Abstract
D.Ed.
Although media have been used in the classroom for centuries the imporance and the difficulties of the selection of a medium have only
been recognised since the 1960' s. Since then, the proliferation of
media and their increasing invasion of the classroom have drawn attention to the need to reconcile the medium and a particular teaching objective.
This new consciousness, together with a desire to approach
the problem systematically has led to comparative studies of the various media!and to a classification of their similarities and differences.
Then media taxonomies were drawn up, and models for media selection
were extrapolated from these in an effort to provide both practical and
theoretical guidelines.
These efforts have not yet provided satisfactory solutions, firstly because
there is no concensus regarding the concept "media" and secondly
because they have tended to concentrate on media per se, while it is
the media-attributes, the properties of each medium, which determine
how information will be corrnnunicated. Finally, most of those selection
models lack a sound pedagogical basis.
The large number of determinant factors capable of influencing the final
choice of a medium makes media selection a complex matter. These
determinants include teaching objectives, learning content, learning
tasks, leamer attributes, learning environment, media attributes and
application of the medium. All these can act both independently and in
concert in selection further compounding the problem.
Existing literature has been examined with one particular determinant
in mind, viz, media attributes. Definitions and taxonomies were analysed
in an effort to determine what the properties of media are and how
they should be classified. A media classification system based on the
results of that analysis is put forward, with each attribute being examined
separately.
It is quite obvious from existing literature that media selection must
take account of the interaction between the various determinants.
Since this study is limited to one determinant - media attributes - further
research into the role played in media selection by each of the other
determinants is imperative. Two recent attempts at defining and describing
the interaction between the determinants, are Aptitude-Treatment
Interaction and Trait-Treatment Interaction. They have not, as yet,
produced many positive results, but they gave rise to the Symbol System
approach. This approach advances a theory relating media's most basic
modes of presentation - their symbol systems - to common thought processes
and to learning. Each medium, using symbol systems, may have its
oWn specific effects on how the knowledge is extracted and on how meanings
are arrived at'. This approach holds great promise for the future, but
certain questions remain unanswered in the meantime. It is not yet understood,
for instance, how a child's symbolic capabilities and preferences
interact with his way of handling the symbolic nature of media's
messages, nor in what specific ways they affect his cognitive abilities.
Today's teacher, in urgent need of practical guidelines, cannot wait
for answers. This study attempting to fill that need and contains an open
media selection model which is based on all the determinants identified
and which is founded on pedagogical considerations.