TV 2 Skole - news as digital teaching aid
With topicality as the primary objective TV 2 Norway has developed the digital news channel TV 2 Skole(TV 2 School). Producing two weekly transmissions, topicality as paramount and tailored student assignment sheets TV 2 Skole is well on the way to tackle the challenges brought by the market for digital teaching aid in Norway.
Every week TV 2 Skole airs two news transmissions on their news channel ion the web, which are targeted primary school level. Every transmission lasts 10 minutes and one is for children around the age 7-13 years and the other is for young people aged 14-16. All news transmissions are hosted by an adult anchor, who is a familiar face from TV 2’s daily programs, and a child anchor. Every transmission is supplemented by student assignments, which are made out to fit the curriculum and competence objectives stated by the Norwegian school reform.
”A reliable and continuously updated news channel for the different school subjects seems to be the right angle to tackle the digital market for teaching aids in Norway,” says Yngvar Nordberg, manager of TV 2 Skole.
Topicality sells
As a part of marketing strategy TV 2 Skole was offered as a free service in the autumn of 2009 and now the people behind TV 2 Skole are working on selling the service to all larger municipalities in Norway.
”So far our experiences with TV 2 Skole are surprisingly positive we have received great reactions all over the country and what really has been confirmed is that topicality sells,” says Yngvar Nordberg.
In addition the news transmissions have had a special popularity with children and young people with reading difficulties. Tests with news production for students with different functional levels, such as hearing disabilities, have already been run.
Paying for a service in a world of free?
NRK, another large Norwegian tv channel, offers a free service for schools, but TV 2 Skole is convinced that the customers will gladly pay for their concept.
”We do not view NRK as our immediate competition as their focus is on material from their television archive. Their offer is not to the same degree as tailor-made or focused on freshness as what we offer the schools,” says Yngvar Nordberg.
TV 2 Skole reflects itself in services as Channel Four Learning, which in competition with the BBC recently has become leading on the market for digital teaching aids in the UK.
”What makes TV 2 Skole unique is the focus on topicality directly targeted at school level. It is a concept we believe people will pay for on a market packed with free services. Today most teachers does not have the time to do a lot of research, they want content that is updated and ready to serve,” says Yngvar Nordberg.
Moving images and text supplement each other
TV 2 Skole is not going to be only web tv-based; other angles are being considered involving book publishers, Cappelen Damm and Gyldendal among others.
”We are planning concrete teaching aid projects, which focus on dividing the effort between topicality and the market’s demand of immersion in both film and text. I worked in the teaching aid business for 10 years and I always had to look for focus on topicality in teaching aids. However, TV 2 Skole is not going to solve the entire demand for digital teaching aids but contribute with a necessary part. I do not think that digital teaching aids can be a commercial success without a consistent focus on topicality,” concludes Yngvar Nordberg.
