Selection and use of Media

The Selection of Media

The attempt to select the best combination of media for education is an on going process, in all parts of the world. Classroom teachers are deciding what methods are best to get the information they are about to teach to their students’, if they should use video, computer or still picture, in explaining a given task. Those decisions will have comparatively little impact on the educational system as a whole although they may make a great difference in an individual class (Scramm 1977 p.20)

A program committee of teachers, technologists, and producers of the Open University have to face the decision of how many half-hours of television to request for a course just being designed. This decision is much larger than those for the classroom teachers, because one period of television cost a large sum of money and will be seen by thousands of university students.

An example of really big decisions in media selection is like the case of India . India had been using mostly what could be called Little Media -puppets, filmstrips, and radio to reach to its largely illiterate village people. In 1976 the Indian government made the decision to change the method of reaching this illiterate people and took up using a satellite (AST-6) with which to beam educational and development television into 2,400 of its remote villages. From puppets to direct satellite broadcasting is 5,000 years in time and millions of dollars in cost (Scramm 1977 p.20).

All decisions about media selection require assumptions about the task effect and cost

In the selection of the instructional media, Romiszowski(1997) says that the main categories of factors that may influence the choice of media are:

1 Task factors- the type of objectives, and hence the type of learning activities which should be provided for the learner.

2 Learner factors- some learners may learn better from certain media than from others

3 Economics/availability factors- this may limit the choice in practice. (p.57)

In his book “The Selection and Use of Instructional Media”(1997) he gives many samples, charts and procedure for lesson design, concentrating particularly on selection and presentation of media. He offers a framework, based on a particular view of the instruction process, which should enable the teacher to set about designing lesson plans which have ´ a fair chance of being successful´.

An example of media comparison and deployment from a practitioner’s view.

“In distance teaching institutions, the deployment of different media for different topics and learning task is controlled more by logistic, economic and human factors than by pedagogical considerations. One reason for this is that user- friendly pedagogical criteria have not been developed to date; at least, there is no consensus on the adequacy of any existing selection models. Another reason is the false impression, conveyed by media comparison research, of equipotentialality between media” says Jack Koumi in his article “Media comparison and deployment” written in British Journal of Educational Technology 1994.

In this article he argues that because the research on comparative efficacy of media has been flawed, giving a false impression of equipotentialality between media, the need for workable criteria for optimal media deployment has been underestimated. He proposes a framework to help course developers to design such media selection procedures (Koumi, 1994 p.,41). He considers five media in depth: radio and TV (broadcast), audio and video (cassette, with complementary notes) and print. These are then match briefly with computer-based media. The analysis reflects on six types of media characteristics: symbol system, access, controllability, student reactivity, interactivity, adaptivity. Jack Koumi developed this framework collaboratively over several years with the help of theorists and practitioners in international seminar and workshops.

When comparing media it is common to appraise each medium for both its strengths and weakness, for example, print is rather impersonal, whereas audio-visual media can portray the teacher in person. This pair of evaluation can be considered as a single comparison: personalising the teacher is a merit of audio-visual media compared to print (Koumi, 1994 p.,45). Koumi built up a list of such comparative merits which are shown in Table 2 (see as one of the papers at the back). This table does not include the computers. There are many varieties of computerbased media, which are (potentially) more controllable, interactive and adaptive, although problem of access can arise.

Koumi made a list for TV/video: distinctive ways, to help learning :

He states that cognitive objectives can be facilitated through the eight media- distinctive techniques shown beneath. That is, these techniques can only be achieved successfully with medium as TV which has diagrammatic and real-life moving pictures accompanied by sound effect and words.

a Composite-picture techniques, e.g. split screen and superimposition, can aid synthetic, analytic and discrimination skills.

b Visual metaphors for abstract process e.g. specially concocted physical models and animation, in effect implant the teacher’s imagery into student’s minds - thereby supplanting other, ineffectual mental process.

c Modelling a dynamic process with a contrived, simplified version that encapsulates salient features such as animation for chemistry. The encapsulation of salient features hopes to prime students for the full process in later study.

d Simulating variable situation/process: changing the parameter values can help students to explore various version of the process (e.g. through animation, drama), such as what would happen if the ceiling of the coal mine collapsed ahead of the men behind them?

e Illustrating abstract concepts with evocative, palpable real-world examples.

f Condensing time by pruning real-world process (i.e. editing out non- salientevents) bringing the duration within the viewer’s concentration span.

g Demonstration by a teacher or role-model of technical, logical or social skills, by handling equipment, symbols or people. The objective is for the student to achieve skills such as manipulating a home experiment kit, solving an equation, learning a foreign language.

h Narrative power : precise control over what the learner experiences in pictures, sound effects and words (including intonation and phrasing), pacing and sequence, structured into an educationally digestible story (Koumi, 1994, p.,50)

Experimental objectives can be acquired by showing/documenting other wise inaccessible so here is another list for TV and video, providing realistic experience:

a places (e.g.: factories, undersea, overseas locations);

b viewpoints (e.g.: aerial views, microscopy);

c complex or large-scale technical process or equipment, with synchronous sound;

d three-dimensional objects: by moving the object or the camera and/or by the presenter’s hand exploring the space;

e slow/fast motion (e.g. slow motion of animal actions, fast action of clod

movement);

f people, animals interacting, real-life or drama: e.g. interviews´ body language tone of voice;

g real-world events (including the use of archive film/audio);

h dynamic change or movement;

i chronological sequence and duration (important in e.g. sequence and pacing of body language and pauses for interviewing skills, progress of chemical reactions, fluid dynamics) (Koumi, 1994, p.,50).

Here is also a list of some typical classes of objectives in these domains for which TV/video can play a particular part, because of the rich symbol system, which gives TV such realism (also true of radio/audio to an extent):

o stimulate appetite to learn o provoke, mobilises o encourage use of particular strategy by demonstrating its success	Motivational: leads to desirable activity or determination
o the personalisation of the sympathetic teacher alleviates the isolation of the distance learner o student identifies with the teacher o reassure, entertain, fascinate/delight o academic abstractions are given life with palpable real-world examples: hence gain relevance/authenticity o change attitudes/appreciation, e.g.: concerning hygiene, minorities	Affective: produces desirable feelings, appreciations, attitude, values
(Koumi, 1994, p.,51)

Many of the above potentials of TV and video hold equally well for radio and audio.

Audio-vision has been found to be both liked and effective: a teacher can demonstrate technical/logical skills, and /or guide students in achieve such skills, by talking through equations, flow-charts, architectural plans and so on. Many topics and teaching functions benefit from the use of pictures but do not need moving pictures. For these topics, audio vision can be cost-effective alternative to video (Koumi, 1994, p.,52).

Koumi provides three-stage scheme for approaching media selection it is:

1 List comparative merits and distinctive teaching functions.

2 Device a procedure for media deployment based on your list.

3 Fully exploits the potential of each medium.

Some students will not learn from some media in some situations. This results statistically in a dilution of differential media effects. These students can be helped in multiplying the media presentation to accommodate the individual differences in learning style.

Koumi argues that there does not exist an adequately practicable theory for selecting media appropriate to given topics, learning tasks and target populations and the most common practise is not to use a model at all. So there is no wonder that allocation of media has been controlled more by practical, economic and human/political factors than by pedagogic considerations.

His suggestion is to apply each medium to the learning process it best supports, unless a cheaper medium would do as well. “In the real world, financial and human/political constrains may compel the use of second best medium. But it is better for this to be done knowingly than by oversight” (Koumi, 1994, p.57).

Roundstone the band see their site here

Some photos from Iceland see here

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