BBC Schools beyond the TV Set

Abstract

This chapter focuses on media convergence of educational content particularly intended for television and the internet at the phase of its use in the classroom. The case that best reflects the convergence of educational TV-Web contents is BBC Schools in the United Kingdom, which includes television series and corresponding websites.

Transmedia intertextualities in educational media resources: The case of BBC Schools in the United Kingdom

“…Briefly explained [a detailed description of this process is provided in Zorrilla Abascal (2008)], the first set of transmedia intertextual categories followed three conceptual approaches: (a) from a narrative perspective (Genette, 1997; Orr, 2003), Influence, Imitation , and Quotation were retrieved as a first set of categories; (b) from a pedagogic approach, based mainly on editorial practices more than on theories, a set of additional preliminary categories was created focused on the intertexts as complements of the nuclear text: Summary, Repetition, Reinforcement, Exploration , and Reference ; (c) from transmedia storytelling perspectives (Askwith, 2007; Jenkins, 2006; Long, 2007) and media convergence (Caldwell, 2004), a third set of preliminary categories was added: Repurposing, Expanded Access (audience engagement), and Extension . This set of transmedia intertextualities later evolved into what is the main contribution of this work: a typology of transmedia intertextualities.…”

“…From a preliminary set of resources (Table 2), the final selection was made by participant teachers—as mentioned before, this project also had a phase referred to the uses and users of these convergent media in the classroom, whose results are reported in Zorrilla Abascal (2008, 2011).…”

“… Developed by the author with information from different sources. a School Broadcasting Council for the United Kingdom (1966), Bennett and Smith (1988), Crook (2007), McCormick (1986), Moir (1967), Tan (1989), Zorrilla Abascal (2008), and BBC Schools Newsletters (2009–2014). …”

“…In the logics of production and use of the analyzed educational resources, the entry point is frequently the TV program (Zorrilla Abascal, 2008, 2011), and therefore, it is considered as the nuclear text and the websites are the intertexts . It is also relevant to acknowledge that in her book Transmedia Television , Evans (2011) also identifies the TV program as the entry point, considering online and mobile contents as ancillary.…”