Digital Binder Entry # 2

a) Briefly summarize & reflect on each of today's readings (what did you take away from these readings). How do you see using media and or technology in your pedagogical (or professional) practice?

Clarke’s writing

It is interesting to note that Clarke separates instructional design from media as he tackles the question of how media might affect learning. The writer strongly believes that a particular type of media may facilitate learning through its unique attributes, but it is actually the instructional design that is contained and encapsulated in the media that is producing the learning. According to the writer, what drives actual learning for our students is not the attributes of media such as zoom-in tools of a computer but the instructional design that may equally be available in textbooks or in the lessons given by the teacher.

This makes some sense because any knowledgeable teacher that I know and who knows how to deliver an effective lesson can equally teach a cognitively challenging concept to the student without the aid of social media or computer tools in the classroom. On the other hand, I cannot wholeheartedly buy this argument because I also think technology and media can power learning. Let’s first look at how modern-day media such as smartphone and camera are powered by the exponential growth of technology. Without the latest technologies used in neuroscience, for example, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), scientists would not have had the opportunity to closely image the functions and chemical reactions of the human brain to the unprecedented level that we are witnessing today. Another example could be James Webb telescope, which NASA sent to outer space for observations of stars and constellations. This medium of technology wows astrophysicists because its crystal-clear images are now enabling scientists to develop an enhanced understanding of the universe that is unheard of. Therefore, I would say that media is closely connected to technology and that media equipped with technology can bring a new insight into the world we are living in. This counter-argument can refute the claim that Clarke is making in his writing.

Kozma’s writing (1994)

Kozma, on the other hand, approaches the topic from the perspective of “complex social interrelationships” that occur in the actual learning environment during the time period in which or after students view a video or play a computer simulation. The writer argues that social interaction at the learning place is in fact the moment that could be as much important and worthy of our attention as the instructional design of the lesson itself, which seems, according to the writer, to be too simplistic an approach based on the causal relationship between instruction design and learning only.

I think Kozma is more in alignment with the real-world classroom activities where a lot of jokes, conversations and surprises and new ah-ha moments take place in the process of digesting the core elements of knowledge being delivered. This sociocultural approach embraced by Kozma is also in alignment with my field of specialization where scholars argue that students learning a second language are learning through the dynamics of sociocultural factors as well as through individual cognitive development that takes place in the brain.

b) Brainstorm and briefly describe 3 NEW potential rough ideas for a concept, program, or idea for a potential “Research Project Proposal and Presentation assignment.

1. I think that English grammar lessons for ESL students can be very effectively taught by the use of an electronic dictionary such as Lingoes. The capabilities of internet-based dictionaries are such that students can now quickly grasp grammar concepts without much difficulty.

2. I think that camera work, video editing and mock CBC news that students produce in the school can be an excellent project for an up-close understanding of how technology is connected to knowledge and its creation as well as to the development of point of view and bias.

3. Students should be allowed to stay home and connect through the Zoom if they have a hard time adapting to the school environment. The amount and quality of learning through the Zoom may not be significantly lower than those of learning at the school if students learn to develop how to learn through the Zoom. Students can always have an in-person meeting with their teachers when they are struggling with their learning, so they still have the option to go to school. However, they do not need to go to school every day. Students can also avoid direct contact with some of their peers and the experience of the unnecessary, such as bullying and gaslighting, which is not a good way of socializing students into the real world.