4.8 Conclusion

Application of the metaphor of a spectrum to research on media and learning enriches the conceptualization of the learning process, including consideration of multiple factors, for example, different types of context and content, various delivery media, and a wide array of learner characteristics. This chapter has attempted to demonstrate through the reviewing of various research orientations and transitions the arguments for a more integrated approach to the study of media and learning.

Though much of the research to date remains focused on either formal classroom media applications or uses of media in at-home contexts, on one media system or another media system, on one type of content or another type of content, on one segment of the audience or another segment of the audience, research on new communication systems will gradually eliminate such distinctions. What ultimately shapes a learning experience is the series of filters that learning must pass through. Filtered by the inherent attributes of the medium, filtered by the social context and the culture in which learning occurs, and most certainly filtered by the perceptual framework and cognitive abilities of the learner, this experience can be broad or narrow, intentional or incidental, profound or superficial. Moreover, from one learning opportunity, an infinite number of possible learning outcomes may emerge.

Therefore, assessing learning by any preconceived and narrowly defined set of outcomes is futile. Forecasting what will be learned given only attributes of a medium, the level of the learner's motivation, or the context in which the experience occurred will give rise to incomplete understanding of the learning possibilities. The argument presented here proposes that researchers consider multiple learning possibilities.

One illustration of the breadth of learning possibilities lies in Ghostwriter, a multimedia project of the Children's Television Workshop that strives to teach literacy but is valued for its strong social messages as well. The Ghostwriter project centers around a one-half hour television show (PBS), but also employs magazines, newspaper pages, teacher guides, and guides for after-school program directors. The result is that kids can experience Ghostwriter by watching television in the home; they can read the magazines or see the show in school; they can be involved in Ghostwriter activities in after-school settings also.

As part of the summative research of Ghostwriter, the Children's Television Workshop commissioned a study of the use of Ghostwriter in after-school and school settings in the hope that understanding how these materials were used would inform understanding of the possible learning outcomes. In this naturalistic study (EDC, 1993) the researchers indicated that use of Ghostwriter materials was deeply entangled with setting and with the individual goals of adult mediators of the experience. "Use in context is the most appropriate way to characterize [Ghostwriter] materials use, given that adults in these settings brought to Ghostwriter a deep understanding of the goals of their program needs and the needs of their children" (EDC, p. 117). A Ghostwriter experience, then, ends up being a rich experience defined not by the content of the materials, by a particular medium, by the agenda of an adult mediator, or by the child alone, but by all of these things at once.

In the history of research on media and learning is a history that has evolved from a conceptualization of learning as a relatively narrow set of predicted outcomes based on message content and sender intent to a broader definition of learning that recognizes multiple components and factors as contributing to a complex process. The former approach, in effect, examined the learning process backwards, missing the breadth of possibilities inherent in any learning experience. The new media environments--flexible, interactive, and decentralized--highlight something that has always been true, that learning by nature cannot be constrained, not by content, not by context, not by culture, not by medium. Learning occurs as a spectrum of possibilities, filtered by complex factors until it becomes, for each learner, a unique experience. Throughout the discussion of the various research traditions examined here, we have come to understand that learning is not an outcome but a process affected by many factors. The mandate for future research is to explore this process and the relationships among the factors.