Hi everyone,

When I was a child we had TV shows on the in morning on channel 4 which taught kids about numeracy and spelling.

Why doesn't the BBC use the same approach with adults?

I see no reason the BBC couldn't broadcast a show teaching people basic skills which employers would appreciate. It doesn't have to be advanced, just enough to wet the appetite. It beats the hell out of strictly come dancing sit idle in front the TV learning nothing.

Sure, most people wouldn't tune it but some people might and get the point. Kid's did, I did.

For example, a short course on programming and where to learn more (the internet). My girlfriend who has no ability in programming (or logical reasoning) managed to write a simple picture viewer by reading an MSDN article. It took her 30 minutes.

There is bound to be other fields that this would apply to.

I realize that some of these pointless shows create vast amount of revenue through advertising and sales to other countries but I think what is more important is getting people trained and into jobs at a low cost.

A lot of people don't realize that job training really is something you have to take a personal responsibility for rather than wait for the government to hand out jobs/training.

I thought about this after reading this BBC article http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-20905415

Agree / Disagree ?

Thanks for listening.

if someone wants to better themselves with new skills, tv is imo not the place to do that.

first of all, what do you select to teach, is it the positions that seem to be most available, or some other criteria?, and what's that sound like to an employer "o, yea i watched those training shows for programming, so i should be able to do something". most likely anything worth teaching would probably require several episodes at the very least(depending on the complexity of the skill being taught, this could takes weeks depending on both the length of the show, and number of times it is shown).

secondly, not everyone can learn so easily by watching, nor do all skills translate well to being taught through only showing, your just blanketing information to people, and hoping they understand what your talking about.

and lastly(and most importantly to any broadcasting company), what's in it for them?, would you riddle these training shows with advertisments to cover the costs of not only broadcasting, but also to bring in experts in the field's that you want to teach? and at the end of the day, is their even a market of people who would be willing to tune in?

if someone truly wants to gain a new skill, their are plenty of better resources(such as the internet), that can more thoroughly delve into information on a particular topic, than a television broadcast could ever hope to do.

edit: also, i find your story very hard to believe that someone with absolutely zero technical know how, was able to read some articles and in 30 minutes, program an entire picture viewer, which covers loading images, searching for images, decoding images, and displaying them through the graphics api. all in 30 minutes, she must be quite the genius.

I think the largest obstacle for adult training on tv is that not many people would watch it, especially if it's not on-demand. It would be cool to have more learning programs on adult topics though.

I remember a time when the BBC used to run Open University programs through the night. One program I found interesting was about Japanese culture and I learned a great deal from it. But usually it was groovy maths teachers from the 70s. Ah, those were the days...

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LOL, but they used to do some computing programs too. Some you can still find on YouTube, but it would be nice to have more modern productions on the subject. Funny thing is that when it came to my module on Interaction Design, such videos were most helpful and motivating.

well first..probably no one would watch something really educational.I mean we are talking about TV right?<br /><br />And second,it would be kinda impossible.What would they teach you? You'd have to write the code shown on tv? what if they explain something and you don't understand?<br /><br />The best way in my opinion,is to get a book.I hate books too,but they're the best way of documentation/learning.

if someone wants to better themselves with new skills, tv is imo not the place to do that.

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and lastly(and most importantly to any broadcasting company), what's in it for them?, would you riddle these training shows with advertisments to cover the costs of not only broadcasting, but also to bring in experts in the field's that you want to teach? and at the end of the day, is their even a market of people who would be willing to tune in?

edit: also, i find your story very hard to believe that someone with absolutely zero technical know how, was able to read some articles and in 30 minutes, program an entire picture viewer, which covers loading images, searching for images, decoding images, and displaying them through the graphics api. all in 30 minutes, she must be quite the genius.

you've obviously never done anything with windows forms in .net.

I wasn't suggesting that people would be qualified to get a job after watching a few tv shows. The point was to get people into a mind set of life learning rather wasting their evening watching mindless tv. People in long term unemployment have fantastic stories of sending out 3000 CV's per year, this is a total waste of time, they should be teaching themselves skills in their spare time which they can talk to employers about.

Spark their interest, show them it isn't rocket science and give examples of those whom without formal education have gone on to build a very successful career.

Imo a lot of people think that unless they are attending an educational institute then learning is unnecessary. Even with a good degree, any degree, after you leave university learning should not stop. For people who are constantly improving their knowledge and adapting to the needs of society a job is never hard to find.

Children are born with a passion to learn, its slowly eroded away in favour of instant gratification consumerism.