The Agency for Instructional Technology (AIT) was a

non-profit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

that produced, sold and distributed

educational Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education also fol ...

and

instructional television Instructional television (ITV) is the use of television programs for distance education. Educational television programs on instructional television may be less than one half hour long (generally 15 minutes in length) to help their integration i ...

programs, and other

multimedia Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms, such as Text (literary theory), writing, Sound, audio, images, animations, or video, into a single presentation. T ...

materials, to schools in the

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. Many of AIT's programs were produced in association with other producers and television stations, and were funded by various state, provincial and local educational-related agencies, with additional support from various corporate sponsors and philanthropical organisations. AIT was based in

Bloomington, Indiana Bloomington is a city in Monroe County, Indiana, United States, and its county seat. The population was 79,168 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is the List of municipalities in Indiana, seventh-most populous city in Indiana and ...

and was founded by Edwin George Cohen.

History

AIT was first founded in 1962 as the National Instructional Television Library (NIT), an agency funded by the U.S. Office of Education and operated by

National Educational Television National Educational Television (NET) was an American non-commercial educational, educational terrestrial television, broadcast television network owned by the Ford Foundation and later co-owned by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. It op ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. NIT was founded as a way to distribute instructional television programming and associated materials to educational television stations throughout the US. In 1965, NIT would part ways with NET and relocate to its present home in Bloomington, Indiana, where it became the National Center for School and College Television (NCSCT). The NCSCT was operated by the

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a state university system, system of Public university, public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. The system has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration o ...

Foundation. In 1968, the service was renamed the National Instructional Television Center (NIT). NIT would become an independent, self-supporting non-profit organisation in 1970, and would begin distribution of children's educational programming to

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

, the successor to NIT's former operator, NET. On April 11, 1973, NIT would be incorporated into the Agency for Instructional Television (AIT). It would slightly change its name to Agency for Instructional Technology on July 1, 1984, to reflect other uses to electronically distribute instructional material, such as via videocassette and computer. AIT stopped producing new content in 2011, and officially ceased operations in 2015. The archives of the AIT are now part of the collection of the Indiana University Libraries Moving Image Archive; many of AIT's programs can be viewed online through the Indiana University website.

References

External links

Archive of AIT Website as of September 2015

Article for AIT on Bloomingpedia
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Indiana University Moving Image Archive: Agency for Instructional Technology collection
{{DEFAULTSORT:Agency For Instructional Technology Non-profit organizations based in Indiana Organizations established in 1962 Television production companies of the United States 1962 establishments in New York City Public television in the United States Bloomington, Indiana 2015 disestablishments in Indiana Organizations disestablished in 2015