Media Effects debate

After much thought and consideration I have decided that I am more comfortable with Clark’s position that media will never influence learning (Clark, 1994). I agree with his viewpoint that media is the vehicle where instruction is presented. And that media in of itself does not affect learning. From the perspective of special education, I have yet to see any area of instruction where media influences learning. While there are increasing number of softwares and hardware designed for special education, I feel that these were developed just for the sake of using a particular media.

In his article, Clark referred to a counterexample in which computer simulation was used to teach students skills and he responded that people had learn to fly planes before the availability of computers, thus computers were not essential in the learning of this task. I tried to come up with an example of a newer task that developed after the availability of computers and came up with this: Astronaut training. Astronauts go through many hours of computer simulation to learn to fly a space shuttle. It seems, in this case, the media which is computer simulation, is absolutely essential for the learning task. But then, the media here is also part of the task. Learning to use the computer simulation is part of the task and not the learning itself. The many hours employed in learning this task is basically drill and practice, which is nothing new.

While Kozma (1994) provided examples of successful media-based instructional projects, Clark referred to meta-analytic evidence that showed that the media in these media-based projects was confounded by the method. As both Clark and Kozma agreed that there is yet evidence to support the claim that media influence learning, I would require scientifically-based evidence that proved that media in itself could increase learning. Nathan and Robinson (2001) argued that whether media affect learning depends upon one’s view of learning and learning agency. Or maybe "media effects" is not universal, perhaps in some instructional task, media plays a small role while in another, media’s role may be absolutely essential for learning.


References

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

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

Nathan, M., & Robinson, C. (2001). Considerations of learning and learning research: Revisiting the “Media Effects” debate. Journal of Interactive Learning Research, 12, 69-88.