The Educational Potential of Media A Comparative Analysis

The Educational Potential of Media A Comparative Analysis

Stephen Asunka

As they emerge, various media/technologies (radio, television, video, the internet/WWW etc.) have been welcomed by educators as agents that are capable of assisting in many aspects of the learning process. It is often believed that when used appropriately (ie interactively and with guidance), these technologies could enhance some social aspects of the learning process such as studentcentered learning, cooperative and collaborative learning, as well as components of motivation such as attention, relevance, satisfaction, feedback etc. Whilst not denying the fact that these technologies do make a positive impact on the educational landscape, majority of educational technology researchers often come to the realization that as each technology matures with time, it does not completely live up to its promises. For instance, with its onset in the early 1900s, film was heralded as a technology that would alter education as no other technology had done before. In 1913 Edison predicted that" Books will soon be obsolete in schools... scholars will soon be instructed through the eye. It is possible to touch every branch of human knowledge with the motion picture"(As cited in Cuban 1986, 11). A few years on, all motion picture could do was to supplement a few traditional courses, leaving anxious educators with very little options. The same can be said about television, video and even the computer, and as Ramsden (1992) observed, no medium, however useful, can solve fundamental educational problems.

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