The Agency for Instructional Technology (AIT) was a

non-profit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

that produced, sold and distributed

educational Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Vari ...

and

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

programs, and other

multimedia Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms such as text, audio, images, animations, or video into a single interactive presentation, in contrast to tradition ...

materials, to schools in the

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. 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 and the county seat of Monroe County, Indiana, Monroe County in the central region of the U.S. state of Indiana. It is the List of municipalities in Indiana, seventh-largest city in Indiana and the fourth-largest outside ...

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 The Office of Education, at times known as the Department of Education and the Bureau of Education, was a small unit in the Federal Government of the United States within the U.S. Department of the Interior from 1867 to 1972. It is now separated ...

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 o ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. 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 system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universit ...

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 broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

, 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 The Indiana University Libraries Moving Image Archive (IULMIA) is a major repository for nontheatrical film, video, and related archival materials located in Bloomington, Indiana. History Founded in 2009, the archive's initial holdings consisted ...

; 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
*
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