Clark-Kozma Debate 1

Clark-Kozma Debate

Position paper on the impact of Media and Instructional Technology on Student Learning

Tamison Yancy

University of West Georgia

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Richard Clark and Robert Kozma have been debating for years about the use of media to

influence learning. Clark believes that media will never influence learning and Kozma believes

that media can and will influence learning. Both individuals provided research that supports their

position about media and learning. It is an ongoing debate that still has relevance to education

today.

Richard Clarks article, Media Will Never Influence Learning, provides research that

supports his position that media is not needed to influence learning. Clark believes that the

teacher is able to provide the same instruction in the classroom that media could provide when

completing a computer program. Choosing the less expensive way to provide instruction seems

to be to most logical choice when it comes to educating students in the classroom. Clark states

that teachers in the classroom would be the least expensive yet effective way to provide learning

experiences for students. He believes that it is the instructional methods that influence the

learning of students rather than the media it is presented on. Clark used the findings of a study

done by Kulik on computer-based instruction to prove his point that teachers already use the

same methods of teaching that the computer-based instruction used. Kulik researched the effects

of computer-based instruction when researching. Kulik found that students scored 20% higher

on their exam. Clark looked at this same study and found that a teacher did not follow the study

correctly and did more teacher-lead instruction. The analysis of these two groups showed that

the two subgroups performed the same. Another idea that Clark addressed was that we have

learned many of these skills before media has been introduced. He points out that media is not

going to change the fact that we learned to build an airplane with the use of media. Clark is a

strong believer that learning takes place because of the instructional method used not the media it

is presented on.
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Robert Kozmas article, Will Media Influence Learning? Reframing the Debate,

provides research that media does influence learning. Kozma believes that learning is done by

incorporating ones prior knowledge and the environment. He provided research findings from a

computer-based learning environment created by White (1984, 1993) called ThinkerTools. This

program was designed to provide remediation to students who were struggling with Newtonian

mechanics. This program had four phases, the motivation phase, the model evolution phase, the

formalization phase, and the transfer phase. Each phase incorporated technology. The students

where compared to students in their school that was taught the same information without media.

The students who used the media scored better that the students who receive instruction from

their teachers. Robert believes that media will influence learning and that it will continue to

influence learning as the different forms of media are forever changing.

In Richard Mayers article, Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning, he believes that

people learn more information when it is presented in different ways. His findings show that

learning is taking place more often when it is present in pictures and words rather than just words

alone. Mayer feels that there needs to be a balance of different media for the brain to process

and retain the information. Providing individuals with different forms of media will enhance the

learning in the three memory stores, short-term memory, working memory, and long-term

memory. This theory is more relevant to Robert Kozma because it shows that media can

influence learning. John Swellers article, Cognitive Load During Problem Solving: Effects on

Learning, focus on memory and the effects of our memory and learning. With regards to

technology Sweller feels that computers can reduce the time spent on repetitive drills and focus

more on more complex problems. Computers will focus students thinking rather that provide
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drill and repetition. Media can make learning more tangible. Swellers view is more in line with

Robert Kozma, that media can influence learning.

Technology today has definitely changed since these two articles were written. Both

points of view are relevant to todays education. Today, media in the classroom is being used in

conjunction with the teacher. Many programs that are available today provide enrichment or

remediation. They are used to supplement what a teacher may not be able to focus on because of

the time constraints of the curriculum. Many teachers integrate technology in the classroom but

also provide the majority of their instruction through teacher led instruction. We are moving

closer to having media influence learning. Right now we are stuck in the middle of the debate

between Clark and Kozma.

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References

Sweller, J. (1988). Cognitive Load during Problem Solving: Effects on Learning. Cognitive

Science, 12, 257-285.

Clark, R. E. (1994). Media will never influence learning. Educational Technology, Research and

Development, 42(2), 21 - 29.

Kozma, R. B. (1994). Will media influence learning? Reframing the debate. Educational

Technology, Research and Development, 42(2), 7 - 19.

Mayer, R. E. (2005a). Cognitive theory of multimedia learning. In R.E. Mayer (Ed.), The

Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning. New York: Cambridge University Press.