In reaction to the Marshall Mcluhan tetrad task

‘The truth shall you make free.’
Marshall Mcluhan’s life was dedicated to showing men the truth above the world they live in and the hidden consequences of the technologies he develops. He famously coined the expression, ‘medium is the message’.
A tetrad is a means of examining the effect of a medium on society by dividing its effects into four categories and displaying them simultaneously.
The latest technological advancement like social computing is the extension of human communication and collaboration regardless of time frame in business world, educational world like Wiki. Personal broadcasting is the extension of speech, sight and auditory senses. Cellular phone is the extension of communication. Educational gaming also is the extension of activity and imagination. Augmented reality and Enhanced Visualization is the extension of view of inward and outward. Context aware environments and devices are the extensions of instantly accommodated needs.
After reading all tetrad task and class discussion, I realize that there are four stages of revolution process of technological developments- At First, Extension or enhancement of human need or desire. It is called figure qualities, the amplification of practical solutions to known problem. Second stage is Obsolete, unexpected and new problems arise when a medium is amplified too much. It is called ground qualities. Third stage is retrieval-the recovery of old values, transition of ground to figure. How technology brings back enjoyment or experience in different ways. Fourth is the too much of extension of technology ultimately fail to give us the optimum human needs- the erosion of contemporary values and transition to figure to ground. Therefore, eventually, all latest technological advancement from social computing to Context Aware environments will have to go through these four processes or evaluation.
References:

The Horizon Report. (2006). The New Media Consortium & the Educase Learning Initiative. California, USA

Mcluhan (1964) Understanding media. New York, N.Y. McGraw-Hill

Mcluhan (1967) The Medium is the message.
Understanding Media : The Extensions of Man (Cambridge: The MIT Press, 1994

In reaction to the Marshall Mcluhan tetrad task

‘The truth shall you make free.’
Marshall Mcluhan’s life was dedicated to showing men the truth above the world they live in and the hidden consequences of the technologies he develops. He famously coined the expression, ‘medium is the message’.
A tetrad is a means of examining the effect of a medium on society by dividing its effects into four categories and displaying them simultaneously.
The latest technological advancement like social computing is the extension of human communication and collaboration regardless of time frame in business world, educational world like Wiki. Personal broadcasting is the extension of speech, sight and auditory senses. Cellular phone is the extension of communication. Educational gaming also is the extension of activity and imagination. Augmented reality and Enhanced Visualization is the extension of view of inward and outward. Context aware environments and devices are the extensions of instantly accommodated needs.
After reading all tetrad task and class discussion, I realize that there are four stages of revolution process of technological developments- At First, Extension or enhancement of human need or desire. It is called figure qualities, the amplification of practical solutions to known problem. Second stage is Obsolete, unexpected and new problems arise when a medium is amplified too much. It is called ground qualities. Third stage is retrieval-the recovery of old values, transition of ground to figure. How technology brings back enjoyment or experience in different ways. Fourth is the too much of extension of technology ultimately fail to give us the optimum human needs- the erosion of contemporary values and transition to figure to ground. Therefore, eventually, all latest technological advancement from social computing to Context Aware environments will have to go through these four processes or evaluation.
References:

The Horizon Report. (2006). The New Media Consortium & the Educase Learning Initiative. California, USA

Mcluhan (1964) Understanding media. New York, N.Y. McGraw-Hill

Mcluhan (1967) The Medium is the message.
Understanding Media : The Extensions of Man (Cambridge: The MIT Press, 1994

In reaction to the Marshall Mcluhan tetrad task

‘The truth shall you make free.’
Marshall Mcluhan’s life was dedicated to showing men the truth above the world they live in and the hidden consequences of the technologies he develops. He famously coined the expression, ‘medium is the message’.
A tetrad is a means of examining the effect of a medium on society by dividing its effects into four categories and displaying them simultaneously.
The latest technological advancement like social computing is the extension of human communication and collaboration regardless of time frame in business world, educational world like Wiki. Personal broadcasting is the extension of speech, sight and auditory senses. Cellular phone is the extension of communication. Educational gaming also is the extension of activity and imagination. Augmented reality and Enhanced Visualization is the extension of view of inward and outward. Context aware environments and devices are the extensions of instantly accommodated needs.
After reading all tetrad task and class discussion, I realize that there are four stages of revolution process of technological developments- At First, Extension or enhancement of human need or desire. It is called figure qualities, the amplification of practical solutions to known problem. Second stage is Obsolete, unexpected and new problems arise when a medium is amplified too much. It is called ground qualities. Third stage is retrieval-the recovery of old values, transition of ground to figure. How technology brings back enjoyment or experience in different ways. Fourth is the too much of extension of technology ultimately fail to give us the optimum human needs- the erosion of contemporary values and transition to figure to ground. Therefore, eventually, all latest technological advancement from social computing to Context Aware environments will have to go through these four processes or evaluation.
References:

The Horizon Report. (2006). The New Media Consortium & the Educase Learning Initiative. California, USA

Mcluhan (1964) Understanding media. New York, N.Y. McGraw-Hill

Mcluhan (1967) The Medium is the message.
Understanding Media : The Extensions of Man (Cambridge: The MIT Press, 1994

Reflection an argument about ‘Media will influence learning’


After reading the Clark and Kozma’s Debate about the resolution “Media will influence Learning’, I am illuminated by both author’s arguments. Clark’s proposition - The media is mere vehicle that deliver instruction, but do not influence student achievement any more than the truck that delivers our groceries causes changes in nutrition.” It is true that Learning is influenced more by the content and instructional strategy in a medium than by the type of medium (Wilbur Schramm, 1977). Clark strongly believes that media and their attributes have important influences on the cost or speed of learning, but only the use of adequate instructional methods influence learning. He also indicates that methods as the provision of cognitive processes or strategies that are necessary for learning. He claims that absolutely any necessary teaching method can be delivered to students by many media or a variety of mixtures of media attributes within similar learning results. Regarding this argument, from my experience I agree that, although in the developing countries like India and the underdeveloped countries in Africa where dramatic changes in achievement and ability have followed the introduction of media like television, it was not the media, but rather curricular reform as well as teaching method that accompanied the change. Actually only content of the media can influence achievement. Decades ago, there was no such media was available except charts, photographs or books especially in developing countries like India. It is the Teaching method or strategy that influences learning achievement. I recall my best teacher’s teaching strategy how to involve whole class from low to high cue students and how to impregnate that particular topic in mind for ever. In my view, a teacher is like a painter who only can decide which media is appropriate to paint a particular picture or content depending on the subject and level.
Reading Kozma’s rebuttal that ‘Media does influence learning’, makes me think about present world scenario. In our competitive and fast pace world learning has to be accomplished quicker and better than ever before. It is the computer that is a time saving tool to accomplish 30-50% reduction in time to complete a lesson. In general, information can be displayed, received, stored, retrieved, organized, translated, transferred and evaluated among other processes through media. Thinker tools (White’1993) represent a constructivist model of learning as the environment allows learners to manipulate shapes and see patterns. The adventure of Jasper Woodbury video series facilitates intellectual thinking and problem solving skills. In respect of my personal experience, having media in a science laboratory is definitely beneficial to see the results of their experiments at once and to repeat their experiments and compare results without having to manually construct graphs. In conclusion, media enables labor saving in learning, efficiency for particular students as well as independent learning.

References
Clark, R. E. (1994).Media will never influence learning. Educational Technology Research and Development, 42(2), 21-29
Kozma, R. B. (1994). Will media influence learning? Reframing the debate. Educational Technology Research and Development, 42(2), 7-19.
Clark, R. E. (1993). Reconsidering research on learning from media. Review of Educational Research, 53(4), 445-459
Kozma, R. B. (1991). Learning with media. Review of Educational Research, 61(2), 179-212

In reaction to the history of technology in education
Jhumur Halder

Educational Technology is the entirety of ideas, methods and devices used in the process of human learning. The term instructional media has been defined as the physical means via which instruction is presented to learners. Technology in education can be divided into three eras, visual, audiovisual and computer. In the United States, the use of media for instructional purposes has been traced back to at least as early as the first decade of the twentieth century. It was at that time that school museums came into existence. Materials like stereographs (3 dimensional photographs), slides, films housed in school museums were viewed as intended to support the teacher or the text book. Besides magic lanterns (lantern slide projector), the motion picture projector was one of the first media devices used in schools. In the United States, however, educational film projected to revolutionize education. It was initially rejected, but once adopted and it was difficult to integrate.

By the early 1930s, educators assumed that radio would revolutionize education. Initially, it creates enthusiasm, but rather expensive to purchase and maintain. The radio lessons were particularly effective in raising the level of knowledge of particularly for the rural students. Language laboratories equipped with audio tape recorders and radios are always successful. After the World War II there was a renewed interest in using audiovisual devices like overhead Projectors, slide Projectors in the school. In 1958, Teaching machines appeared, but the world of education was not ready for them, they also had limitations which probably contributed to their failure. After the appearance of television, it had attracted educators as being an efficient tool for imparting education to primary, secondary and university level students. It was not successful in US schools, because of expensive installation and maintenance as well as broadcast schedules.

After the interest in instructional television faded, the next technological innovation to create a profound and radical change in the educational system was the computer. In 1980-83, computer was used in 40% in elementary, 75% in secondary schools in the US. But, by the mid 1990s, that impact had been rather small. Since 1995, rapid advances in computer and other digital technology, as well as the Internet, have led to a rapidly increasing interest in, and use of, these media for instructional purposes. Although the number of computers in schools has been increasing, most of the computers are quite limited in terms of the software they can run and in terms of internet access available to students. Good news is that the Internet has been viewed as a means of providing instruction and information to widely dispersed learners at a relatively low cost. In 2001, 99% of public schools in the US had access to the internet. In conclusion, computer is the most successful instructional media for the school, but, the rate of change of technology as well as expenses create problem for teacher and students to keep up with the changes.

Reference
Reiser R. A. (2001). A history of instructional design and technology: part I: A history of instructional media: Educational Technology, Research and Development; 49, 1; Research Library, (53-62)

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