Looking for video of televised college or courses from 70s or 80s.

June 14, 2013 9:45 AM

I know that there were iterations, possibly only in Britain, of college courses on television. Does anyone know where I might find video examples of these early versions of lecture capture? I would settle for high school courses on TV even.

I'm doing a video piece on MOOCs and would like to include video of the earliest versions of televised classes that I can.

I'm either not very good at searching or they aren't available because I can't find anything on YouTube from much earlier than '91 or '92.

Thanks for any help.

posted by tunewell to Education (5 answers total)

Response by poster: The "or" in the title is my mistake. Don't see how I can edit the entry. Sorry, folks.
posted by tunewell at 9:48 AM on June 14, 2013

Here, for starters? You're probably looking for Open University's broadcasts on the BBC, as described here, or BBC/ITV Schools Programmes.
posted by holgate at 9:53 AM on June 14, 2013 [2 favorites]

This existed in Ottawa; Carleton University's "Instructional Television (ITV) began delivering higher education courses to Ottawa-area homes in 1978." But I can't find YouTube clips...
posted by kmennie at 9:57 AM on June 14, 2013

I just asked this same question! And I didn't find much either. Manchester U has online courses, but only their most recent, nothing terribly old.
posted by Ideefixe at 10:07 AM on June 14, 2013

When I think of 70s educational films, to me the epitome is Morris Massey's "You are what you were when...". Back then he had a perm/afro, and the whole thing just reeks of 70's decor and thinking. If I remember correctly, it is a two hour stand-alone piece, and one of the first pop-culture discussions of demographics. The shame is that Massey has redone the video for modern audiences, but I bet if you searched, you could find some parts of the older version on youtube or wherever. This was the video that when I was ten years old, I first heard the phrase "The eagle shits on Friday" in reference to being paid.
posted by seasparrow at 3:13 PM on June 14, 2013