This week we are going to discuss an old debate. The primary debaters are Richard Clark and Robert Kozma. Clark says that media (any technology - from the pencil to the most complex gaming platform) has absolutely no effect on student learning (Becker). He equates media to a delivery truck, in that the truck makes no change to the supplies it carries and in no way changes how the end user makes use of the supplies. Many people agree with this perspective, but I, like Robert Kozma, disagree.
Kozma states that Clark is perhaps asking the wrong question - rather than asking IF media "cause" learning we need to look at HOW, do media affect learning (Kozma 1994). He goes on to show how textbook (a "media" many of us would fail to recognize as "media" in a "media" discussion) enhances, and so changes, the ability to acquire new knowledge by students, and then how pictures add to that ability. Video and audio presentations are then explored as a step further, and he finally explains that gaming and computer programs also build a higher ability to interact with acquiring new knowledge. He cautions that much more research is needed to confirm this, but I think that our everyday observations of our students go a long way to support his theories.
Thirty years ago educators were presented with Howard Gardner's game-changing idea of multiple intelligences. Gardner does not fully support either side of this debate, he believes that media along with teacher guidance and instruction is what is best for students (Gardner, 2000). He states that there are a growing number of innovations that will help students get more from lessons by giving them the opportunity to explore subjects in ways that are in tune with their mode of learning (Gardner & Veenema 1996). We as educators understand that we must meet each child where they are and provide instruction in line with the ways they learn (Moffat 2013). Technology and other media enable educators to meet these needs in ways that would have been difficult at best, impossible for most, in the past.
I think Mann states it best, “Instructional
technology only works for some kids, with some topics, and under some
conditions – but that is true of all pedagogy. There is nothing that works for
every purpose, for every learner, and all the time (2001)." So, while I believe that media does enhance student's learning I also believe that the teacher instruction that accompanies it is vitally important to student success.
References
Becker, K. (n.d.). The Clark-Kozma Debate in the 21st
Century. Retrieved November 18, 2016, from
http://www.academia.edu/462857/The_Clark-Kozma_Debate_in_the_21st_Century
Gardner, H., & Veenema, S. (1996,
November/December). Multimedia and Multiple Intelligences. Retrieved November
19, 2016, from
http://prospect.org/article/multimedia-and-multiple-intelligences
Gardner, H. (2000). Can Technology Exploit Our Many
Ways of Knowing? (D. T. Gordon, Ed.). In The digital classroom: How
technology is changing the way we teach and learn (pp. 32-35). Cambridge,
MA: Harvard Education Letter.
Kozma, R. B. (1994). Will media influence learning? Reframing the debate. Educational Technology Research and Development, 42(2), 7-19. doi:10.1007/bf02299087
Mann, D. (2001). Documenting the Effects of Instructional Technology, A Fly-Over of Policy Questions. In W. F. Heineke & L. Blasi (Eds.), Research methods for educational technology ; v. 1: Methods of evaluating educational technology (Vol. 1, pp. 239-249).
Greenwich, Conn.: Information Age Pub.
Moffat, D. (2013, April 17). Clark and Kozma Debate is
it Still Relevant. Retrieved November 18, 2016, from
https://dcmoffat71.wordpress.com/2013/04/17/clark-and-kozma-debate-is-it-still-relevant/
The media debate. (2012, August 30). Retrieved
November 18, 2016, from http://edutechwiki.unige.ch/en/The_media_debate
APA formatting by
BibMe.org.
