Last night we had a great class debate between media and method. Each group was responsible for reading an article either by Clark or Kozma. Our small group had an article by Clark titled “Media Will NEVER Influence Learning.” As I was reading this article, before class, I thought, “Man this guy is right on. It doesn’t matter the type of media that is used in instruction, the instruction relies on the method of teaching.” I have had a professor in the past that would involve the course in great discussion without using any media. This professor’s method of teaching was straight forward, lecture.
Now I work in a department where all the professors for one particular course teach the same material and have one standard test for the course that every student takes, no matter which section they are in. I know that some professors teach using PowerPoint, some involve class participation, and some just stand up and lecture. No matter which media was used in the classroom, the average on the test across all sections was similar. PowerPoint didn’t influence one section to score higher, and lecture only didn’t make one section score lower.
The debate last night really brought this example to mind…after the fact of course, and makes me think how much does media really play a role in instruction and learning?
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