EDUCATIONAL MEDIA AND TECHNOLOGY

Description of
key terms: media, technology, educational technology, types of educational
media & educational technology.

•        
Historical
development and educational technology in classroom today.

Medium (pl.
Media) – means through which information is
shared among people participating in any form of interaction. It can be verbal,
non-verbal, written and/or online conversations. Examples of media are such as
language, newspaper, radio, television, magazine, internet, drums, horns,
bells, computers, filers, just to mention a few.

Educational
media– any means used to share information
between teacher and a learner. Types may be audio, visual and audio visual.

Other commonly used terms to educational media
include the following:

Audio/visual (A/V)-materials
that can produce sound/picture when projected on a screen (audible and
visible)
Learning aids- resources designed to assist individual learners or trainees
in learning and understanding process. Eg. Operating manuals. Here the Lerner
is guided to follow precise directions for performing a given educational task

Training (instructional) materials-set of materials designed to direct the learner
how to proceed with a unit or course of study. They relate directly to instructional
materials such s handouts, fliers, video clips, etc

Learning resources- anything around that can facilitate effective
learning. Eg. Books, specimens, handout, electronic materials, etc

Technology– The application of scientific knowledge to achieve practical purposes

Technology can also be defined as both a process
and a product:-

•        
As a process,
it refers to creative application of knowledge for purposeful activities.

•        
As a product,
it refers to application of equipments which facilitate the application of this
knowledge.

From this perspective, technology can be
perceived as a multipurpose phenomenon, having several fields with which it is
identified:

•        
Instructional technology-systematic way of designing, carrying out and
evaluating the process of teaching based on human and communication. It employs
the combination of human and non human resources to bring about more effective
instructions for efficient and effective learning.

•        
Industrial technology– scientific knowledge used in industrial
processes to improve industrial production.

•        
Information technology– process of gathering, storing, processing and
disseminating of information of whatever quality.

•        
Educational technology-general set of instruments and methods or
techniques through which solution to educational problems can be found.

From definitions of various scholars and
institutions of educational technology, there are three aspects embraced in the
concept of educational technology:-

•        
Use of
equipments or devices in support of teaching and learning.

•        
Creation of
efficiency and effectiveness as a result of supported learning and improved
educational system.

•        
The application
of knowledge and skills through various techniques.

From educational technology, we have two terms
which are:-

•        
Technology of education-refers to design and evaluation of systems of
teaching and learning or the psychology of learning and communication theories.
It is the systematic application of scientific principles on the process of
teaching and learning. They involve:-

•        
Identification
of objectives or (what the students should learn)

•        
The design of
appropriate learning experience or ( how the students will learn)

•        
Evaluation of
effectiveness in practice (how well the students will learn)

•        
The improvement
of the design of the next lesson

•        
Technology in education– refers to the integration (ushirikiano) of
technology on the process of teaching and learning to achieve the instructional
objective. Therefore, it refers to more complex range of audio visual
equipment/materials increasingly integrated into the classroom teaching and
learning situations.

Categorization of educational
technologies

•        
Tutorial technologies

•        
Designed to
teach in lecture like or workbook like where the system controls the materials
printed to the students.

•        
It is very much
applicable to distance education

•        
Such materials
include Computer Assisted Instruction (CAI), instructional television program,
cassette or computer training programmes, some video disks

•        
Students have
no chance to control the system

•        
Exploratory technologies

•        
These are
technologies where by students are free to roam around the information
displayed or presented in medium such as CD-ROM, encyclopedia or virtual
libraries.

•        
Exploratory
applications promote discovery or guided discovery that help students acquire
information, knowledge or learn facts, concepts and procedures.

•        
Unlike tutorial
technologies that act on students, these allow students to control learning

•        
A good example
is when a science student spends hours in laboratory using laboratory
equipments finding out solutions to scientific problem.

•        
Application technologies

•        
These are
technologies that provide tools to facilitate educational process.

•        
For example, in
the computer context, these include, these include internet surfing , word
processors software, database management programs, spreadsheet soft ware that
are used in writing tasks, analysis of data, graphing software, desktop
publishing, video recording and editing equipments

•        
Communication technologies

•        
These are
technologies that allow the learner and facilitator to send and receive
instructions or messages and information to and from one another through
networks or other technologies

•        
For example,
communicating with your fellow student/learner or lecturer through email or fax
or internet.

Types of educational media

There are two major categories of media

•        
Traditional
media

•        
Modern media

Traditional media

These are all ancient mean locally produced and
used by our fore fathers to communicate information in the process of teaching
and learning in classroom. Examples are such as drums, language, signs, songs,
dances, pictures, paints, models and simple machines. They are in fact the base
for recent development to modern media.

Modern media

These are more recent media that appear to be
new or modern in a society. They are either locally made or imported. They may
include electronic technology or equipment such as computer, photocopy, video
camera, television receiver and video deck, etc

It is argued that modern media are only a
convenience of traditional media. Telephones for example are a convenience of
traditional drums sounded to communicate information

Other scholar such as Schramm (1966) categorizes
media into two categories:-

•        
Big media

•        
Little media

According to him, big media refer to complex media which are expensive and difficult
to operate. On the other hand, little
media refers to simple to operate and inexpensive media. Examples are
books, fliers, handouts, models, specimens, etc.

                                       

Others categorize media into printed and non-printed. Non-printed
are further divided into projected and
non-projected

Historical development of educational
media and technology

Historically, the development of educational
media and technology traces back to early 1900’s

Reasons to use educational media

The rapid expansion of education worldwide, more
content diversity, more students in the classroom necessitated the need for
teaching/learning arrangements and materials to meet these diversified needs.

Thus, according to Koda 1990, educational media
and technology can be divided into four phases:-

•        
The
introduction of technology of education in teaching and learning process.
That’s teaching through gymnastics, drama, role play, etc introduced by Plato
in Athens

•        
Introduction of
hardware in education (1920-1955). According to skinner (1968), during this
period, educationists began to design and use hardware in classroom. Eg.
Machine designed by Sydney press in 1926 was used in classroom in 1954 at the
University of Pittsburgh. This was due to large number of students in
classroom.

•        
Introduction of
software.  This phase was marked by the
by the introduction of software to support the use of hardware in period
between 1955-1967

•        
Introduction of
modern media. The pressure for the need for the expansion of education brought
about this phase worldwide

In Tanzania context

In Tanzania, the use of education media can be
traced back to the colonial era when the British government established teacher
education.

-in teachers’ colleges, students were taught how
to improvise teaching and learning aids for effective teaching and learning
process.

The role of education media and
technology in education

•        
One of the main
roles of education technology is that of responding to challenges facing
education such as the use of equity and quality of education

•        
To face the
inadequacy of resources especially in less developed countries

•        
To increase the
ability to use all our five senses in education process.

Communication-a process by which people create and share information
with one another to reach a common understanding.

Communication
theories– statements or prepositions of facts
which serves to explain the general principles of human interactions. They
explain whys and hows of communication. They attempt to describe and explain as
well as predicting the behaviours that take place in communication

Properties of communication

There are four properties

•        
Communication
has structure. This structure can be shared or developed in two levels:

•        
One way
structure-linear mode (source-message-media-receiver)

•        
Two way
structure-multiple structure. Here the receiver responds to the source
(source-message-media- receiver-feedback)

•        
Communication
is dynamic. It is a process of relation of parts that may influence each other

•        
There are
factors that account for communication to occur. E.g status of the sender and
receiver and level of knowledge between the two.

•        
Communication
uses common language or signals and sometimes physical or abstract medium

According to Makyikeli (2003), scholars have
come up with some views or beliefs which eventually brought about communication
theories. These beliefs or views or
perspectives are as follows:

•        
Behaviour
perspectives

•        
Transitional
perspectives

•        
Interactive
perspectives

Behaviour perspectives

This belief is held by behaviorists’ school of
thought which stresses on stimulus-response (S-R). The school of thought
believes that, the behavioral change is direct result of the response from a
stimulus. That is, communication involves stimulus (message), originating from
one source and response coming from the other source.

Transitional perspectives

This perspective views communication as the
transfer of information from the sender (source) to receiver (destination).

Using this perspective, communication is linear
as opposed to behavioural perspectives because the perspective believes in
transfer of information from one point to the next. The perspective indicates
that communication is in a straight line.

Interactive perspectives

This acknowledges that communication involves
reciprocal exchange of information.

Communication here is believed to be two sided,
allowing chance for feedback and mutual effect.

In the Teaching and learning situation,
interactive approaches are always emphasized.

The
Theories

Functional theory (FT) – Talcoty
persons

The theory states that all communicative acts
serve potential functions in a group/society depending on the context in which
communication occurs.

This means that communication cannot be without
a purpose. It serves certain function.

Rule theory (RT)

The theory states that, communication that
occurs every day follows the explicit and implicit rules which are acceptable
in social situations.

So, in order to communicate properly, people
have to observe rules that apply in their social situations.

Social exchange theory (SET)

This theory stipulates that communication
between people is give and take process such that people enter into
conversations with others with expectations of getting something out of it. In
other words, people enter into communication relationship just like they enter
into business relationship where each one aims at gaining not losing

Structuration theory- Antony Gidden

The theory maintains that, communication depends
on existence of institutionalized social practices, that is, actions that are
recognized as coherent whole by a group (binding people together)

Social actions such as courtship, weddings,
which eventually constitute an institution (marriage club, bachelor club, sprinters
club) occur as a result of institutionalization of such activities.

So, against the functional theory, this theory
claims that it is not possible to have the same communicative act doing the
same function all over. It depends on institutionalized practices of
society/group/community of the people.

Communication
models

The communication specialists developed
perspectives on the process of communication and later theorized the
communication process. Other scholars went further to the extent of developing
models.

By communication
models, we refer to graphical representation of the process of
communication. Rather than exploring about the process, scholars have
simplified by drawing the graphs/diagrams which tell by themselves what would
be expected in any communication process.

The communication models from various
specializations are then accommodated in the classroom teaching and learning
situations

Why
learning Communication models?

•        
To illustrate
how communication takes place.

•        
To be aware and
able to plan for communication in teaching and learning process. Eg. Avoid
noises/barriers of communication.

•        
They help a
teacher to be an effective communicator in classroom.

 They
include:

•        
Aristotle’s
communication model

•        
Shannon and
Weaver’s communication model

•        
Berlo’s
communication model

•        
Schramms’s
communication model

•        
Laswell &
Braddock model

Aristotle’s communication model

The model is among the oldest models, developed
by the Greek philosopher Aristotle

The model shows that communication is one-way traffic
agreeing with the transitional perspectives that the communication acts/serves
as the transfer of information from the source to the destination.

Implication to classroom situation:

When the model is applied in normal classroom
teaching and learning, it implies that;

•        
A teacher
applies the transmission approach using teacher centered or lecture method

•        
Learners assume
the role of listening, noting down the teachers’ points

•        
The classroom
assumes passivity-this is education that maintains the culture of silence

•        
Education in
such a situation provides greater authority of the teacher

Roles:

•        
The sender
becomes the teacher

•        
The message
becomes the subject content (lesson) and the receivers as learners
(pupils/students)

Shannon and Weaver’s communication
model

Shannon was a telephone engineer working for
Bell, a famous company in the limited strokes (N. America). Thus, the model
reflects features of telephone technology.

The information source produces message which is
later transmitted through relevant signals depending on the medium used.

The message transmitted passes through relevant
signals depending on the medium used.

The message transmitted passes through signals
but sometimes is interrupted by noise. Eventually the message reaches the
receiver who finally keeps it or gives it to the last destination

Implications
to classroom T/L (applicability)

Information source

This can be any
authority from which the materials (notice, information, skills, knowledge,
ideas are obtained). These include:

•      
The library from which the teacher prepares notice

•      
The specific book, dictionary, newspaper, journals containing the
specific information to be delivered in classroom

•      
Computer/electronic sources-webpage from the internet

•      
The church/mosque where one learner new information, relevant

•      
Museum and archives where specific records are kept

•      
Sites where people visit to observe and obtain information

Message 1

From the source of information, teachers obtain
what to teach in classroom. This knowledge that teacher gathers becomes the
message. The lesson that is planned (lesson plan) is the tool that enables the
teacher to be equipped and to be confident before entering the class.

The transmitter

In the teaching and learning, the transmitter
refers to the teacher. The teacher plays the role of transmitting the message
that is the teacher has to teach the lesson. Thus, a teacher cannot transmit
values, knowledge, skills or attitudes without preparing himself/herself first.

The signal

Signals refer to the approaches, methods,
strategies and techniques a teacher applies to make the lesson clear. A teacher
in such situations needs to decide what approaches can make learners pay
attention to the lesson. Some approaches are interactive while others are
non-interactive.

Message 2

This is the actual lesson being presented using
the approaches a teacher has selected. It differs from the message a teacher
obtained from the source, in that ninth later case a teacher delivers the
screened message and not the totality of the message he/she picked from
information source. There is possibility of other unnecessary things to be left
out though the theme remains unchanged

Receiver

The receivers in the classroom situation are
learners.

They receive the message/lesson from the
teacher.

Destination

The receiver receiving the message (the lesson,
they have to keep the knowledge in a safe place so that it is easier to
retrieve the information whenever needed)

Destination can therefore be:

•        
Received mind

•        
Notebook

•        
Computer
facilities

•        
Files/portfolios

Noise

In the teaching and learning situation, noise
refers to the interruptions that course learners to fail grasping the lesson
delivered

The noise source may be:

•        
Physical noise

•        
Psychological
noise

•        
Sociological
noise

Berlo’s communication model

Another
famous communication model is Berlo’s model. In this model, he stresses on the
relationship between the person sending the message and the receiver.

According
to this model, for the message to be properly encoded and decoded, the
communication skills of both the source and the receiver should be at best. The
communication will be at its best only if the two points are skilled.

Berlo’s
model has four main components and each component has its own sub components
describing the assisting factors for each.

While
the Aristotle model of communication puts the speaker in the central position
and suggests that the speaker is the one who drives the entire communication,
the Berlo’s model of communication takes into account the emotional aspect of
the message. Berlo’s model of communication operates on the SMCR model.

In
the SMCR model

•       
S
– Stands for Source

•       
M
– Message

•       
C
– Channel

•       
R
– Receiver

S – Source

The
source in other words also called the sender is the one from whom the thought
originates. He is the one who transfers the information to the receiver after
carefully putting his thoughts into words.

How
does the source or the sender transfer his information to the recipient ?

It
is done with the help of communication skills, Attitude, Knowledge, Social
System and Culture.

•       
Communication Skills

An
individual must possess excellent communication skills to make his
communication effective and create an impact among the listeners. The speaker
must know where to take pauses, where to repeat the sentences, how to speak a
particular sentence, how to pronounce a word and so on. The speaker must not go
on and on. He should also make a point to cross check with the recipients and
listen to their queries as well. An individual must take care of his accent
while communicating. A bad accent leads to a boring conversation.

•       
Attitude

It
is rightly said that if one has the right attitude, the whole world is at his
feet. There is actually no stopping for the person if he has the right
attitude. A person might be a very good speaker but if he doesn’t have the
right attitude, he would never emerge as a winner. The sender must have the
right attitude to create a long lasting impression on the listeners. An
individual must be an MBA from a reputed institute, but he would be lost in the
crowd without the right attitude.

•       
Knowledge

Here
knowledge is not related to the educational qualification of the speaker or the
number of degrees he has in his portfolio. Knowledge is actually the clarity of
the information which the speaker wants to convey to the second party. One must
be thorough in what he is speaking with complete in-depth knowledge of the
subject. Remember questions can pop up anytime and you have to be ready with
your answers. You need to be totally familiar with what you are speaking.
Before delivering any speech, read as much you can and prepare the subject
completely without ignoring even the smallest detail.

•       
Social System

Imagine
a politician delivering a speech where he proposes to construct a temple in a
Muslim dominated area. What would be the reaction of the listeners ? They would
obviously be not interested. Was there any problem in the communication skills
of the leader or he didn’t have the right attitude ? The displeasure of the
listeners was simply because the speaker ignored the social set up of the place
where he was communicating. He forgot the sentiments, cultural beliefs,
religious feelings of the second party. Had it been a Hindu dominated society,
his speech would have been very impressive.

•       
Culture

Culture
refers to the cultural background of the community or the listeners where the
speaker is communicating or delivering his speech.

M – Message

When
an individual converts his thoughts into words, a message is created. The process is also called as Encoding.

Any
message further comprises of the following elements:

•       
Content

One
cannot show his grey matter to others to let him know what he is thinking. A
thought has to be put into words and content has to be prepared. Content is
actually the matter or the script of the conversation. It is in simpler words,
the backbone of any communication.

Ted
to Jenny -“I am really exhausted today, let’s plan for the movie tomorrow evening”.

Whatever
Ted has communicated with Jenny is actually the content of the message. It is
very important for the speaker to carefully choose the words and take good care
of the content of the speech. The content has to be sensible, accurate, crisp, related
to the thought to hit the listeners bang on and create an immediate impact.

•       
Element

It
has been observed that speech alone cannot bring a difference in the
communication. Keep on constantly speaking and the listeners will definitely
lose interest after some time. The speech must be coupled with lots of hand
movements, gestures, postures, facial expressions, body movements to capture
the attention of the listeners and make the speech impressive. Hand movements,
gestures, postures, facial expressions, body movements, gestures all come under
the elements of the message.

•       
Treatment

Treatment
is actually the way one treats his message and is conveys to the listeners. One
must understand the importance of the message and must know how to handle it.
If a boss wants to fire any of his employees, he has to be authoritative and
can’t express his message in a casual way. This is referred to as the treatment
of the message. One must understand how to present his message so that the
message is conveyed in the most accurate form.

•       
Structure

A
message cannot be expressed in one go. It has to be properly structured in
order to convey the message in the most desired form.

•       
Code

Enter
a wrong code and the locks will never open. Enter a wrong password, you will
not be able to open your email account. In the same way the code has to be
correct in the communication. Your body movements, your language, your
expressions, your gestures are actually the codes of the message and have to be
accurate otherwise the message gets distorted and the recipient will never be
able to decode the correct information.

C – Channel

Channel
– Channel actually refers to the medium how the information flows from the
sender to the receiver.

How
does one know what the other person is speaking ? – Through Hearing.

How
does one know whether the pasta he has ordered is made in white sauce or not ?
– Through Tasting.

How
does one know that there is a diversion ahead or it’s a no parking zone? –
Through Seeing.

How
will an individual come to know that the food is fresh or stale ? How do we
find out the fragrance of a perfume ? – Through Smelling.

How
will you find out whether the milk is hot or not ? – Through Touching.

All
the five senses are the channels
which help human beings to communicate with each other.

R – Receiver

When
the message reaches the receiver, he tries to understand what the listener
actually wants to convey and then responds accordingly. This is also called as decoding.

The
receiver should be on the same platform as the speaker for smooth flow of
information and better understanding of the message. He should possess good
communication skills to understand what the speaker is trying to convey. He
should have the right attitude to understand the message in a positive way. His
knowledge should also be at par with the listener and must know about the
subject. He should also be from the same social and cultural background just
like the speaker.

There
are several loopholes in the Berlo’s model of communication. According to the
berlo’s model of communication, the speaker and the listener must be on a
common ground for smooth conversion which is sometimes not practical in the
real scenario.

Criticism of Berlo’s smcr model of
communication:

•       
No
feedback / don’t know about the effect

•       
Does
not mention barriers to communication

•       
No
room for noise

•       
Complex
model

•       
It
is a linear model of communication

•       
Needs
people to be on same level for communication to occur but not true in real life

•       
Main
drawback of the model is that the model omits the usage of sixth sense as a
channel which is actually a gift to the human beings (thinking, understanding,
analyzing etc).

Schramm’s communication model

Schramm
and Osgood attempted to criticize and modify previous linear models. They
argued that the models were misleading to think of communication process being
a linear process starting from somewhere and ending somewhere.

They
argued that the models were useful in describing interpersonal communication in
which someone was working in the bell telephone laboratory. However, it is
important to look for how to improve effective communication in situations that
necessitate us to use one way communication.

These
scholars pointed out that for effective communication to occur there must be a
feedback.

So,
they proposed a two way communication model in circular form.

Whereas
Schramm and Weaver’s main emphasis was on the media/channel, Schramm and
Osgood’s main focus was on the behaviuor of the main actors in the communication
process, the sender and the receiver.

These
scholars describe the acting parties as equals, performing identical function
of encoding, decoding and interpreting the messages.

Implication in the classroom situation

•        
The model
matches with the views that the teaching and learning should be friendly,
collaborative and cooperative between the teacher and learners.

•        
It calls for
application of interactive teaching and learning methods

•        
It lowers or
reduces the authoritative tendencies of teachers and promotes students
participation in class.

•        
Thus, the
teaching and learning is a two way communication because both parties have
equal chance of contributing ideas in the lesson.

Criticism:

The model lies in the argument that both the sender
and the receiver are equal in communication. This may not be the case in all
situations

Laswell & Braddock model

It began as the lasswell’s formula before it
became a model.

Harlod Laswell was an American political
scientist.

He described communication in the form of
questions and since it was not in graphic form, they warned it as a formula.

Laswell’s formula lists five questions. To him,
for communication to occur, it depends on:

•        
Who
(source/sender)

•        
Says what
(content/message)

•        
In which channel
(media/means)

•        
With what
effect (techniques/strategies)

At those times, Laswell’s interest was on
political communication and propaganda

Other scholars criticized laswell’s formula and
added other components in graphic form so that it looks like a model proper.

For example, Braddock proposed two more factors
for considerations in analyzing communication process. He published an article
titled “an extension of Laswell’s formula” in the journal of communication.

He added two more questions suggesting that for
communication to occur effectively, it depends mainly on:

•        
For what
purpose

•        
Under what
circumstances

Implications

Who- teacher

Says what- content/lesson

In which channel- media/means

To whom- receiver

For what purpose- general and specific
objectives

Under what circumstances- T/L approaches,
methods, strategies

With what effect- reflection and on action

The contribution presented by Braddock enabled
the Lasswell’s formula to become a model and to fit fully in the educational
arena. ...