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Plenary Speeches
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First of all, I will start with two very different quotes about learning. One is from the philosopher Frances Bacon. 'Knowledge is power', he said 400 years ago. And the second is from the team who wrote the brochure for this Conference. 'Learning can be, and is, fun', they say. Well, there is an enormous difference between those two ideas and it often seems that the two could not possibly co-exist. Knowledge has too often seemed to be a power vested in others, and the fun in learning is so often elusive. But today I think things are starting to look a bit different. They look different because of the world that we live in and the opportunities that new technology brings for extending knowledge and learning, but different too, I believe, because of the special power of modern television to open the door of lifelong learning for all. So why is it that television has a special place? Well, because of what television is. It is present in almost every home; it is trusted; it is familiar, a teacher and a persuader, but absolutely unthreatening. Television can help give the power of knowledge and put the fun in learning for everyone. Two ways Today I am going to illustrate two very different ways in which we at the BBC are ensuring that television can contribute to the revolution in learning to which we all here aspire. One example is of today, and the other is of tomorrow, though not I hope too far away. One shows television's power as a mass medium, the other shows how television will become a place for a more individual experience. In so many cases the one really difficult barrier to learning that people have to overcome is fear, fear of not knowing and of having to ask, lack of confidence and embarrassment that the pace of new technology has passed them by. Television precisely because of its very familiarity can overcome those fears. BBC television currently reaches into well over 90% of British homes and BBC Education, the bit for which I am responsible, reaches something like 60% of the British population in any 3 month period. We already broadcast over 2,300 hours a year of educational television and radio, and that is all backed by a mass of support material published in a variety of different media. But today I'm just going to focus on the one example of Computers Don't Byte, which just shows what television can do. Computers Don't Byte We launched this campaign last year to promote computer literacy amongst the wider population. It is our most ambitious campaign to date in a very long history of successful television-led education campaigns. We had never done anything quite like this before. Our aim was to reach out to the millions of people, we calculated about 13 million adults, in the country who cannot use computers. These are people who are frightened and perplexed by computers, who feel that they have been left behind, and particularly left behind by their own children, and yet they want to learn more. Now what we wanted to do was to give them was the opportunity to discover that computers, in fact, do not bite. That meant giving them hands-on experience of using a computer. We wanted as ever to use the power of that friendly familiar television in the home to tell people not what they did not know, but what they could know. To encourage them to get up and do something about IT for themselves, and to show them that worthwhile opportunities were there if they did. We have never before made the link from television to practical activity, to actually getting on the bus and going and doing it. So we had to make people want to do it. And then, of course, we had to set up a network of partnerships that could actually deliver the experience on the ground, and beyond that of course we wanted to try and motivate as many people as possible to continue with their learning. In short, it was something of a logistical nightmare. This was how it worked in practice. We designed some promotional short films, just 40 seconds long, designed to encourage a response, and placed them between our programmes on our two main channels in the evenings at peak times when millions of people are watching. We also commissioned special programmes to inform people about computers, and particularly the user-friendly ways in which computers can be used in people's homes. And we got all sorts of other BBC programmes on radio and television to feature the campaign. We set up a telephone line. We distributed a free magazine packed with information. We designed a CD-ROM which was easy to use and fun, and which introduced people to the very basic computer skills - using a mouse, editing text and so on. We made the CD-ROM available to a 1000 partners who themselves organised introductory taster sessions. This was a unique endeavour and a unique partnership of public service broadcasting with a whole range of people from libraries to colleges, shopping centres and pubs. The Future But when we look into the future things get even more exciting. Digital technology will of course have a huge impact on broadcasting as a whole. It will greatly expand choice. It will open up home shopping. It will give viewers control over their own experience. It will allow existing programmes to be enriched by access to deeper supporting information. This will, of course, enrich people's leisure time, but the arrival of two-way traffic in education not just into but also out of the viewer's home or workplace or classroom, will revolutionise learning through television. Learning will become accessible as never before. It will be done more and more as the learner wants it, not as a chore but as fun. Digital interactivity will bring learning through television to life. It will move learners at the flick of a switch from the passive to the active, open up the whole world to them in seconds, transfer knowledge and power at the same time. The BBC's Website is already the most popular content-based site in the UK, and BBC Education is its most popular calling point after the Home page. Traffic has gone up four-fold since last September to 2.5 million hits a month. And we've already started a special service that helps people who are not familiar with on-line services to learn how to use them. In the UK digital television will launch on Satellite this Summer and on Terrestrial and Cable Platforms next Winter, and the BBC has invested heavily in it. Next year we'll be launching a new dedicated public service learning channel - BBC Learning. It will serve learners of all ages from pre-school to adult, and once again we'll need to work with partners to turn opportunities into personal achievements. We'll be talking to businesses, trade unions, professional institutions, the Open University and, of course, the University for Industry. Working together to put together interactive packages tailored to teach skills and so make learning available and make it fun.
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