Media Influences Learning

“media – treated as singular or plural The main means of mass communication (broadcasting, publishing, and the Internet) regarded collectively.” defined by Lexico

Personal Experiences with Media and Learning

Seventeen years ago my daughter was born in South Korea. She grew there up to the age of five with both parents being non-native speakers of Korean. My partner’s first language is Indonesian and mine is English. My child went to playgrounds, took Taekwondo, and even joined a pre-school belly dancing classes. However, we created opportunities for her to use media as a learning tool through dependent and independent experiences. From DVD interactive learning games, recordings of Sesame Street, video CD’s of Indonesian children songs, activity books, and story books, my daughter was being prepared for her transition to live in Canada and attend Kindergarten.  It is my opinion that media enhances and enriches the lives of individuals and communities. Media has reached its tentacles into many faucets of our life, to the point where children are being exposed to the use of media at younger ages and have digital content specifically targeted to toddlers who can independently navigate content. Toddlers can now video conference with their grandparents using software such as WhatsApp. Their cognitive landscape is altered by the use of media compared to generations past. Media gives the opportunity to make personal connections and experiences without having another individual to be physically in the same space.  

My son phoning grandma from Canada to Bali (2 years old)

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Going back 36 years ago to the Present

The Clark-Kozma media Debate pits two individuals on the use of media and learning. In 1983  Richard E. Clark published results that media doesn’t influence learning. From Clark’s follow up article on Media Will Never Influence Learning, Clark frames his argument to the reader in asking, “Whenever you have found a medium or set of media attributes which you believe wilI cause learning for some learners on a given task, ask yourself if another (similar) set of attributes would lead to the same learning result.”   It wasn’t until 1991 when Richard Kozma did a literature review of media in relation to learning and concluded that  learning can compliment and provide experiences that are unique for the individual.

Technology has changed since 1983 when Clark published his initial findings where online and personalized experiences were non existent. Kozma’s theory has even more public support in the form of mandates and courses outlined by provincial governments to include media and technology in curriculum. In British Columbia you can find Applied Design, Skills and Technology   curriculum that supports Kozma’s theory in intertwining technology and cognitive development. The implementation of how technology can provide learning experiences unique and personalized is what many educators throughout British Columbia are exploring at the present time.

Gaming the answer?

Katrin Becker entered the debate in 2010 with a reflection on the use of digital games in her paper The Clark-Kozma Debate in the 21st Century. I was intrigued with her concluding thoughts on how educational games, game design, and incorporating creativity into games has “tremendous potential.” Games growing up for me had specific objectives with specific levels and embedded coding that couldn’t be changed. Games are now giving the opportunity for children to create their own levels, objectives, and produce their own content to share with others. A great example is Super Mario Maker 2, or Minecraft provide immense opportunities for creativity. Code.org  or Scratch are online software tools that provide free scaffolded lessons for learners in teaching how to code and create games.

Concluding Thoughts

Earlier in the week at my school, I found a student drafting textbook sitting in the photocopier room published in 1976. Glancing through, it gave instructions on how to draw 3 dimensional objects in a 2-dimensional space. We still need people to create casts of objects and to create items from various materials. One can still learn how to draw using a pencil and paper to provide accuracy with dimension and space, but now those skills can be applied with software such as Autocad or the student derivative called Tinkercad. Clark states,in his article Media Will Never Influence learning that,”The problem with the media attribute argument is that there is strong evidence that many very different media attributes accomplish the same learning goal.” Clark is correct that students can learn similar skill sets with drafting by pencil and paper or with a computer, but one then has to question the value of learning by pencil in hand or the value of learning through digital software? The value of providing inclusion to students who may have the physical or developmental challenges compared with the challenges of using a pencil, paper and textbook? The ability to share and create results through the use of 3-D printing in school classrooms?  Do media attributes serve a unique cognitive effect for a learning task? I feel there is more evidence that the answer is yes. Our digital landscape is reshaping how a new generation cognitively perceives their world.