Reflections on the Media vs. Methods Debate

There is nothing like a good debate to help clarify an issue and generate much-needed discussions about what kind of research must be done to truly settle an issue. Debates are often integral to hurdling specific challenges and furthering advances within a particular field. Knowing this, I was immediately drawn into these readings, even though I was unfamiliar with the “players” and fairly new to the field of educational technology itself.

At first I was struck by the timing of the articles. Both of the assigned readings were from the same journal published in 1994, yet the original statement that “studies clearly suggest that media do not influence learning under any conditions” was published by Dr. Richard Clark in 1983. Why had eleven years passed before the debate actually started? Why had 1994 been the year that Dr. Robert Kozma decided that Clark’s statements needed “reframing?” More importantly; why had no one else effectively questioned Clark’s first assertions during those same eleven years? I also wondered what had happened in the twelve years since these articles were published and today.

The second thing that struck me was that the debate, as laid out in the details of the articles, was not nearly as polarized as the titles of the articles would have one believe. Both men acknowledged areas of common ground and it seemed as if there was a very real chance of compromise and possibly even collaboration between the two which led to the next important question; have educational technologists been able to resolve this issue and if so, how? Based on the results of the values clarification exercise in our last class, it would appear that the teaching methods vs. media used debate is still unsettled.

I started researching subsequent writings and found the answers to some of my questions in an article published last fall which clearly outlines the vast differences between the technological media of 1983 and those available in 1994 (Hastings and Tracey, 2005) which the authors propose prompted Kozma to challenge Clark’s original assertions then. Hastings and Tracey also state that in order to test the validity of Clark’s original views or Kozma’s assertions in today’s world, one must focus attention on “the one medium whose attributes have changed dramatically since 1983: the computer.” (Hastings and Tracey, 2005). While I agree with this view, I also think that Clark’s call to take into account the complexity of educational research is also valid. Indeed the need to identify and attempt to control all of the possible variables when conducting educational research is, in my opinion, the single most enduring message of this entire debate.


[References]

Clark, R.E. (1994) Media Will Never Influence Learning. Educational Technology Research and Development, v42, n2, 21-29.

Hastings, N.B. & Tracey, M.W. (2005) TechTrends. 49, 2, 28-30

Kozma, R.B. (1994). Will Media Influence Learning? Reframing the Debate. Educational Technology Research and Development, 42, 2, 7-19.