Education for a Digital World Advice, Guidelines and Effective Practice from Around Globe, 2008a

21 – Media Selection
Learning outcomes
After completing this chapter, you should be able to:
• Select the best media mix for increased learning and
maximum cost-effectiveness.
• Know the different media categories: text, audio,
visuals, video, animations, and real objects.
• Understand how each medium relates to learning.
• Describe how different media can affect a learner’s
motivation.
• Have ideas about how to keep the message clear.
Introduction
A major part of instructional design is selecting the appropriate
media mix to effectively teach the learning outcome(s).
Selecting the best media mix increases learning
and maximizes cost-effectiveness. Some concepts are extremely
difficult to teach without the correct media mix.
This chapter introduces you to the different media categories:
text, audio, visuals, video, animations, and real objects.
The chapter explains how each medium relates to
learning and describes how media can affect a learner’s
motivation. The strengths and weaknesses of each medium
are presented with respect to the different learning outcome
classifications, as previously discussed in Chapter 10, General
Principles of Instructional Design. This chapter also
provides ideas on how to keep the message clear.
Media categories
The media categories you can include in an online
course are:
• text
– Text is typically presented on computer screens
but the resources you provide can also include
print-based materials.
• audio
– Audio can be heard from DVD-ROM/CD-ROM
disks, computer hard drives, an intranet, and the
Internet. However, an online course can also include
resources like tapes (audiocassettes), radio,
television, and live commentary.
• visuals
– Visuals can be stored on DVD-ROM/CD-ROM
disks, computer hard drives, an intranet, and the
Internet. Other resources can include slides, photographs,
overhead transparencies, and paperbased
material.
• video
– Video can be retrieved from DVD-ROM/CD-
ROM disks, computer hard drives, an intranet,
and the Internet. Other sources can include mini-
DV tapes, film, and VHS tapes.
• animations
– Animations can be stored on DVD-ROM/CD-
ROM disks, computer hard drives, an intranet,
and the Internet. Film, VHS tapes and other
sources can also contain animation resources.
• real objects
– Real objects include actual equipment and models.
Note that:
• Video typically includes natural images recorded with
video equipment, whereas animations are usually
created artificially with computers and/or other tools.
• Video materials often include an audio component.
• There are major differences between video and film.
This chapter uses the terms film and video synonymously.
Media and learning
The media you select do not determine whether learning
will occur. The media simply carry your message to the
learner. However, the media you use can influence the
amount of learning that occurs. If you combine the media’s
strengths with instructional methods that take advantage of
these strengths, you can positively influence learning.
Complete instructional packages can, but should not
necessarily, include all of the different media. Note that:
• Learning from course content that includes more than
one medium is usually more effective than content using
only one medium. This is partly because different parts
of the brain process different information. For example,
some parts of the brain process text, while others process
visuals. When instructional materials activate more regions
of the brain, there are increases in learning and
retention compared to materials that require fewer parts
of the brain to process information.
Practical Guideline
Teaching with more than one medium is
usually more effective than teaching with
only one medium.
322 Education for a Digital World