The Media Debate

The Media Debate

     Perhaps before the time of the world wide web, wi-fi, Ipads, smartphones, tablets, video conferencing or Skype, not to mention Twitter and Facebook, along with every other form of communication and media that has come about, and will come about, I would have wholeheartedly agreed with Richard Clark's argument.  Now, living in the "Digital Age" where everyone seems to be connected 24/7, can this debate still be going on?

Richard Clark's argument stems from his belief that, "Media are mere vehicles that deliver instruction, but do not influence student achievement" (Clark, p.1).  Clark even has a replacability test that people can use to judge if the same learning results can be achieved with a different set of attributes that will prove that the original set of media attributes were a mere vehicle for the learning achieved.  

Robert Kozma's would rather rephrase the question more to the fact of, "How do media affect learning?" (Kozma, p.2)  Kozma believes that the type of media we use, and how and when we use it, do affect the learning process, in fact can even improve it substantially.  Kozma's assumption is that, "Learning with media is a complimentary process within which a learner and a medium interact to expand or refine the learner's mental model of a particular phenomenon." (Kozma, p.2)

The previous particular statement convinced me to side with Kozma because it reminded me of some articles which I had previously read detailing the use of computers as Mindtools.  One such article stated that, "When students work with computer technologies, instead of being controlled by them, they enhance the capabilities of the computer, and the computer enhances their thinking and learning.  The result of an intellectual partnership with the computer is that the whole of learning becomes greater than the sum of its part." (Jonassen, p. 31)

I think the key term here would be "enhance".  That is what media really should do...enhance the learning process of the student.  Again, I must restate my previous thought that in today's digital world, the question is not rather media does or does not influence student achievement, but to what extent it does, and how can it be implemented in a child's learning process to engage them in more critical learning thinking skills.

Having taught for the past 30 years, I can certainly attest to the fact that my teaching style has changed because of my desire to try and reach every child with every means of media available.  In In my opinion, whether the media becomes a mere vehicle or an enhancement tool for learning depends on how we use it and how we challenge ourselves and our students to adapt to an ever changing digital world.

Resources:

 The media debate. (2012, August 30). Retrieved November 20, 2016, from http://edutechwiki.unige.ch/en/The_media_debate

 D. H. Jaonassen, C. Carr. & H. P, Yueh, (1999, March). Computers as Mindtools for Engaging Learners in Critical Thinking. Retrieved November 20, 2016, from http://highlandsgoldenrams.wikispaces.com/file/view/jonassen.pdf