Weekly Learning Artifact: Position Statement
Upon completion of reading both articles I was in a bit of a quandary. I know media does influence learning and have personally experienced the benefits of technology in learning. However, as much as I agree with Robert Kozma. I could not find a flaw in what I perceived as key points raised by Richard Clark.
Richard Clark very early framed his position with an analogy. 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 our nutrition" (1983, p. 445).
Could I find examples of some sort of media that runs contrary to this analogy? If this weren’t enough Clark, then narrows the debate and frames it with what he calls the “replaceability” test. If different media yields similar learning gains and facilitate achievement of necessary performance criteria, we must choose the less expensive way to achieve a learning goal. Taking this into consideration is there any evidence that a different set of media and attributes achieve similar leaning results for any given student and learning task. Clark then puts the first nail in the coffin. “It cannot be argued that any given medium or attribute must be present in order for learning to occur, only that certain media and attributes are more efficient for certain learners, learning goals and tasks.”
From here Clark differentiates instructional method and medium, which I am sure all of us have experienced. Shoehorning a PowerPoint presentation with endless text or some other sort of technology into teaching does not influence learning, except in a negative way. Clark hits on the topic of confusion with regards to environmental technology and delivery technology. Design technology was surprisingly mentioned in another course HPE 267 04 - OL - Health and Movement Education for Elementary Teachers. There is much discussion about changing the environment to encourage peer-based learning and how technology can improve it.
Clark states that there are four counter arguments to what he believes. Two of the arguments, Usual Uses and Meta-analytic Evidence are more or less nullified because the teaching methods are not consistent. Empiricism Envy is merely a disagreement between empirical, qualitative with logical positivism. Necessary Media Attributes appears to be the grey area that in the future may prove to be an exception.
Many factors go into learning. Similar to the analogy that groceries deliver nutrition not the truck. Media is not our end goal. It is a vehicle for us to use.
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