Media Determinism in Learning: Current Events

Photo by DeepMind on Unsplash

Co-authored post by Sarah Richardson and Darren Wilson

The debate over whether media influence the way we think and learn can be traced back to Harold Innis and Marshall McLuhan (Cohen, 2000). Critics of McLuhan’s theory that “media are extensions of man” – including Richard E. Clark (1994) – have argued that media amount to little more than a delivery mechanism, and that teaching and learning methods are media-agnostic. However, Robert Kozma (1994) asserts that media offer unique capabilities that address multimodal learning that cannot be accounted for through instructional methods alone, and that new methods may be developed to take advantage of the unique strengths of media platforms (Kozma, 1994, p. 11). In this post, we explore how Clark and Kozma might respond to recent developments in ed tech.

A Medical Technology Company Expands into VR

Smith+Nephew is a global medical equipment manufacturing company that designs and produces wound management, arthroscopy, trauma and clinical therapy products for distribution worldwide. In a recent press release, the company announced that it is “expanding its medical education curriculum with advanced simulation technologies” (Smith+Nephew, 2022) to include virtual and augmented reality, haptics, and 3D interactive gaming to provide procedural training skills to physicians and surgeons.

According to this press release, Smith+Nephew state “recent randomized controlled trials determined that VR training can offer a more effective way to learn surgical techniques” and that “training groups complete assessments faster and demonstrated greater retention upon retesting at two weeks” (Smith+Nephew, 2022) 

As Clark (1994) would attest, “many different media attributes accomplish the same goal” and that “any necessary teaching method could be designed into a variety of media presentations” (p. 1). Smith+Nephew’s use of interactive training could indeed be presented in different mediums but in the case of medical procedures, “the continuing training of medical doctors . . . relies on cadavers” (Anteby, 2009, para. 2) and “the shortage of cadavers has hampered medical education and training” (para. 1). Shifting to virtual and augmented reality, Clark (1994) might argue, would certainly change the delivery technology but not necessarily the design technology thus the learning result would likely stay the same regardless of the technology used and that Smith+Nephew’s initiative is simply “a triumph of enthusiasm” (p. 6). 

Kozma (1994)  on the other hand, might examine how these advanced simulation technologies “influence learning for particular students, tasks, and situations” (p. 18). In examining the use of these technologies, he might look to the medium and the capabilities that distinguish it from traditional learning. “Understanding the ways in which students use the unique processing capabilities . . . is essential to understanding the influence [it] might have on learning” (p. 14). Rather than examining the method and medium, like Clark (1994), Kozma (1994) might take a more integrative view. Indeed, as he states, “media must be designed to give us powerful new methods, and our methods must take appropriate advantage of a medium’s capabilities” (p. 16). Smith+Nephew’s new technology presents “powerful new tools that [designers] can use to construct their designs” (p. 17).

Upskilling Using Live, Instructor-led Remote Learning

Hone is an e-learning provider focused on career upskilling courses delivered online using vetted professional instructors to deliver course content live. Course content is delivered in multiple sessions over several weeks, and live lessons are followed by a month of practice labs and assessments. Data analytics are used to track how effectively the knowledge or skills are retained by participants. 

Renbarger’s (2022) summary for Business Insider offers some insight into their process and its benefits, and how they are uniquely positioned to occupy a middle ground between the “quick hit” learning model of LinkedIn Learning, udemy, and Coursera, and the higher-end offerings such as one-to-one coaching or executive leadership training. 

While on the surface, Hone does have the appearance of a technology-driven offering, their leadership team clearly takes a position closely aligned with Kozma (1994) in that they see learning as a multimodal activity that includes cognitive, affective, or social processes (p. 8) and learning outcomes are more effective when combined with multiple modes of instruction including live facilitation and asynchronous activities. Their outwardly techno-deterministic appearance is tempered by what appears to be a solid grounding in multimodal learning theory and practice.

Shuell (1988, quoted in Kozma, 1994, p.8) articulates that learning is active, constructive, cognitive, and social. These concepts are understood by the Hone team. Their goal is not merely to “deliver” learning online (i.e. Clark’s (1994) “delivery van” metaphor), but to use experienced and vetted instructors to facilitate remote learning synchronously, so that students may interact, ask questions, and engage with the learning in more active ways, rather than just passively consuming streaming video. Strong pedagogical design is also used to help solidify learning through asynchronous applied activities, and ongoing testing and analytics ensure retention of the concepts taught.

Tversky (in Parrish, 2022) describes thought – and learning – as a complex process where an array of inputs including abstract thought, language, markers in time and space, and body gestures, are all incorporated as forms of input in mapping new information onto past experiences, which also play a role in how knowledge is applied. 

Clark (1994) asserts that method and media are separate and that method takes priority, with media being only a matter of convenience in delivery of content to the learner. However, failing to recognize the unique capabilities and affordances offered by media is a missed opportunity to design new methods of teaching and learning that take best advantage of our multimodal, experiential ways of understanding the world around us.

In summary, Clark (1994) would likely view these developments into VR and mixed modes of remote learning as mere vehicles for transmission of knowledge from sender to receiver, and that there is no tangible evidence that learning outcomes are enhanced by the choice of delivery medium. Kozma (1994), on the other hand, would suggest that Smith+Nephew and Hone are examples of organizations using digital media to deliver complex, multimodal learning using tools that are more immersive, more immediate, more efficient, and more effective than could be done through traditional means, because they are specifically designed to take advantage of multiple learning modalities to connect learners with knowledge.