CHAPTER 3: Why Should we Expect Media to Teach anyone anything?

Research on media in teaching has become conceptually distinguished from “instructional technology” in the past 15 years. The Commission on Instructional Technology (Tickton, 1970) defined instructional technology as “a systematic way of designing, carrying out and evaluating the total process of learning and teaching in terms of specific objectives, based on a combination of human and nonhuman resources to bring about more effective instruction” (p. 12). Thus, instructional technology has been separated from the more traditional research on media in teaching.

All technologies are applications of research and experience to solve some practical problem. “Instructional technology” encompasses all instructional problems and thus is the technology of instruction. It should not be confused with the focus of this chapter which is the study of media in teaching. Media are part of instructional technology. They are the replicable “means,” forms or vehicles by which instruction is formatted, stored, and delivered to the learner (Schwen, 1977). Thus, this chapter is concerned with the study of media when it serves instructional functions.