The Great Media

Debate
C O N G-KAI JIN
E D C I 8 88
P R OSE M IN AR 2

Major Thinkers

on Media, Technology, Communication, and

Learning:
Marshall McLuhan (1911-1980)
Neil Postman (1931-2003)
Richard Clark
Robert Kozma

Marshall McLuhan (1911-1980)

Canadian Philosopher of
Communication and Media Theory
Understanding Media (1964)
The medium is the message.
Media is the extension of man.
We shape our tools, and then our
tools shape us.

Neil Postman (1931-2003)

American author, educator,
media theorist and cultural critic
Amusing Ourselves to Death
(1985)
Technopoly: The Surrender of
Culture to Technology (1992)
Argument is the soul of an
education.
We should care more about
what the technology will
undo.

Richard Dick E. Clark

American educator
The media are mere vehicles
that deliver instruction but do
not influence student
achievement any more than
the truck that delivers our
groceries causes changes in
nutrition.

Robert Kozma
American educator
Director, Center for Technology in
Learning, SRI International
Clarks separation of media from
method creates an unnecessary and
undesirable schism between medium
and method, both should have a more
integral relationship.
A careful use of media would enable
learners to take advantage of its
strengths to construct knowledge.

Relationship between Media and

Learning
Does media cause learning?
Does media influence learning?
Cause-effect? Association?
All mediaare extensions of man. Such an
extension is an intensification, an
amplification of an organ, sense or
function. (McLuhan, 1969)
What should be our concerns with regard to
utilizing media in education?

Kozma concludes:
If we move from "Do media influence learning?" to
"In what ways can we use the capabilities of
media to influence learning for particular
students, tasks, and situations?" we will both
advance the development of our field and
contribute to the improvement of teaching and
learning.
Learning with media is a complementary
process within which a learner and a medium
interact to expand or refine the learner's mental
model of a particular phenomenon.

Major Take-away:
Media do not necessarily cause learning, but media do
influence learning, especially with regard to the scale and
mode of learning.
Media are enabler, amplifier, and multiplier of learning.
By utilizing learning technology, instructors should
deliberate ideal approach to facilitate the interaction
between learners and modern media, such that media
could make learning happen faster, easier, more cost
effective, and come with more significant and
deliverable results.
Bottom line: Ask how we could use media to promote
learning?

Reference:
Clark, R. E. (1983). Reconsidering research on learning from media.Review
Of Educational Research,53, 445-459.
Clark, R. E. (1994). Media will never influence learning.Educational
Technology Research & Development,42(2), 21-29.
Clark, R. E. (Ed.). (2012). Learning from media: Arguments, analysis, and
evidence (2nd ed.). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Pub.
Kozma, R. B. (1991). Learning with media.Review Of Educational
Research,61,179-211.
Kozma, R. B. (1994). The influence of media on learning: the debate
continues.School Library Media Quarterly,22, 233-238.
Kozma, R. B. (1994). Will media influence learning? Reframing the
debate.Educational Technology Research & Development,42(2), 7.

Resource:
The media debate: http://edutechwiki.unige.ch/en/The_media_debate
Marshall McLuhan Interview 1967: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=OMEC_HqWlBY
Chapter One: The Medium is the Message, Understanding Media (McLuhan,
1964) http://web.mit.edu/allanmc/www/mcluhan.mediummessage.pdf
Marshall McLuhan Interview from Playboy 1969:
http://web.cs.ucdavis.edu/~rogaway/classes/188/spring07/mcluhan.pdf
Book TV: Neil Postman, "Technopoly" 1992: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=KbAPtGYiRvg
The Medium is the Message, 50 Years Later: http://www.psmag.com/natureand-technology/medium-message-50-years-later-91552

Thank you!