BBC Jam (formerly known as BBC Digital Curriculum) was an online educational service operated by the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

from January 2006 to 20 March 2007. The service was available free across the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

offering multi-media educational resources. Jam was the BBC's provision for the Digital Curriculum, an initiative launched by the

British Government His Majesty's Government, abbreviated to HM Government or otherwise UK Government, is the central government, central executive authority of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

to provide computer-based learning in UK schools, and had a budget of £150 million. The service was shut down due to a legal challenge concerning fair trading by the BBC.

Content

The content of the service was connected with the

National Curriculum A national curriculum is a common programme of study in schools that is designed to ensure nationwide uniformity of content and standards in education. It is usually legislated by the national government, possibly in consultation with state or othe ...

for schools in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. It covered school subjects such as maths, science, literacy, geography, business studies and languages, and was designed to provide free, independent computer-based learning for school children. The service was required to support users with disability by incorporating accessibility features such as audible text, subtitles on videos etc. There were also subjects which were translated into Welsh,

Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic (, ; Endonym and exonym, endonym: ), also known as Scots Gaelic or simply Gaelic, is a Celtic language native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a member of the Goidelic language, Goidelic branch of Celtic, Scottish Gaelic, alongs ...

and Irish.

History

Prior to launch

BBC Jam was commissioned in 2003 by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, and designed:- * to stimulate, support and reflect the diversity of the UK * to innovate continually and to promote technological and pedagogical experimentation * to be distinctive from, and complementary to, services provided by the commercial sector In consultation with BECTA, the Government's educational technology department, the service was allowed to cover no more than 50% of the learning outcomes that are amendable to ICT.

Closure

The service was suspended on 20 March 2007 at the request of the BBC Trust, in response to complaints made to the European Commission by a number of commercial producers of interactive educational products who felt that the BBC was exceeding its public service remit by offering free content to schools which could be provided commercially. This resulted in departmental restructuring and a number of job losses in the BBC. The Trust requested that the BBC management prepare a fresh proposal, including how the BBC should deliver its

Charter A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the ...

obligation — promoting formal education and learning, whilst meeting the online needs of school age children. The new proposal was subjected to a full Public Value Test by the Trust and a market impact assessment by

Ofcom The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, internet, telecommunications and mail, postal industries of the United Kingdom. Ofcom has wide-rang ...

, the United Kingdom's telecoms regulator. In February 2008 it was announced that the BBC's digital curriculum project would finally be closed.

References

External links

Digital agency Cimex builds e-learning resource for BBC JamBBC axes online education jobs
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bbc Jam BBC controversies BBC New Media British educational websites Defunct British websites Information technology organisations based in the United Kingdom Internet properties established in 2006 Internet properties disestablished in 2007 Internet services shut down by a legal challenge Irish-language websites 2006 establishments in the United Kingdom 2007 disestablishments in the United Kingdom Scottish Gaelic education Welsh-language mass media