Learning with Media

To understand the relationship between media and learning, it’s better to take a few steps backward, and arrive at a definition of them. From there we can ascertain where we are going in respect to media usage in learning and cognition. Media used in learning environments include books, television, computers, or multimedia settings. These media are distinguished by cognitively relevant characteristics of their technologies, symbol systems, and processing capabilities (Kozma, 1991). When learning, people use physical, mental, and social experiences to construct personal conceptions (schemes) of the world (Snowman & Biehler, 2006).

Does the incorporation of media have any effect on learning? Clark believes that the media should be separate from method because method is the “active ingredient” or active independent variable that may or may not be delivered by the medium to influence learning. However, Kozma thinks medium and method could have a more integral relationship. In good instructional designs, a medium’s capabilities enable methods, and the methods that are used take advantage of these capabilities (Kozma, 1994).

I would not agree with Clark that technology in instruction is simply and only a means of delivering instruction, and I believe separating media from method within the learning environment is a misleading argument at best. Medium is a technology comprised of matter, and ideas lie behind the matter. So how different media are employed, and what instructional method is applied will all influence the learning outcome. The two experiments Kozma analyzed in his article demonstrate how learning is supported by the methods employed within the specific media. Therefore, from Kozma’s point, research should be focused on ways we can use the capabilities of media to influence learning for particular students, tasks, and situations (Kozma, 1994).

Technology can have a positive effect on education. The instructional design task is to figure out what makes it useful in what situations in order to control their strengths and avoid their weaknesses.

[ Reference ]

Clark, R.E., (1994). Media will never influence learning. Educational Technology Research and Development, 42(2), 21-29.

Kozma, R. B., (1991). Learning with media. Review of Educational Research, 61(2), 179-211.

Kozma, R.B., (1994). Will media influence learning? reframing the debate. Educational Technology Research and Development, 42(2), 7-19.

Snowman, J., & Biehler, R., (2006). Psychology applied to teaching (11th ed. ). Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.