24—The Daily Collegian Tuesday, Aug 10 1983
College credits offered via cable TV
By BEVERLY M. PAYTON
Collegian Staff Writer
Billed as the world's largest cable television
network of its kind, PENNARAMA will go into
service Thursday, making college credit courses
available to an estimated 1.5 million cable tele
vision subscribers throughout the state.
The cable classes represent a joint effort between
the University and the Pennsylvania Educational
Communications System, a nonprofit organization
of 11 cable companies. The statewide network will
serve, in addition to larger cities, many small and
rural communities that do not have educational
programming
The system will enable users to earn college
credits and work toward a degree through tele
vision classes.
Program coordinator Jerry A. Sawyer, of the
Division of Learning and Telecommunications
Services, said most subscribers would not be able
to complete their degree requirements through
PENNARAMA, but the system is helpful to non
traditional students, allowing them to "get
started."
Also, with the exception of a speech communica
tions course, a student can fulfill the requirements
for the associate degree in arts and letters through
the cable network and independent learning, he
said.
"It will be a while before there are complete
degree programs offered through PENNARAMA,
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but I see it in the future," Sawyer said.
Another important aspect of the expanded sys
tem is that the network courses will eventually be
available to users all the time, instead of only a few
hours a day, he added.
"A big advantage is that now there will be a
complete channel dedicated to hard-core educatio
nal course . programming," Sawyer said.
In State College and Bellefonte, PENNARAMA
now shares air time with a news service on cable
channel 12.
The courses will be offered through correspon
dence from the University's Independent Learning
Program which has been in effect for 60 years,
Sawyer said.
PENNARAMA has operated in State College and
in some cities in northeastern Pennsylvania since
1980. The expansion will make it available to
Viewers in the southeastern and western part of the
state.
Among the most popular courses are English 10
and 20, business logistics and management.
"Teacher education courses are also very popu
lar," Sawyer said.
The integrity of TV courses has been questioned
by some colleges and universities, but that is
changing, he said. In some cases, PENNARAMA
courses are more difficult than classroom courses,
he added.
"Standards are set by full professors; they also
oversee courses offered by other institutions and
add or delete as necessary to make it a true Penn
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State course," he said
Proctored exams for PENNARAMA courses are
administered through the campuses. If no local
campus is available to the student, his exam can be
mailed to the principal at a local public school who
will make arrangements to have it proctored.
Student Instructional Services coordinator Linda
K. Ellinger said independent learning courses are
recorded on a student's ti anscript exactly as any
other Penn State course would be.
"We work very closely .with the departments to
make sure that only those •courses that meet
rigorous Penn State standards are approved. We
don't simply take any course that comes down the
airwaves," Ellinger said.
Ellinger said she was concerned with the miscon
ception that someone can "just sit in front of the
tube and get credit for it."
"There is a lot of reading; this is not simply
watching TV and getting credit. There's a lot more
to it than that," she said.
Lucille M. Diehl, a University employee in man
agement services who has taken several courses
through PENNARAMA, said she thought the
course content was good and she' did not feel
alienated from professors.
"I have called the instructor and if she did not
answer the phone, she always returned my call,"
Diehl said. "Other times I have written down
questions and sent them along with my assign
ments and have always received an answer."
IVelcome
back
students.
Bring out your bea
PSU. professor emeritus
dead at 88 in San Diego
By KELLY YALE
Collegian Staff Writer
Franklin C. Banner, 88, Univer
sity professor emeritus and long
time head of the Department of
Journalism (now the School of
Journalism) died June 5 in San
Diego, Calif., the University
learned recently.
Banner became the first head of
the Department of Journalism in
1933 and helped to build the de
partment until he retired in 1955.
As head of the journalism depart
ment, Banner was an early sup
porter of The Daily Collegian, then
known as The Penn State Colle
gian.
Along with Ralph D. Hetzel,
former president of the Universi
ty, then known as the Pennsylva
nia State College, and A.R.
Warnock, dean of men, Banner
encouraged editorial freedom and
independence for the Collegian
and thus helped to make its incor
poration in 1940 possible.
In 1954, Banner expressed his
support of the Collegian in a letter
to a Collegian editor: "In the fall
Of 1926 I met the first Collegian
staff, struggling to produce a
semi-weekly in a tiny downtown
back office furnished with four
battered typewriters. I was deter
mined that the Collegian should be
brought to the campus, should
share equally with the department
of journalism what equipment was
available from our funds, should
lose neither its liberty or opinion
nor responsibility of action despite
these relations with the depart
ment, and that it should become a
daily to serve better the commu
nication needs of a growing col
lege . ."
In 1929, Banner founded the
Pennsylvania Newspaper Pub
lishers' Advisory Committee to
the Department of Journalism. He
served as vice president of the
American Association of Teachers
of Journalism in 1930 and asso
ciate editor of its publication .
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