Educational Television television programming Written by Margarida Lucas Contributor to SAGE Publications's The SAGE International Encyclopedia of Mass Media and Society (2020) whose work appears in Britannica as part of a joint publishing agreement with SAGE. Margarida LucasAll Fact-checked by Britannica Editors Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree.... Britannica Editors Last updated Apr. 20, 2026 •History Educational television, a popular form of mass media communication for didactic objectives, is the use of TV programs in order to teach the viewer. A distinction is usually made between educational television and instructional television. The first encompasses a vast latitude of broadcasting formats, and the latter gains its meaning from the specific and more formal use in teaching–learning situations (e.g., the classroom) as a part of an instructional program developed in an institutional context....

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