Media and Learning

Aside from two articles about interactivity in multimedia learning and the distinction of different media, I chose to read Chapter 28 and Chapter 31 which all focus on the media in the learning context and refer to the comparison among different media, the effective application of media, the choice between technology-centered and learner-centered instruction and other insightful topics.

I find this week's content super friendly since in my previous study of Journalism, the comparison among different media is always a heated topic. Unlike news, which is and only is carried with mass media, instruction has more choice and in some scenarios face-to-face communication probably is the best. Therefore, it's important to ask the why, which and how question when we plan to apply some advanced technology or some brand new media platform in designing instruction.

Why do we involve a certain media type in instructional design? This question should be answered in a learner-centered perspective, as illustrated in Chapter 31, "the focus is on how to facilitate the learner’s natural learning process. Rich media must be adapted to serve the needs of learners, rather than the other way around."(Clark & Mayer) To avoid committing the old errors that people tried to revolve education with audio or video, we need to understand how people learn and thus find the proper tool and way to support them. Clark and Mayer then introduce the model of human learning process, which I believe falls in the category of Cognitivism and that is to say they don't explain how Constructivism may work and how media facilitate this process.

Which media should we choose and how do we apply them efficiently? The Chapter 31 and The Role of Different Media in Designing Learning Environments provide us plentiful grounds of argument in making the choice through introducing the characteristics and specialization of each medium. Along with what the media can do, the discussion on their constraints is also insightful. As addressed in Chapter 28, new technology can appear as unexpected event, disruptive force and the origin of privacy and intellectual property issues in the instructional context. Chapter 31 also concludes that "Less is often more and leaner media can be more effective for learning than rich media." When new communicative technologies and media services keep emerging, it's natural and beneficial to wonder how we can promote instruction with them. And I believe it's how some really brilliant ideas generate. But when we carry out the instructional design, we should consider carefully and follow the process as Clark and Mayer put it "Keep in mind your instructional goal, the learner background knowledge, your implementation of your display along with pragmatic issues of time, budget, and technological resources......weigh your options based on currentbest evidence, the psychology of learning, and pragmatic constraints of your instructional environment. "

References:

(IDT) Choose 2 of 4: Chapters 28, 29, 30, 31

Collins, Neville & Bielaczyc 2000

Domagk, Schwartz & Plass 2010