Review of services: Learning 46 Annual Report and Accounts 2002/2003 www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize Annual Report and Accounts 2002/2003 47 Education is at the core of the BBC’s public service remit; the BBC offers a breadth of subjects no other broadcaster can match. Interactive technology is enabling us to make learning an intrinsic part of our output on television, radio and online and to create popular and challenging programmes that stimulate deeper understanding and knowledge for audiences. Our strategy is to deliver learning to the widest possible audience, through enriched interactive content to accompany many of our best television and radio programmes and services. History and science programmes, such as Pyramid, Robert Winston’s Human Instinct and David Attenborough’s The Life of Mammals, stimulated millions to learn more through their ‘red buttons’ for the interactive channel and through the web, where experiments, tests and hugely enhanced information provided enjoyable learning. In addition, the BBC promotes learning through courses and exhibitions linked to programmes and involving dozens of cultural institutions from the British Museum to the National Gallery and the Natural History Museum where 50,000 visited the interactive Life of Mammals exhibition; this later toured the UK.The BBC also works with universities to mount short courses such as The Life of Mammals Open University course, already attracting interest from 2,000 people.The 30-year partnership between the BBC and the Open University has been expanded to provide more highquality peaktime programmes on BBC One, BBC Two, BBC Three and BBC Four. It is difficult to raise awareness of a social issue like domestic violence in a way which is popular with audiences but the Hitting Home season did just that. With bold programming across television and radio and supported by online advice, it won plaudits including a cross-party motion in Parliament. Documentaries exploring human culture and experience, from Walking with Cavemen on BBC One to Double Helix:The DNA Years on BBC Four, were supported by online learning. Motherland offered insights into genetics, black history and personal identity. It enabled black Britons to track, through DNA testing, their African roots and made a powerful impression on audiences. Formal learning remains a crucial part of the BBC’s commitment. In January 2003, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport announced that the BBC proposal for a Digital Curriculum service to provide interactive learning materials to schools via the internet could go ahead.The demand from schoolchildren for online learning was again demonstrated by the success of the Bitesize revision service, which hit a peak of 17 million page impressions during the 2003 revision season. Learning outside the classroom was offered to children through high-quality entertainment on BBC One and the digital channels CBBC and CBeebies, with supporting BBCi websites. Sport Academy, developed to encourage young people to take part in sport, got well over a million page impressions a week. In Merseyside and Humberside innovative new ways of reaching audiences traditionally less well served by the BBC were developed, opening up BBC resources to local communities. Usage of BBC basic skills websites continued to grow, with Skillswise recognised as the UK’s leading website for literacy and numeracy, and 1,000 people a week gaining a Becoming WebWise IT qualification.The arts initiative Blast attracted thousands of teenagers to regional workshops on music, art, dance and film making, and is returning for a second year. Facing, left: Around 90% of GCSE and Standard Grade students used Bitesize this year. Left: David Attenborough stayed on top with The Life of Mammals. Above: Motherland enabled black Britons to map their history. Right: Hitting Home raised awareness of domestic violence on television, radio and online. 17,000 people contacted the BBC for advice during the Hitting Home season. Hard hitting