MEDIA

Historical Perspectives

Greater insight about the nature of a field may be gained by examining its history. This section is therefore intended to give the student a deeper perspective of the field of educational communication by tracing its beginnings and development. Such a historical background is not intended to make the student memorize names, dates, and stages. Hopefully, this section will instead enable him to understand the field better.

To simplify the discussion the history of educational communication in the West consists of two major parts. This first part is composed of the early philosophical development, made up of evolving ideas about how learning takes place and how education should take place, as contributed by scholars and thinkers. The second part is composed of the development of the field in the 20^th century when the use of devices or media hardware in education became influential. During this second part, ideas from different fields like management, systems theory and communication also contributed to shaping educational communication as a field.

Early Philosophical Development

The early philosophical development of educational communication was lengthily discussed by Saettler and summarized by Libero. This period may be divided into three stages. The first dealt with the forerunners of instructional technology and much later, the beginnings of a science and technology of instruction. The first two stages of philosophical development of educational communication dealt with explanations, recommendations and practices contributed are early scholars and thinkers about learning and education based on deductive reasoning. On the other hand, the third stage was composed of early developments of the field as a science. This period was marked by the conduct of systematic investigation on the phenomenon of learning and by procedures based on the results of such investigation or research.

Visual Instruction

Saetter has cited by the AECT,identified Dorris’ visual instruction in the Public Schools as the first comprehensive textbook in visual instruction and the first to be concerned with the integration of visual material with the school curriculum. Visual aids were first used in school because they provide concentrated visual experience to1) introduce, build up, enrich or clarify abstract concepts: 2) develop desirable attitudes; 3) stimulate further activity. The visual instruction movement introduced the idea of classifying rather than listing visual aids. Research during the period dealt with surveys on equipment, material and teacher training, although one study by Judd assessed the effectiveness of using visual aids.

Audio-Visual Instruction

With the development of sound recording and motion pictures, the “audio” component was added to visual instruction. However the audio-visual instruction movement had the same weak points as the visual instruction movement. it continued to merely classify materials along the abstract-concrete continuum. An example of such a classification was Dale’s “Cone of Experience”. However considerable research was conducted on the effectiveness of different types of audiovisual materials during this period.

A later version of the audiovisual instruction movement was audiovisual communication. Ely as cited by the AECT defined the field as “that branch of educational theory and practice concerned primarily with the design and use of messages, which control the learning process”. The evolving field was influenced by communication and systems concepts. In particular, the communication framework infused process thinking to audiovisual communication. This time, emphasis rested not on the material but on the entire communication process and all it’s elements: the source, message, channel and receiver.

In addition, the concept of communication channels considered all the five senses as decoding mechanisms, thereby expanding the orientation of audiovisual materials to include real or objects, specimens, models, replicas and the like.

Meanwhile, systems concepts expanded the “product” of audiovisual communication from individual materials to instructional systems. Materials were considered not as isolated aids but as components of a system, intentionally integrated with the other components to solve instructional problems or attain instructional objectives. This stage also introduced the concept that certain activities must be performed in order to “design” systems. Such functions included distribution, production, consultation, management, and the application of functions, evaluation, content organization and utilization.

Behavioral Technology

The study of behavior, specifically learning theory, later provided significant inputs to the evolving field, a major influence was Skinner’s reinforcement theory which stated that learning takes place or is strengthened with reinforcement, reinforcement can either be in the form of reward or of feedback. Based on this theory, developed through research on the phenomenon of learning, Skinner developed and instructional technique utilizing devices and emphasizing learner response and feedback to the learner. This was administered through the use of “teaching machines”.

Learning through programmed instruction proceeds through the following steps:

1.      The material is presented.

2.      The learner is tested if he has learned the material through a drill question or exercise.

3.      The learner makes his response through the machine.

4.      The correct answer is presented, giving the learner feedback that his response is correct or incorrect.

5.      The learner repeats the same lesson if his response is wrong, and proceeds to the next lesson lonely when he answers the test question correctly.

The programmed instruction movement shifted the emphasis of the evolving field of educational communication and technology from the stimuli or messages presented in audiovisuals, to learner response and feedback to the learner as the key elements in learning. Such emphasis required that measurable behavioral objectives be stated before instruction could be developed. Moreover, the method of evaluating learners shifted from comparing them with each other to measuring the degree to which they attained the behavior specified in the objective, recognizing problems in group learning inside the classroom due to individual differences, programmed instruction further encouraged individualized learning.

Instructional Development

With the influence of process and systems thinking and of the behavioral sciences, another major shift in emphasis in the evolving field was that from materials production to the process or procedure of instructional development. The AECTdescribed the concept in another 1977 publication thus:

“A systematic approach to design, production, evaluation, and utilization of complete systems of instruction, including all appropriate components and a management pattern for using them; instructional development is larger than instructional product development, which is concerned with only isolated products, and is larger than instructional design, which is only one part of instructional development”.

One model of instructional development (Whitich and Schuller, 1973 in AECT, 1997) contained the following elements and sequence within which most other models could fit:

1.      Identify the problem; assess needs, establish priorities, state problem.

2.      Analyze setting, audience conditions, and relevant resources.

3.      Organize management: tasks, responsibilities, and timeliness.

4.      Identify objectives: terminal, enabling.

5.      Specify methods; learning, instruction, media.

6.      Construct prototypes: instructional materials, evaluation material.

7.      Test prototypes; conduct tryout, collect evaluation data

8.      Analyze results; objectives, methods, evaluation techniques.

9.      Implement/recycle; review, decide, act.

The emphasis on instructional development characterized the evolving filed of educational technology as1)a process 2)a system 3)a field based on learning and communication theory; 4)a field that utilizes both human and nonhuman resources; 5)a field which has products that are resources which can be used to improve instruction; and 6)a field that stresses the functions of designing, carrying out and evaluating.

Instructional Technology

in answer to the weaknesses of instructional development, the field further evolved into instructional technology, defined as “the management of ideas, procedures, money, machines and people in the instructional process” (AECT ,1977). Instructional technology had the following features...

1.      It introduced the concept of the complex, integrated organization (systems) and identified the elements of instruction technology, namely, people, procedures, ideas and machines.

2.      It emphasized the role of management as a major concern of educational technology.

3.      It emphasized cost- effectiveness as an important factor in designing instructional systems.

4.      The skills of various personnel involved, from aides to professionals, were given due consideration.

5.      It emphasized that solely mediated instruction can work in some situations.

However, instructional technology still failed to explain the nature of the complex, integrated organization or how its components fit together.

Viewed as a process, the field of educational communication and technology today continues to evolve an be further refined based on research and practice in the field.

“A complex, integrated process involving people, procedures, ideas, devices, and organization, for analyzing problems and devising, implementing, evaluating and managing solutions to those problems involved in all aspects of human learning”.

Defining Media:

Rossi and Biddle (1966) define a medium as “any form of device or equipment which is normally used to transmit information between persons”. in essence, this definition states that  any object can be a medium, but it is not necessarily one. it is the use to which the object is put that makes it a medium. For example, a flower is an object. In a garden or in vase, it is simply an object that adorns its surroundings. When given to a special person, like a girlfriend / boyfriend or your mother, it can serve as a medium, conveying a message like “I love you” or “I’m sorry”. The way the flower was used made it a communication medium. In the same way, a motion picture projector is simply a device which becomes a medium only when a sound motion picture is projected and played through this before a particular group of viewers for a certain purpose, left unused in a storage cabinet, it ceases to be a communication medium.

Defining Educational Media:

In the same manner, any medium becomes an educational medium when it is used in education. Rossi and Biddle (1966) define education as “those activities wherein the learning of one or more persons is being deliberately controlled by others”. Thus, educational media are those objects or devices, which are used to support the process of education whereby teachers or communicators attempt to induce learning in students or an audience.

An observed trend in schools and training programs even in third world countries is the increasing use of media for educational purposes. Teachers and trainers rate high in their craft if they are able to use varied media effectively. A teacher or trainer who never veers away from the traditional lecture is considered outdated not just by his teacher colleagues but also primarily, by his students or trainees. Similarly, extension workers are very much aware about the importance of media in spicing up their interactions with their farmer clients or with government officials.

to the educational communicator, using media to enhance learning is not just based on keeping with the times or showing off one’s craft in the art of communication, teaching or extension. There is no doubt that these are two valid reasons why communicators such as teachers. Trainers and extensionsists do not ignore media in instruction. But the more substantive reason why the media are important in educational communication is that they possess certain properties which can enhance learning better than when learning is shaped by face-to-face communication alone. This is not saying that mediated learning is better than learning from a teacher, trainer or extension worker face-to-face. Perhaps no medium can replace the warmth, inspiration and immediate feedback provided by an effective teacher, trainer or extension worker. in the same manner, the best way to learn is through direct purposeful experiences and not through varied types of mediated learning as illustrated by Dale’s Cone of Experiences.

Yet, how many teachers, trainers and extension workers are effective? How many effective teachers, trainers or extension workers are always such? In the transfer of agricultural technology, which essentially involves the education of farmers, two problems commonly confront farmers who are interested in improving their productivity. These are the lack of information on agricultural technologies and the limited number of extension technicians who can visit and advise them about farm problems. One important role of media in educational communication is to help fill in the gaps set by the above questions and problems.

Three properties of media

Gerlach and Ely (1980) listed three properties of media, which make them indispensable in educational communication.

1.      Fixative Property. The media capture, preserve or reconstitute an object or event, making it available to the learner any time and any place. For example, the videotape records for us our favorite television programs so that we need not misses them when we have other important things to do during airtime, in the same manner, an agricultural extension worker can videotape a particular show of a television farm program featuring a certain technology that would perhaps be relevant in the situation of his client farmers. He can use the videotape of that show to reinforce his farmers’ classes. Or, a newsletter or slide set can “fixate” or document the experience of a model farmer in growing rice, ducks, fish, pigs and snails using azolla as fertilizer and as animal feed, so that others may share his experience vicariously.

The fixative property of the media point out the importance of documenting or “fixating” events that may have instructional value later. For example, a live demonstration held before training participants may be videotaped or photographed in reversal film or slides. Subsequent learning situations calling for the same demonstration would no longer need the cumbersome preparations for a live demonstration. The demonstration has already been captured in the medium.

2.      Manipulative property. The media can transform the presentation of an object or even offer many ways to save time permit a closer look, review an event that has just happened, or simplify complex details.

3.      Distributive property. Finally, media can present an identical experience simultaneously to a large number of people, making up for the unavailability of effective teachers, trainers or extension workers. For example, a television farm program informs not only rice farmers in Laguna but also those in nearby provinces up to Central Luzon about the advantages of using a quick multiplying tiny floating fern as green manure, in technology transfer, an important role of media is to make information available in many rural areas so that farmers can use such information when needed, even if extension technicians are unable to visit them.

Classification of media

Our earlier definition of educational media points out that any communication medium and for that matter, any object can be an educational medium. Only here, we are concerned with media used to enhance or induce learning.

Several classifications of media have been offered by different authors. These classifications are useful to educational communicators because they can give a clue at a quick glance as to the potentials of media being considered for a given learning purpose. For example, some classifications tell us about the technological requirements or capability of a medium, such as Schamm’s big vs, little media, the traditional projected vs, nonprojected media, or the electronic vs, the nonelectronic media.

Two newer types of media classifications are educational technologies one, two and three and the object, presentation and interactive media. The educational technologies one, two, and three labeled primarily as three basic approaches in the field of educational technology. Reflect the historical development of the field. As can be noted, only educational technologies one and two describe media. The third category of educational technologies shows the shift in emphasis in the field from instructional media to learning systems.

Meanwhile, Bretz in Haney and Ullmer classified the instructional media in more practical terms, which the educational communicator can easily use:

1)      Object media. These are objects, which the learner can manipulate or use for their particular functions, or simply observe be examining, feeling, or using his other senses. Objects include natural objects like plant and animal specimens; manufactured objects like toys or gadgets, and representational objects such as replicas, models, and mock-ups.

2)      Presentation media. As the term implies, these are media which learners are exposed to through their senses of sight of hearing or both. Bretz listed six families of presentation media based on their formats and means of presentation. These are 1) still pictures and graphics 2) still projection, 3) audio, 4) sound-still visuals, 5) motion picture and 6) television

3.Interactive media. These make three types of interaction in the learning process possible:

3.1.  Learners and programs, such as the filling of blanks in a programmed text or workbook:

3.2.  Learners and machines, such as teaching machines and computer terminals; and

3.3.  Between learners, such as games.

Functions of media in instruction

Before an educational communicator can effectively choose the media to endorse or use in  a given situation, be needs to be familiar with their functions in instruction. As Schramm insisted, any medium teaches. Thus, memorizing the advantages and disadvantages of each instructional medium may not be as relevant as recognizing their varied potential uses in instruction. As Schramm further stressed, it is how we use media and how we treat the messages in them that determines their value in the learning process. By itself, no medium is a better learning vehicle than another.

Five modes of learning and media use.

Presentation mode. Oftentimes, teachers and trainers utilize media in teaching primarily as a means of varying their presentation. Because of their fixative, manipulative and distributive properties, the presentation media. Six families of presentation media can create greater learning impact when used to supplement or totally replace the traditional lecture. But the one-way presentation of information is only one of the functions of instructional media. Walter and Marks described three other instructional functions of instructional media. These are the discussion, sharing and feedback functions of the audiovisual media. We shall exten these uses to instructional media in general and add another function in teaching, the doing function.

The discussion, sharing, feedback and doing modes of learning and media use emphasize experiential learning. Experiential learning focused on learner response and behavior in the process of instruction as against teacher or trainer tasks.

Discussion mode. Instructional media may also be used to stimulate group discussion. Here, the overall learning strategy is group discussion, with media providing take-off points for the exchange of ideas to take place,. For example, a photograph or a slide of a malnourished child may be shown to a group of rural housewives to stimulate them to think about and discuss the problem in order to understand its causes. A movie revolving around the problems of early marriage and unplanned parenthood may be shown to make youths seriously think about and discuss the importance of family planning. A slide set portraying an anecdote on the development process can be shown to encourage students to discuss the meaning of development.

The message treatment in an instructional medium may also be webbed in the discussion strategy. For example, a series of modules in a management course presents a dramatized case in a video program. The program opens with the narrator posing questions, which prepares the management students for problem analysis. A short dramatized case then unfolded, after which questions are repeated to the viewers. Viewers are then instructed to turn off the equipment and start discussing their answers to the questions in groups. After group discussions, the videotape is again played to present panelists giving expert views upon which students may cross check their groups’ answers.

An advantage of using instructional media in the discussion mode is that viewers can immediately respond to the ideas or information presented. Questions, comments and suggestions are tackled immediately as they arise. In the presentation mode, the viewers have to sit out the whole presentation before they are allowed to react. This can lose the spontaneity of the discussion.

Sharing mode. The sharing mode of using instructional media can be likened to students who utilize visuals and audiovisuals to report to others their research findings. Essentially, this is the presentation mode, with the learners taking the lead this time. The sharing mode is called such because here, the instructional medium and consensus, each member pitching in something of himself. The finished product is the message agreed upon. The sharing mode of using instructional media is useful when the learning strategy is group dynamics among learners and group research by learners. This is also a useful mechanism for botton-up communication, such as that of farmers sharing their reinvention of technology with scientists and policy makers through a sound-slide set that they themselves produce.

Feedback mode. The mirror, the photograph, audiotape and videotape are educational media, which can be useful in the feedback mode. These media can capture a learner’s performance and provide him feedback about it. For example, an audiotape of a simulated interview performed by students may be sued by the whole class if pinpointing common errors committed by interviewers. In the same manner, the interviewer himself will be able to assess his own interviewing skill objectively. This will direct his attentions to correcting his flaws as an interviewer. Candid photographs may also direct a person’s attention to assessing his own non-verbal cues such as facial expression and posture, which are part of learning interactive skills. Dancers and athletes use the mirror to tell them if their movements and stance are correct.

In school, short written tests and exercises serve not just to evaluate learner progress. Teachers may also use these to inform learners about how they are faring in attaining course objectives. For beneficiaries of development projects in villages, the educational communicator may also find creative uses of specific media that are suitable for enhancing or inducing learning through feedback.

Doing mode. Instructional media may further present opportunities for the learner to be more involved rather than to be a passive listener or viewer in the learning process. For example, programmed instruction requires direct learner response as part of mental exercises built in the lesson. Computer simulations and games enable learners to practice certain principles so that they will see their potential out come in practice.

In general, the interactive media provide opportunities for learning by doing. Object media, like the mock-up of a car dashboard or a sample soil-test kit, allow learners to try an practice certain skills. Gadgets or other objects may also be used an instructional media as part of an educational game, like a puzzle used in a game about interpersonal and nonverbal communication. Instructional media used in the doing mode therefore include any object or device that enables learners to practice or try out a skill, be it cognitive, affective or psychomotor.

Selecting educational communication media. The most frequent type of decision that a development communicator has ot make pertains to selecting the right medium for his particular communication purpose. Oftentimes, selecting media does not necessarily mean narrowing one’s choice to only one medium. Communication research and practice have shown the merits of multi-media approaches wherein two or more media or channels are used in combination to supplement one another. Multimedia approaches allow message repetition and reinforcement. They also take the best advantage of the potential of different media. Further, Schramm has pointed out that there is really no best medium for a given instructional purpose. Research has shown that people learn from any medium, big or little. May times, media choices are shaped by practical considerations rather than by learning theory.