Thinking Beyond Media
I lean towards Clark’s view that media will never influence learning. Instructional method is a necessary condition, whereas medium is a sufficient condition. Learning takes place through cognitive processes. Piaget’s theory on metacognition, deals with the active monitoring and regulation of cognitive processes. This is first and foremost, a crucial factor that influences learning. Teachers play the role of facilitators to transmit, scaffold, the education process, and media is one of the tools whereby more effective learning can take place. It is not the computer but the cognitive processes combined with effective teaching methods that facilitate learning to take place. Clark asserts that it is the ‘method which is the active ingredient’ that ‘may or may not be delivered by the medium’ to influence learning. Thus, it is important to separate the learning process, ie method, from the medium.
Method, as depicted by Clark, is the provision of cognitive processes or strategies that are necessary for learning to take place, but which students cannot or will not provide for themselves. The medium itself is only an inert tool if we do not construct our own ideas to process information provided from media’s complex systems. Despite technology’s rapid advancement and breakthrough to our classrooms, students today are able to utilize technological gadgets to aid their learning processes. Students assimilate and acommodate new knowledge via these tools, but how they are able to use them effectively and creatively is largely reliant on their ability to construct their own knowledge from existing media resources, and be able to apply that reserve of knowledge in their problem solving process. The Government’s drive for ‘thinking schools’ and the urge to encourage students to ‘think out of the box’ addresses the imperative need for students to think, and not use these media resources without effectively engaging them efficiently.
I believe that yes, we should definitely engage and interact with new media and new technology, explore new inventions and maximise their capabilities to aid us in problem solving. However, it is imperative to remember that these are learning tools to facilitate our learning process, and that it is the thinking behind these channels of technology that should not be overlooked.
Clark vs. Kozma... are instruction methods really separable from media?
My personal perceptions of media and learning lean towards Kozma rather than Clark, therefore I do believe that media do influence learning.
Clark argues that a number of media attributes serve similar cognitive functions and therefore something underlying, that cannot be explained, is responsible for cognitive function. I disagree with this. Why is it that learning cannot be influenced in the same way by different media? Does it necessitate creating an “unexplainable phenomenon” to explain this? In fact, I hardly think that instruction method can be effectively separated from the medium through which it occurs.
The type of instruction method clearly influences the choice of media and vice versa. They do not seem to be mutually exclusive although they do refer to different things. Other factors such as learner differences can also work in concert to influence the choice of media.
In his article, Clark presents an analogy that is medical in nature: different forms of the same drug are equally effective as long as the active ingredient is present. He mentions that although the speed of delivery and absorption may be different, the net result is the same. That is not so. The effectiveness of the drug is enhanced or reduced by the medium in which it is delivered. So to say that the net result is the same, is erroneous. Perhaps a liquid injection will allow the active ingredient to penetrate certain tissue better and thereby procure a better response in a shorter time?
Similarly, this can be applied to learning. The media on which instruction is based clearly influences learners differently. The use of books might be preferable to a visual-verbal learner, but providing this same student with multimedia might not produce similar results. This, surely, is an example of media influencing cognitive processes.
My main contention with Clark is that he makes the sweeping statement that “media will never influence learning”. Surely expediency in cognitive processing is one of the many ways media influences learning.
The focus of modern day teaching is no longer the instructor but students. In order to cater to different student needs, instruction must be tailored according to their learning preferences. This not only makes the learning process enjoyable, but also enables them to actively engage in cognitive learning. The end result would be better understanding and recollection of what they have learnt.
