Using Edu-Tainment for Distance Education in Community Work

It has long been known that carefully constructed programs delivered through the media, such as radio, television and, more recently, Internet can have a profound effect on social development and behavior. There is, however, increasing acknowledgment that media programming alone is not enough to sustain beneficial behavior change. There is a clear need for these Entertainment-Education programs to be reinforced by strong on-the-ground support from trained community workers. In remote areas of developing countries, this support must often be given through distance education. This book, which is the third in the series titled Communication for Behavior Change, provides guidelines on the preparation of distance education radio, TV and Internet programs, using the Edu-tainment format. This method of teaching provides clear, concise instruction set against an entertainment background that can attract and hold the attention of learners who frequently have no contact with a teacher or mentor. In this book, the author--a leading practitioner in the fields of both Edu-tainment and Entertainment-Education ( the format used for general public programming)--provides detailed instructions on creating distance education programs for community workers in developing countries. A special section, provided by a specialist in the field of Internet use, gives clear guidelines on IT application for distance education. The book is designed to help project managers, writers, producers, researchers, development planners, donors, NGOs and other organizations who want to make use of distance education programming for community workers. It provides clear guidelines on curriculum preparation, media selection, program format choice, script writing and review, program production, preparation of support books and participant guides and methods of audience feedback. The 6Ts of successful lesson preparation are explained along with demonstrations of how the 6Ts are used in various script samples.