Introduction to Topic 7:
Congratulations on making it to our last topic together, The Great Educational Technology Debate! Because I know you’re busy working on your final assignment, I won’t make this a heavy topic, but hopefully, it will be a useful and memorable one as we finish our time together.
Back in 1994, Richard Clark & Robert Kozma engaged in a public debate on Educational Technology, which focused mainly on whether or not a new medium (like video recording) using the same pedagogy can lead to betting learning outcomes (like higher test grades). Given our very fast move to online course delivery because of COVID-19, this debate has taken on new importance and urgency.
I’ll review more details about the debate, and my perspective on it, in the two videos below.
You can also read or refer my blog to read a summary of my take on the Clarke – Kozma debate (McCue, 2014).
Go More In-Depth on the Clark-Kozma Debate:
If you think that Clarke and Kozma were yelling at each other in a live debate, you are in for a surprise. This debate did not happen in person but took place via duelling journal articles over a span of over three years. Here is a summary of the debate summary followed below by links to the “debate” journal articles below: http://edutechwiki.unige.ch/en/The_media_debate
Kozma’s original article titled, Learning with Media, which kicked off the debate (1991): https://journals-sagepub-com.ezproxy.library.uvic.ca/doi/abs/10.3102/00346543061002179
Clarke’s initial response to Kozma titled, When Researchers Swim Upstream: Reflections on an Unpopular Argument About Learning From Media (1991): https://www-jstor-org.ezproxy.library.uvic.ca/stable/44430584
Kosma’s response to Clarke about his perspective on the influence of media on learning (1994): http://www.ala.org/aasl/sites/ala.org.aasl/files/content/aaslpubsandjournals/slr/edchoice/SLMQ_InfluenceofMediaonLearning_InfoPower.pdf
Clarke’s journal article where he argues that media will never influence learning: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02299088
Conclusions & Farewell
I truly hope that you have been able to add some new and useful Multimedia Learning tools and techniques to your pedagogical toolbox as you prepare to move into a teaching environment that I suspect will be some kind of a hybrid of face-to-face and online learning until we are able to reach the far side of the current COVID-19 crisis.
It’s been a pleasure working and learning with you. Please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me if you have any Multimedia Learning, EdTech, or Makerspace questions in the future: rmccue@uvic.ca
Assignments:
Group Evaluation of Multimedia App due June 26 using edci337-app category.
Course Experience Survey. Please fill it out in the next day or two as the feedback on the course is very helpful to me and the university. Thank-you!
Bibliography:
The media debate. (n.d.). In EduTech Wiki. Retrieved June 19, 2020, from http://edutechwiki.unige.ch/en/The_media_debate
Clark, R. E. (1994). Media will never influence learning. Educational Technology Research and Development, 42(2), 21–29. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02299088
Clark, R. E. (1991). When Researchers Swim Upstream: Reflections on an Unpopular Argument About Learning from Media. Educational Technology, 31(2), 34–40. JSTOR. https://www-jstor-org.ezproxy.library.uvic.ca/stable/44430584
McCue, R. (2014, March 1). New Educational Technology + Old Pedagogy = No Significant Difference? Rich McCue v5.0. https://richmccue.com/2014/02/28/new-educational-technology-old-pedagogy-no-significant-difference/
McCue, R. (2020). The Clarke & Kozma EdTech, Multimedia Learning Debate—Part 1 [Mp4]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Z_6BNQBoIQ
McCue, R. (2020). The Clarke & Kozma EdTech, Multimedia Learning Debate—Part 2 [Mp4]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFItcr9mEg8
Kozma, R. B. (1991). Learning with Media. Review of Educational Research, 61(2), 179–211. https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543061002179
Leave a Reply