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About Us
Learning Network of Central Ohio Purpose Statement:
Governance of the Learning Network:
Description of educational access television:
Cable systems:
Programming:
Contacts:Learning Network of Central Ohio Purpose Statement (draft):
The Learning Network of Central Ohio is a consortium of higher education and K-12 institutions, City of Columbus government and other non-profit organizations that provide educational programs geared towards individual needs, joined together to share resources in the delivery of educational life-long learning opportunities to Central Ohioans. Each organization brings its expertise towards the development and promotion of educational programs that will address the learning needs of the citizens of Central Ohio. The consortium also is responsible for governing the operation of the City’s educational access cable television channel as a vehicle for delivering programs to hundreds of thousands of Central Ohio citizens.
Governance of the Learning Network (draft):
A consortium made up of organizations that develop and deliver educational programs in Central Ohio will be formed to govern the operation of Columbus’ educational access cable television channel and to share and develop educational programs designed to meet the life-long learning needs of our community. The consortium will have membership from institutions of higher education, the K-12 system, and appropriate non-profit organizations that have educational outreach as a part of their mission. The organizations will share financial, human, and other appropriate resources to ensure the continued operation of the educational access channel. This will allow the consortium the right to develop policy and procedures for the successful operation of the educational access channel.
Description of educational access television:
The mission of a cable access channel is to be a community service that provides an outlet for a community to communicate with itself. Cable access channels are an opportunity for local institutions, organizations and individuals to provide local information to their local community.
As cable television companies began offering service in the late 1970s, the idea was raised that there should be a public service requirement of the companies to “pay back” the local community for use of their right-of-way, i.e., laying cable underground and stringing cable lines throughout the city. A provision in the Cable Act of 1984 gave municipalities the right to require the cable operator to provide free cable access channels in return for using the public right-of-way. Franchise agreements between cable companies and municipalities include requirements for the companies to pay the local government a portion of their annual profits (5%) and provide the use of cable access channels for the community.
Typically, there are three types of cable access channels in Columbus --
Government – local municipal meetings, information about local government services and agencies.
Education – programming by and for local educational institutions, telecourses, general educational topics.
Public – free speech forum for individuals and community organizations, all subjects, first come, first served programming services.The type of programming on the three channels does not usually overlap. Ideally, over 50% of programming is locally produced. Government and Educational access organizations have editorial control over the programming content on their channel. Public access organizations do not control the content of programs and do not pre-screen programming, in order to provide an unbiased forum for individual freedom of speech and expression.
Cable access channels are not the same as PBS television organizations. PBS channels are available on broadcast television and are not funded through franchise fees or municipalities. Both channels play locally produced programming, but PBS channels are not open to public participation like public access organizations are.
In Columbus, cable access channels began operating in the early 1980s. Since then, the City of Columbus has operated the government access channel, GTC-3, out of City Hall. The City contracted educational access operations with a non-profit organization, Educable TV25, until January 2003 and contracted public access operations with Columbus Community Cable Access, Inc. (ACTV or Community21) until April 2000. The City of Columbus and Columbus State Community College agreed on a partnership to operate the educational access channel in March 2003. As of January 2003, the City has operated the Public access channel.
The operations of the Educational access channel in Columbus, now called the Learning Network of Central Ohio , are provided by the Distance Learning and Instructional Technologies Department at Columbus State Community College. The actual transmission of programming takes place at the City Hall Interconnect facility. There is a movement to put together a consortium of institutions in the area to assist in the development of the channel.
Cable systems:
The channel is on cable only. You can find the educational access programming on Channel 25 on the Time Warner and Insight cable systems in Central Ohio. The Learning Network can also be seen on Channel 20 on the Wide Open West system.
Programming:
Check the Programs and Highlights section of this website for more details.
The Learning Network of Central Ohio shows educational programming such as telecourses for college credit, and programs teaching foreign languages, professional development skills, GED, ESL, starting a small business, parenting, literacy and national educational policy information; local “In The Know” quiz programs and local high school and college video production students programming; School Board meetings; arts and cultural programming; history and government informational programs; local nonprofit organizations’ programs; and national programs of general educational interest.
The channel is on 24 hours a day, though the overnight hours are usually programmed with a bulletin board of community announcements.
Contacts:
Check the Contact section of this website for more information and to make comments, suggestions.
The Learning Network of Central Ohio is a member of the Alliance for Community Media.
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