Most of those participating in the English telephone interview learned about the courses in a rather casual (not to say accidental) way: for instance, they viewed an on-air promotion that was broadcast while they were watching TVO, or they had started to watch a program and then decided to become more involved. As a consequence, half the participants had ordered material after the programs had begun.
Participants in the French sample were somewhat different. Most (61%) became aware of courses through a flyer circulated prior to the beginning of the course. As a result, 70% had registered before having seen any of the programs on TVO. Another 23% found out about it through on-air viewing. The differences between French and English registration patterns may have been a consequence of the French brochure being targeted toward community channels, which was considered to be an effective way to reach the Franco-Ontarian audience.
Focus group conversations in the English sample indicated that registrants did not really think they were "registering" at all, and they did not seem to spend a great deal of time contemplating the decision to register. As one respondent put it:
To tell you the truth I didn't `sign up' for (the course). I was more interested in receiving the written materials. I had seen a couple of programs - though there might be something valid in seeing it written because I wasn't about to take notes.
There also appears to be uncertainty over whether the TVOntario offering is really a "course" or not. In focus group discussions, some participants clearly thought of the TVO offering as a "course," others saw it as a television program with print material backup that they could order. The subject and organization of the material could make a difference to how the program was perceived: the more the subject content and presentation resembled traditional school material, the more likely it was to be considered a "course."
Despite their casual approach to "joining" the TVOntario telecourse, most participants signed up for very specific reasons related to the acquisition of knowledge. Almost all registered in order to learn more about a particular subject area or to supplement already existing knowledge in that area (91% of the English telephone sample and 81% of the French sample). For the most part, participants had some familiarity with the topic prior to registering for a particular course: approximately half (54% of the English telephone sample, 47% of the French sample) had already read in the area or had taken a course on that topic.
The majority of study participants did not engage in the linear design of the course materials: they neither watched all the television programs, nor read all the printed support material. Only 46% of the English registrants to whom we spoke and 35% of the French participants watched most or all of the television programs. Similarly, 53% of the English respondents and 35% of the French read most or all of the workbook or textbook.
These results are not surprising. Other TVOntario research studies have found similar patterns. A review of different courses offered over the years at TVOntario reveals that "in TVO's non-formal courses, only a minority of registrants can be classified as dedicated users of available resources" (Brown, 1989a). As we have already mentioned, registrants sign up for non-formal courses in the hope of acquiring very specific knowledge on topics with which they are often already familiar. Consequently, the components of the course are used according to specific needs of the individual learner. Learners, therefore, may not feel compelled to watch all the programs or read all the print material. This, however, is not the case for those registered in formal telecourses leading to university or college credits. These students tend to watch more programs and read more of the print material in greater detail (Brown & Duggan, 1986; Constantin, 1990a).
VCRs played an important role in the way people used the television component. A majority of registrants owned a VCR (76% in English and 86% in French). Slightly less than one half of them (49% in English and 46% in French) recorded one or more programs with the intent of viewing them at a more convenient time. The English focus groups results indicated that participants sometimes used the learning materials in a more interactive way when VCRs were used for this purpose.
I would watch the show, stop the tape, scribble away, then see what (the host) is up to, scramble (the tape) back and see how he did something.
In these studies participants were not asked why they preferred TVOntario courses to "formal" offerings. However, an earlier study of five TVO non-formal courses did so (Brown, 1986). Over half the respondents in that study reported that telecourses were more convenient than those available at night school, college, or university. Others indicated that they were too busy to take a "normal" course or that they preferred to learn at their own pace.
The fact that registrants used the material in a different way than course designers intended did not affect their appreciation of that material. Most of the English registrants indicated that on the whole they were satisfied with the material (91%), as did the French registrants (87% appreciated the television programs and 80% the print material).
No definite relationship between level of use and degree of satisfaction was noted. Generally, dissatisfaction was the result of the inability to locate specifically useful information. However, most participants did not encounter this problem.
The majority of French participants (70%) considered print materials and television programs to be equally important and felt that they complemented each other very well. When asked to identify the most important element of the course, the majority of English participants (58%) rated the programs as most important, whereas only one-fifth (20%) considered print materials to be most important. Differences amongst English participants appeared to be related to individual learning styles. Those who thought programs to be most important pointed to the benefits of visual demonstrations and examples. They also considered the television programs to be superior with regard to content. Others reported finding it easier to watch than to read. Those who preferred print materials liked the fact that they provided a permanent reference and found them more informative than programs broadcast on TVO. They also preferred the convenience of print.
There were many similarities between the English and French studies. The registrants themselves tended to be motivated information seekers. They were already experienced with distance education and were quite highly educated. They would approach the telecourses with specific learning goals and looking for specific information: however, they would sometimes acquire this information in a way different from that envisioned by course designers. They usually did not use all materials and typically did not use materials in a linear fashion. Instead they strategically located and synthesized the information they needed.
TVOntario is still an active player in non-formal distance education. Partly as a result of this research, changes have been made to the kind of courses offered and in the marketing of Home Study courses. For example, TVOntario has investigated how to make audiocassettes of these courses available through the provincial public library system (Soudack, 1991; Pearson, 1991). TVO Home Studies has continued to do further research on registrant characteristics, preferences, use, and satisfaction, in order to respond to their needs, and reach a greater potential market. As a first step in a permanent system of gathering information and feedback, 3,000 questionnaires were sent to registrants in new courses during the summer of 1991 (with a return rate of 40%). At the time of writing, 5,000 questionnaires were scheduled to be sent out during the summer of 1992 (Pearson, 1991, 1992). As well, La Chaîne is working on the development of more non-formal courses and continues to investigate the particular needs of the Franco- Ontarian community (Stern, 1991).
The results of this research underlines strongly what is a key reason for many who choose non- formal courses over formal ones: the opportunity to achieve their specific learning goals, without a formal structure to limit them. The fact that there was a consistently high level of satisfaction - regardless of the level of utilization of TV or print-based components - shows that these courses generally provided the registrants with what they wanted. It also underlines the importance of non-formal resources as a viable complement to the regular educational system.
1. For the purpose of this article, formal education is equated with education for secondary and post-secondary credits.
2. We have not differentiated between the focus group results and the phone interview results in this article because they tended to be very similar.
3. This is substantially less than average viewing at the time of the study (around 23 hours per week in Ontario in 1987, according to the Canada Year Book, 1990).
Brown, R. S., & Duggan, K. (1986). Summative evaluation of the sociology telecourse. Toronto: TVOntario.
Brown, R. S. (1986). Evaluation of five reading-viewing courses. Toronto: TVOntario.
Brown, R. S. (1988). Summative evaluation of coming to a factory near you. Toronto: TVOntario.
Brown, R. S. (1989a, June). Distance education: Nonformal and formal students compared. Paper presented at AMTEC'89, Edmonton, Alberta.
Brown, R. S., with Alton, S. (1989b). Home studies spring-summer 1989 courses: A descriptive report. Toronto, TVOntario.
Brown, R. S., with Davis, D., & Parsons, P. (1990). Home studies spring/ summer session 1989: Summative evaluation. Toronto: TVOntario.
Constantin, D. (1990a). Didactique des sciences et des mathématiques: L'intervention. Évaluation sommative du télécours. Toronto: TVOntario.
Constantin, D. (1990b). Rapport sur la formation à distance non formelle: Saison été 1990. Toronto: TVOntario.
Crowley, D., Jeffrey, L., & McAninch, F. (1988). Trends in television viewing: Documentary and the audience for information programming. Toronto: National Film Board of Canada.
Kirkup, G., & von Prümmer, C. (1990, Fall). Support and connectedness: The needs of women distance education students. Journal of Distance Education, V(2), 9–31.
Knapper, C. K., & Wasylycia-Coe, M. A. (1982). Characteristics and attitudes of correspondence students. In J. S. Daniel, M. A. Stroud, & J. R. Thomson (Eds.), Learning at a distance: A world perspective (p. 125). Edmonton, Alta: Athabasca University.
Pearson, R. (1991). A formative evaluation of home studies' calendar distribution to public libraries. Toronto: TVOntario.
Pearson, R. (1991, Summer; 1992, Summer). Unpublished data and findings available from evaluation and project research. TVOntario.
Sharon, D. (1991). TVO participation in the eighth OISE survey on public attitudes toward education in Ontario (1990). Toronto: TVOntario.
Soudack, A. (1991). Evaluation of the TV Ontario library pilot project (1991). Toronto: TVOntario.
Stern, J. (1991). Besoins de la population adulte franco-ontarienne à l'égard de la programmation educative non formelle. Toronto: TVOntario.
Thyssen, J. (1986). Summative evaluation of parents and children: Six vital issues. Toronto: TVOntario.
Robert Stewart Brown was a Research Officer in TVOntario's Evaluation
and Project Research Department from 1984 to 1990. He is now a Research Officer at the Toronto Board of
Education.
Danielle Constantin has been a Research Officer in TVOntario's
Evaluation and Project Research Department from 1987 to 1992. She is now living in Mexico.