BBC Learning Zone
Encyclopedia
The BBC Learning Zone is an educational strand run by the BBC
as an overnight service on BBC Two
. It shows programming aimed at students in Primary, Secondary and Higher Education and to adult learners. Viewers are encouraged to watch programmes after the original broadcast via the use of, originally VHS
, currently DVD
.
, to free up more of their schedule. Previously, these educational programmes had been based on the channel in mornings and often until the early afternoon on weekdays. However, following the channels rebranding to the '2' idents and the increased viewer perception that resulted from it, the channel was anxious to use more of their daytime for different programming. The Learning Zone was the solution to this problem.
The idea had been around for a while: by 1995 both ITV
and Channel 4
were operating as 24 hour channels, freeing up their prime time and daytime schedules. The BBC
had also had a go at producing specialist television overnight by launching BBC Select
. This service played out encrypted programming for the professions (Doctors, Lawyers etc) overnight between 1992 and 1994.
In 1997, when the BBC
rebranded, The Learning Zone became a separate strand of programming in its own right and became independent of BBC Two
. The service would begin after BBC Two's closedown and transfer to Pages from Ceefax, with the service beginning, usually in time for programmes to begin at 2am. The strand would then continue until approximately 6am when programming on BBC Two would begin, however this was not always the case.
programming, secondary school programming previously from the BBC Schools
strand as well as other programming.
Programming was divided up into segments, as seen below:
These segments ran on alternate days and for only certain times of the year. The segments and programming may be changed during exam seasons, so programming is revision orientated, with the programme Bitesize
being a staple of the schedule.
On the 15th December 2006, the last Open University programme was broadcast on the service, following which the strand was removed from the service. The service now only contains Schools
and languages programming. In 2010, the remaining primary schools
programmes, previously shown at 11am for one hour during weekdays (except Wednesday), were transferred to the Learning Zone from BBC Two
.
During the summer months, the Learning Zone may not be broadcast, due to the restricted nature of programming, with BBC Two instead joining the BBC News Channel, like their sister channel BBC One
.
Unusual among BBC services, few to no programme shown on the BBC Learning Zone is available to be watched again on the BBC iPlayer
, due to rights restrictions on the programmes. As compensation, the BBC have launched a section called Learning Zone Broadband, or more simply Class Clips which features segments from the programmes available to watch on demand over the internet for free. This service allows schools to watch certain sections, such as case studies or experiments in class.
In October 1997, when the strand became separate, the stations current identification was created, showing an oak tree and an acorn. The acorn falls from a tree, while a number of identification processes take place, including a thermal image
, a database match on computer, measurements taken, newspaper archives, aerodynamic investigation
, cross section, 3D image and the name in different languages before the acorn finally falls to the ground and seeds to become an oak sappling. The ident is accompanied by an updated logo featuring the BBC logo and 'Learning Zone' written after in capital letters. The identification was generally only used at the beginning of the strand. Links between programmes were made using programme menus and continuity voice overs. Programme menus and static information slides were made using the logo at the bottom, and an image related to the identification featuring in the background. Programme slides and promotions were not used.
In 2004, four supplementary idents were introduced to link into the programmes themselves. They still featured the 1997 presentational style and were based around the theme of the seasons, with one used each season. They featured the oak tree in the background and people at rest and play around it. The 1997 ident was still used to open the strand. Also introduced in 2004, were opening films to introduce the programme menu. These featured clips showing on screen of the programmes in the Learning Zone and of the acorn falling, before a version of the logo with back-lighting moving from left to right, accompanied by the music 'Wired' by Atmosphere Music Ltd. The programme menu was also redesigned with falling acorns as the background. Both new devices were colour coded to the strand: blue for Open University, green for languages and red for schools.
Unusually for a terrestrial BBC channel, the strand is accompanied by a BBC Two
DOG
in the top left corner of the screen. Other DOG's accompany the programmes, some lengthy educational programmes include a timer in the top right corner to make it easier to scan and find the section the viewer wants.
The acorn ident is the longest current ident in use, and the longest BBC ident ever used, having beaten the BBC Two '2' idents in 2008.
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
as an overnight service on BBC Two
BBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
. It shows programming aimed at students in Primary, Secondary and Higher Education and to adult learners. Viewers are encouraged to watch programmes after the original broadcast via the use of, originally VHS
VHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
, currently DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
.
History
The BBC Learning Zone was launched in 1995 as an extension service of BBC TwoBBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
, to free up more of their schedule. Previously, these educational programmes had been based on the channel in mornings and often until the early afternoon on weekdays. However, following the channels rebranding to the '2' idents and the increased viewer perception that resulted from it, the channel was anxious to use more of their daytime for different programming. The Learning Zone was the solution to this problem.
The idea had been around for a while: by 1995 both ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
and Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
were operating as 24 hour channels, freeing up their prime time and daytime schedules. The BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
had also had a go at producing specialist television overnight by launching BBC Select
BBC Select
BBC Select was an overnight television service run by the BBC during the hours when BBC1 or BBC2 had closed down, usually between 2am and 6am.The channel showed programming intended for specialist audiences, such as businessmen, lawyers, nurses and teachers, and was designed to be viewed after...
. This service played out encrypted programming for the professions (Doctors, Lawyers etc) overnight between 1992 and 1994.
In 1997, when the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
rebranded, The Learning Zone became a separate strand of programming in its own right and became independent of BBC Two
BBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
. The service would begin after BBC Two's closedown and transfer to Pages from Ceefax, with the service beginning, usually in time for programmes to begin at 2am. The strand would then continue until approximately 6am when programming on BBC Two would begin, however this was not always the case.
Programming
The service, upon launch, was used for the transfer of programming, including the bulk of Open UniversityOpen University
The Open University is a distance learning and research university founded by Royal Charter in the United Kingdom...
programming, secondary school programming previously from the BBC Schools
BBC Schools
BBC Schools, also known as BBC for Schools and Colleges, is the educational programming strand set up by the BBC in 1957, broadcasting a range of educational programmes for children aged 5–16. From launch until June 1983, programming was based on BBC One during the daytime, before programming was...
strand as well as other programming.
Programming was divided up into segments, as seen below:
- Open University and General Interest - Programming from the open university for Degree students and other programmes that may be of interest to the public. This later category came about by the Open University's use of education programming in the style of prime time documentaries, pioneered by CoastCoast (TV series)Coast is a BBC documentary series first broadcast on BBC Two television in 2005. A second series started on 26 October 2006, a third in early 2007 and a fourth in mid-2009...
. Also included in the category was the programme WorkSkills, that helped with applying for jobs, however this programme ceased after some time. This segment ceased when the Open University stopped programming. - Languages and Travel - Programming focusing of teaching new languages and the differing cultures. Programming in FrenchFrench languageFrench is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, GermanGerman languageGerman is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, SpanishSpanish languageSpanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
, ItalianItalian languageItalian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
, ChineseChinese languageThe Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
, PortuguesePortuguese languagePortuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
, GreekGreek languageGreek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
and JapaneseJapanese languageis a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
. - Schools - Programming from BBC SchoolsBBC SchoolsBBC Schools, also known as BBC for Schools and Colleges, is the educational programming strand set up by the BBC in 1957, broadcasting a range of educational programmes for children aged 5–16. From launch until June 1983, programming was based on BBC One during the daytime, before programming was...
for students at GCSE and A-Level and for those in Secondary and Primary education. Includes repeats of old schools programmes.
These segments ran on alternate days and for only certain times of the year. The segments and programming may be changed during exam seasons, so programming is revision orientated, with the programme Bitesize
Bitesize
BBC Bitesize is the name given to the BBC's free online study support resource for school-age students in the United Kingdom. It is designed to aid students in both school work and, for older students, exams.- History :...
being a staple of the schedule.
On the 15th December 2006, the last Open University programme was broadcast on the service, following which the strand was removed from the service. The service now only contains Schools
BBC Schools
BBC Schools, also known as BBC for Schools and Colleges, is the educational programming strand set up by the BBC in 1957, broadcasting a range of educational programmes for children aged 5–16. From launch until June 1983, programming was based on BBC One during the daytime, before programming was...
and languages programming. In 2010, the remaining primary schools
BBC Schools
BBC Schools, also known as BBC for Schools and Colleges, is the educational programming strand set up by the BBC in 1957, broadcasting a range of educational programmes for children aged 5–16. From launch until June 1983, programming was based on BBC One during the daytime, before programming was...
programmes, previously shown at 11am for one hour during weekdays (except Wednesday), were transferred to the Learning Zone from BBC Two
BBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
.
During the summer months, the Learning Zone may not be broadcast, due to the restricted nature of programming, with BBC Two instead joining the BBC News Channel, like their sister channel BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
.
Unusual among BBC services, few to no programme shown on the BBC Learning Zone is available to be watched again on the BBC iPlayer
BBC iPlayer
BBC iPlayer, commonly shortened to iPlayer, is an internet television and radio service, developed by the BBC to extend its former RealPlayer-based and other streamed video clip content to include whole TV shows....
, due to rights restrictions on the programmes. As compensation, the BBC have launched a section called Learning Zone Broadband, or more simply Class Clips which features segments from the programmes available to watch on demand over the internet for free. This service allows schools to watch certain sections, such as case studies or experiments in class.
Presentation
Upon launch in 1995, the strand was introduced with a variation of the '2' idents and had a logo featuring an orange stylised Learning Zone logo.In October 1997, when the strand became separate, the stations current identification was created, showing an oak tree and an acorn. The acorn falls from a tree, while a number of identification processes take place, including a thermal image
Thermographic camera
A thermographic camera or infrared camera is a device that forms an image using infrared radiation, similar to a common camera that forms an image using visible light...
, a database match on computer, measurements taken, newspaper archives, aerodynamic investigation
Aerodynamics
Aerodynamics is a branch of dynamics concerned with studying the motion of air, particularly when it interacts with a moving object. Aerodynamics is a subfield of fluid dynamics and gas dynamics, with much theory shared between them. Aerodynamics is often used synonymously with gas dynamics, with...
, cross section, 3D image and the name in different languages before the acorn finally falls to the ground and seeds to become an oak sappling. The ident is accompanied by an updated logo featuring the BBC logo and 'Learning Zone' written after in capital letters. The identification was generally only used at the beginning of the strand. Links between programmes were made using programme menus and continuity voice overs. Programme menus and static information slides were made using the logo at the bottom, and an image related to the identification featuring in the background. Programme slides and promotions were not used.
In 2004, four supplementary idents were introduced to link into the programmes themselves. They still featured the 1997 presentational style and were based around the theme of the seasons, with one used each season. They featured the oak tree in the background and people at rest and play around it. The 1997 ident was still used to open the strand. Also introduced in 2004, were opening films to introduce the programme menu. These featured clips showing on screen of the programmes in the Learning Zone and of the acorn falling, before a version of the logo with back-lighting moving from left to right, accompanied by the music 'Wired' by Atmosphere Music Ltd. The programme menu was also redesigned with falling acorns as the background. Both new devices were colour coded to the strand: blue for Open University, green for languages and red for schools.
Unusually for a terrestrial BBC channel, the strand is accompanied by a BBC Two
BBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
DOG
Digital on-screen graphic
A digital on-screen graphic is a watermark-like station logo that many television broadcasters overlay over a portion of the screen-area of their programs to identify the channel...
in the top left corner of the screen. Other DOG's accompany the programmes, some lengthy educational programmes include a timer in the top right corner to make it easier to scan and find the section the viewer wants.
The acorn ident is the longest current ident in use, and the longest BBC ident ever used, having beaten the BBC Two '2' idents in 2008.
Similar Strands
- Schools programming had previously been shown in a designated BBC SchoolsBBC SchoolsBBC Schools, also known as BBC for Schools and Colleges, is the educational programming strand set up by the BBC in 1957, broadcasting a range of educational programmes for children aged 5–16. From launch until June 1983, programming was based on BBC One during the daytime, before programming was...
strand shown in the morning and early afternoon on BBC OneBBC OneBBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
and from September 1983 on BBC TwoBBC TwoBBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
. These broadcasts have since lost their special strand, and the final programmes moved from BBC Two to the Learning Zone in 2010. - Open UniversityOpen UniversityThe Open University is a distance learning and research university founded by Royal Charter in the United Kingdom...
programming became common viewing during daytime and weekend hours for many years since 1971, before having the hours reduced. These programmes have since ceased. - The digital channel BBC KnowledgeBBC KnowledgeBBC Knowledge was an early BBC digital television channel, available by cable, satellite, or terrestrial digital broadcasting, providing a programme of documentary, cultural and educational television.-Launch:...
was launched in 1999 following the launch of the Learning Zone, featuring educational and cultural programming. The channel ceased broadcasting in 2002 to make way for CBeebiesCBeebiesCBeebies is the brand used by the BBC for programming aimed at children 6 years and under. It is used as a themed strand in the UK on terrestrial television, as a separate free-to-air domestic British channel and used for international varients supported by advertising, subscription or both...
(6am-7pm) and BBC FourBBC FourBBC Four is a British television network operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation and available to digital television viewers on Freeview, IPTV, satellite and cable....
(7pm onwards) - A programming strand called BBC Learning on the subscription international channel BBC PrimeBBC PrimeBBC Prime was the BBC's general entertainment TV channel in Europe and the Middle East from 30 January 1995 until 11 November 2009, when it was replaced by BBC Entertainment.-Launch:...
broadcast similar programming. The service was axed in August 2006.
External links
- Learning Zone at bbc.co.ukBbc.co.ukBBC Online is the brand name and home for the BBC's UK online service. It is a large network of websites including such high profile sites as BBC News and Sport, the on-demand video and radio services co-branded BBC iPlayer, the pre-school site Cbeebies, and learning services such as Bitesize...
- Learning Zone Broadband at bbc.co.ukBbc.co.ukBBC Online is the brand name and home for the BBC's UK online service. It is a large network of websites including such high profile sites as BBC News and Sport, the on-demand video and radio services co-branded BBC iPlayer, the pre-school site Cbeebies, and learning services such as Bitesize...