navigate: home: magazine: fall 2002: article

Unprecedented national agreement forged between higher education and public broadcasting By Karen Tuohey Wing
	In an unprecedented agreement, public television and higher education institutions have endorsed the formation of a working group to investigate ways to extend higher education through digital public television. Penn State has been at the forefront of this discussion as both a land-grant institution and a licensee of public television station WPSX-TV, Channel 3.   “In April 2002, at the request of Penn State and the University of Wisconsin-Extension, the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges unanimously agreed to take the lead in exploring new partnership opportunities between public higher education and public broadcasting. These new partnerships could have far-reaching impact for meeting the growing educational needs of the public,” said President Graham Spanier.   This working group, which includes the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges, the American Association of Community Colleges, the American Association of State Colleges and Universities and the Association of Public Television Stations, will look at the opportunities and challenges associated with the digital conversion scheduled for completion in May 2003. The working group is also inviting participation by all other higher education institutions.   “This new partnership between higher education and public television represents an extraordinary opportunity for us to realize our common goals as engaged institutions,” Dr. C. Peter Magrath, president of the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges, said. “When higher education and public television bring their respective resources together, the result will be an extension of formal education and access to the resources of the university through public television broadcast technology for every American.”   “We are at a unique moment in time,” said Mark Erstling, senior vice president and chief operating officer for the Association of Public Television Stations. “There is leadership coming from higher education in distance education and leadership from public television in terms of the digital conversion. By combining the storytelling skills of public television with the content and assets of higher education, there’s a real opportunity to deliver rich content to the American public, especially rural America.”   “As we think of the challenges of health and wellness; environmental and natural resources; K-12 education, children, youth and families; community and economic development; and other broad societal issues, it is clear that universities have something to offer,” said Dr. James H. Ryan, vice president for Outreach and Cooperative Extension at Penn State. “Public television has a similar commitment to improving the quality of life.”   Pat Mitchell, president and chief executive officer of PBS, stated the mission of public broadcasting this way: “Never more urgently than today, it is our mission to educate, to inform, to enlighten and to provide a forum for diverse voices, to offer a basis for fair and sound judgments and to make the connections that contribute to social capital and build healthy communities.”   Public television stations have an extraordinary opportunity to engage audiences in new ways through digital broadcasting. Working together, the reach of the university can be extended and public broadcasting’s expanded capacity for content can be filled.   “There are three major advantages of the digital signal: high-definition TV, which will give us a much better quality signal; multicasting, which will allow us to broadcast up to four channels simultaneously; and data transmission, which will give the viewer the ability to access additional informational resources that can significantly enhance the broadcast experience,” said Ted Krichels, assistant vice president for outreach and general manager of Penn State Public Broadcasting.   The relationship between public television and higher education institutions was forged 50 years ago when more than 100 leaders in education, broadcasting and government gathered at The Nittany Lion Inn to accept a challenge from the Federal Communications Commission to envision a noncommercial educational television service. The plans made at Penn State led to the creation of national educational television broadcasting and later to the Public Broadcasting Service.   As public television makes the conversion to digital broadcasting and new opportunities for information delivery and interactive learning, Penn State and other higher education institutions will be there again.   “This fall, Penn State hosted a national meeting that brought together representatives from higher education, public libraries and museums, K-12 education and public broadcasting. Their focus was to create a new programmatic vision for the new capacities of the digital era. This initiative continues to celebrate and reinforce Penn State’s leadership role begun 50 years ago,” Spanier said. How will television change?   “It is limited only by our imaginations,” Ryan said, “but we have embarked on some of the possibilities.”   One example is the program Creating Health, which was originally pioneered at the University of Wisconsin-Extension. This initiative involves faculty from five different Penn State colleges with expertise in health and wellness. It uses a number of delivery systems to address serious health issues for our rural communities. On each selected topic, a show is simulcast on Penn State’s public television and public radio stations, with opportunities for audience call-in. A related database on the topic is made available through the Web to serve both the general public and health-care providers. Penn State Cooperative Extension follows up with community-based awareness activities and support groups for personal action plans to address issues such as osteoporosis, diabetes and more.   “We believe the Creating Health model also has potential for on-site and online continuing education for health-care providers,” Ryan said.   Other examples include a half-hour television program, Architecture and Children’s Museums, based on Penn State faculty member Dr. Jawaid Haider’s research and aired on 50 public television stations nationwide, and Center Court with Rene Portland, a program featuring Portland, Penn State’s Lady Lions basketball coach, which was the first women’s sports program. Center Court has been honored with an Emmy Award.   The digital conversion will allow for even greater growth in this area.   “The time is right to create a vision for a mutually supportive partnership,” Ryan said.   For 87 million viewers each week, public television has a great story to tell. As the digital conversion reaches its final stages in 2003, public television’s viewers will see the results and benefit from its rewards.
© 2002 Outreach Communications,   Outreach & Cooperative Extension,   The Pennsylvania State University phone: (814) 865-8108,   fax: (814) 863-2765,   e-mail: outreachnews@outreach.psu.edu