The National Technological University (NTU), headquartered in Colorado, provides an interesting example of large-scale use of television teaching for adult education. NTU, which is a fully accredited university, offers masters degrees in 10 engineering fields as well as a broad range of engineering-related continuing education courses. All courses are televised and delivered via satellite to small groups of engineers in their workplaces. The courses are developed and conducted by faculty from major universities all over the country. Courses are paid for by the corporations on a subscription basis, rather than by the individual employees. The faculty who teach the courses are paid an extra stipend by NTU on per student basis.

NTU is not responsible for the development or quality of the programs; this is left up to the faculty and their institution. Consequently, most of the programming is strictly "candid classroom," i.e., videotaped versions of the professor's on-campus classes. Even though this makes for terrible television, the faculty who give the courses are often the leading experts in the country on the topics covered, making them worth listening to. Furthermore, the courses are usually being provided "free" to the participants and the content is highly relevant to their work and careers. Under these circumstances, very boring TV programs can still be quite effective.

NTU is also not responsible for the management of classes locally. The subscribing companies promote the courses, decide which employees will be able to participate, and arrange on-site facilities for watching the programs. They also take care of operating and maintaining the downlink facilities and equipment (i.e., satellite dish, receiver, television sets). NTU courses are integrated into the companies training offerings and professional development opportunities and may be supplemented by their own courses of a more proprietary nature, also delivered via satellite television using the same facilities.

NTU is a very successful model of technology-based training having delivered thousands of courses and granted hundreds of Masters degrees in engineering. By letting other universities take responsibility for the development of courses and having companies take care of managing course participation, NTU avoids the complications and risks associated with these two aspects of being an educational provider. Instead, NTU can focus on the logistics of delivering courses via satellite and coordination of the whole enterprise.