Media vs. Technology in Teaching

• The presentation discusses the teacher, media, and technology.
• The date of the presentation is March 14, 2024, and it is given by Professor G Lautenbach in BR431.

Media vs. Technology

• In everyday language, "media" and "technology" are often used interchangeably.
• Television is often referred to as both a medium and a technology.
• A.W. (Tony) Bates' book "Teaching in a Digital Age" is referenced.
• According to Bates (2015), there is a danger in focusing too much on the technology itself and not enough on the personal, social, and cultural contexts in which technology is used, especially in education.
• The terms "media" and "technology" represent different ways of thinking about the choice and use of technology in teaching and learning.
• Technology is defined as things or tools used to support teaching and learning.
• Examples of technology include a printed book, computers, software, learning management systems (like Blackboard), and communication networks (like the telephone network or the Internet).

Historical Overview of Communication Technologies

• End of 4th millennium BC: Cuneiform was developed by Sumerians between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers (now Iraq).
• Cuneiform and Hieroglyphics:
  • Use many logosyllabic characters.
  • Depict both "things" and "speech sounds".
  • Necessitate linking areas of the brain involved in sense-making, hearing, spatial analysis, and decision-making.
  • Were restricted to the intelligent elite.
• 2500 BC: Papyrus
• 750 BC: Greek phonetic alphabet
  • Used by Greeks and Romans
  • Includes vowels and consonants.
  • Consists of 24 characters.
  • Required less "brain activity."
  • Led to the Roman alphabet.
  • Facilitated a shift from oral to literary culture.
• Wax Tablet
• End of 14th Century:
  • The end of scriptura continua
  • Paragraphs and chapters emerged along with silent reading.
  • Word order and sentences became more defined.

Industrial Revolutions and Media

• 1445: The letterpress was invented.
• 2nd Industrial Revolution:
  • The first wave of electronic media emerged, including radio, cinema, phonograph, and television.
  • Limited by the inability to transmit the written word.
• Educational Radio & Film became prevalent, followed by the first few seconds of SABC TV.
• 3rd Industrial Revolution:
  • The digital revolution involved the development of computers and IT (information technology) since the middle of the 20th century.
  • The computer became a constant companion.
• The laptop age and the mobile era emerged, with desktop, laptop, and handheld computers becoming widespread.
• Bluetooth and hands-free technology became common.
• After 600 years, the printing press and its products were pushed from the center of intellectual life to the edges.
• The world of the screen has replaced the world of the page.
• The Internet has become the medium of choice for storing, processing, and sharing information.

The Internet and Its Impact

• The Internet differs from mass media in that it is bi-directional.
• It has led to a shift from traditional media to online distribution.
• Hyperlinks alter the experience of media.
• Fragmentation of online works may occur
• The Internet is considered an ecosystem of disruptive technologies.
• The Internet impact on mental habits-ability to focus on long form content.

Technologies, Media, and Education

• Technologies are merely tools that can be used in various ways.
• How technologies are applied is more important.
• The value of a technology is closely tied to how it is or could be used.
• Focus on media, which represents the holistic use of technologies, rather than on individual tools or technologies.
• Technology is an essential component of almost all media.
• Technology is an Extension of Human Capabilities.
  • Extends physical strength, dexterity, resilience (e.g., plow, sewing machine, fighter jet).
  • Extends range or sensitivity of senses (e.g., microscope, amplifier, Geiger counter).
  • Enables reshaping nature to serve needs/desires (e.g., genetically manipulated corn, birth control pill).
  • "Intellectual technologies" extend/support mental powers (e.g., typewriter, abacus, slide rule, sextant, book, newspaper, computer, internet).
• Intellectual technologies have the greatest and most lasting power over how we think.
• They are our most intimate tools for self-expression, for shaping personal and public identity, and for cultivating relations with others.
• Technologies or systems do not communicate or create meaning on their own.

Media as Active Creation and Interpretation

• Media requires an active act of creation of content and/or communication, with someone who receives and understands the communication, along with the technologies that carry the medium.
• There are two types of intervention in media: by the 'creator' and by the 'receiver'.
• Senses, such as hearing and sight, are used to interpret media.
• Text, graphics, audio, and video can be considered media 'channels' because they intermediate ideas and images that convey meaning.
• Media depend on technology, but technology is only one element of media.
• Internet as a medium:
  • The Internet contains unique formats and symbol systems that help convey meaning and knowledge.
  • People can simultaneously create and interpret knowledge on the Internet.
• Key building blocks of media:
  • Face-to-face teaching
  • Text
  • (Still) graphics
  • Audio (including speech)
  • Video
  • Computing (including social media, animation, simulations, virtual reality, and artificial intelligence)
• Media differ in terms of formats, symbol systems, and cultural values.
• These unique features are referred to as the affordances of media or technology.
• Different media can assist learners in different ways and achieve different outcomes, thus also individualizing learning more.
• In education classroom teaching is a medium.
• Online teaching is also medium.
• Media is not neutral.
• Some knowledge of how media works is essential for teaching in a digital age.

Rich Media and Digital Literacy

• Synchronous (live) vs Asynchronous (recorded)
• Broadcast vs interactive
• Single vs rich media
• Digital media and the Internet increasingly incorporate and integrate all previous media.
• As digital media incorporate many components, they become "rich media."
• Media have become more interactive, asynchronous, and 'rich' and offer more powerful tools for teaching and learning.
• The Internet is an extremely powerful medium and can encompass all the characteristics and dimensions of educational media.
• Types of rich media include videos, GIFs, Instagram stories, podcasts, content narration audio, infographics, and live streams/webinars.
• Media literacy encompasses the practices that allow people to access, critically evaluate, and create or manipulate media and is not restricted to one medium.
• Media literacy helps to build an understanding of the role of media in society, as well as the essential skills of inquiry and self-expression.
• Core concepts of media literacy:
  • All media messages are constructed using a creative language with its own rules.
  • Different people experience the same media message differently
  • Media have embedded values and points of view
  • Most media messages are organized to gain profit and/or power
• Digital Identity, Digital Footprint, and Digital Shadows are important aspects of online presence.
• Profiles, Contacts, Images, Audio, Video, Data, Documents, Favourites, Websites, and Blogs are components of your Digital Identity.
• Modern learners will need new 'digital literacies'.
• "The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn." -Alvin Toffler
• AW (Tony) Bates has said it will be the imagination of teachers inventing new ways of teaching that will eventually result in the kinds of graduates the world will need in the future.