ITV (Instructional Television) Basics
The Wisconsin Educational Communications Board (ECB) acquires and produces instructional television — or ITV —programming designed for pre-kindergarten through grade 12. This programming is broadcast on public television statewide (see map).
During the school year, the ECB will provide 142 ITV series, totaling more than 1,200 hours of broadcast time.
The ECB’s Digital Parade enables teachers to select ITV programming that best suits the curricula and their students’ abilities.
In Wisconsin, ITV airs from September through May at various times of day. Programming for elementary- and middle-level grades is broadcast weekdays, from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. High school and teacher in-service programming airs from 1 a.m. to 4 a.m. Tuesdays through Fridays. Unlike most daytime programming, these late-night broadcasts air in block-feed format, which is the consecutive airing of multiple programs of a particular series.
ITV programs and series may be recorded and retained for an extended period of time, giving educators the flexibility of using them in the classroom when the content material
is being taught. If a recording opportunity is missed, a videotape copy, or dub, is available for a nominal fee from the ECB's Tape Dubbing Service.
Wisconsin is one of only a few states that integrates teacher input extensively into its selection of ITV programming. Through Teacher Preview Week, the ECB annually invites Wisconsin’s K-12 teachers to review programming proposed for next year's ITV line-up. Sample programs of ITV series under consideration make up the programming, which airs in November.
For more information about ITV in Wisconsin,
contact Marta Bechtol, ECB Director of School Services,
or call at 608/264-9733
