1950s-1960s- The Ford Foundation spent $170 million on educational television. Several school systems experimented with closed circuit television, including the school district in Hagerstown, MD, a junior college in Chicago, IL, and the Midwest Program on Airborne TV Instruction, which televised lessons from an airplane to schools in six states(Reiser, 2001).
1952 - Instructional television became popular in the early part of this decade and the Federal Communications Commission devoted 242 television stations for educational purposes.(Reiser, 2001)
1960s - Use of instructional television wanes in this period and deemed largely unsuccessful. The high cost of implementing this technology in the classroom, resistance from instructors, and the challenge of using television alone to present effective education likely contributed to the decline of instructional television (Reiser, 2001).