INTRODUCTION
Educational media is any type of media used to educate someone on a topic. Educational media can be used at home or in the classroom to supplement lessons and formal education. Some examples include primary documents, documentaries and music.
Educational media covers a large number of different types of media. Media falls into a few major categories: text, image, video and audio. Text is the most common educational media type, and includes text books, worksheets and written notes. A diary is educational media because it educates the student on the lifestyle of the person who wrote it. A secondary source, such as a textbook, is useful for summarizing and explaining content.
Images are another common media point because they are typically included in textbooks. Image media also includes graphs and charts. These give students a visual reference for the lesson topic. Similarly, video is useful for that visual aspect. Documentaries and movies can both be educational media, depending on the content of the course.
Audio includes music, recorded speeches and readings of text. Sounds, such as bird songs or gun fire, can also be included if the course is relevant. Music is essential for music and chorus classes, as well as cultural history courses. Speeches let students hear the emotions and tone of the speaker, and text readings are often used in English classes as students read literature.
Definitions
These are any means of communication between the teacher and learner that allow interaction and feedback between the two parties (Angelo et.al,1993).
Halverson (1992)define educational media as things used in the classroom to aid teaching and training .The author looks at the concept as synonymous to instructional media, that is objects, premises, events, machines, models or computer programs with which learners interact to form concepts ,practice, skills and then draw conclusions out of verbal explanations so as to change their behavior or attitude.
The media is intended to change a learner’s behavior in a classroom setting sooner or later and to enable him/her to interact with the media. These media could be printed or non-printed, projected or non –projected or could be traditional or modern. It is good to bear in mind that too many materials and too many different themes can serve to confuse the class.
TECHNOLOGY
The word technology is derived from two Greek words; -Techno (technique/how) and-Logy (knowledge/study).Technology = Technical know-how or technical knowledge.Man uses materials sources of power, machines and tools to make work easier and productive in the sake of satisfying his/her needs/wants.Whereas science tries to explain why things happen technology is concerned with how things happen.
Educational Technology
Bruce & Marsh (1996) looks at it as a logical arrangement of educational activities aimed at improving the learning – teaching process.Richmond (1970) views the term as a scientific approach in solving, organizing, implementing and evaluating educational activities (teaching-learning).The National Council for Educational Technology-UK defined the term as the development, application and evaluation of educational system for improving human learning process.
Educational Media and Technology (EMT)
Rowtree (1990) says EMT is the development (process involving learners from start to evaluation) and evaluation (how much has the learners achieved given the applied media and technology) of system of techniques (technology) and aids (media) so as to improve the teaching – learning in conveying the content (message) to learners.
Coffey (1977) defines the concept as a systematic way of designing, implementing and evaluating the total teaching-learning process by employing a combination of human and scientific equipment to bring about effective instruction.
Examples of EMT may include
All books and their illustrations,
Magazine/Newspaper,
Documents,
Programmed Materials,
Pictures,
Films,
Strips,
Sliders,
Projectors Of All Kinds,
Charts/Graphs/Maps/Drawing,
Writing Boards And Board Materials,
Tape Recorders,
Radio
Cameras,
Videos,
Televisions
Computers,
Models Etc.
EDUCATIONAL MEDIA:
A media for learning and teaching or learning software. Media itself means a method of communication. Educational/educational media is primarily aimed at producing the optimal combination of media so as to support learners
the educational media work in different ways and need different kinds of attentive skills from the audience, these skills include;
-Listening, observing, noticing and paying attention
CATEGORIES OF EDUCATIONAL MEDIA:
-display materials such as black boards, that pictures, chalk boards, etc
-printed or reference materials such as text books, dictionaries, news papers, magazines, official documents, etc
-graphic materials such as graphs, charts, diagrams, posters, maps, cartoons, etc
-audio visual materials such as radios, telephones, television, tape recording, computer, etc
-projected aids shown as still pictures or motion pictures, eg film strip or slide projectors, micro projector and opaque projector and over head projector.
THE ROLE OF EDUCATIONAL MEDIA IN TEACHING:
-Educational media help to introduce the topic, itself to give an over view of what is going to be taught
-It helps in illustration of ideas, facts, principles or a point
-It also helps to summarize a lesson
-It also helps in motivation of learners
It encourages more students’s participation in their learning
-It provides more concrete experiences that serve as a basis of thinking, reasoning and problem solving
-To present a large amount of information( i.e. facts, ideas, principles, data, etc) within a short period of time
-To increase the amount of initial learning and permanency of learning.
EMERGENCE AND EVOLUTION OF EDUCATIONAL FILMS:
Films are multi-media presentations of the facts and concepts for the students
Advantages:
-They are professional in appearance-enhance retention
-Easy for students to understand and watch
-Captivating for a large groups and students who have problems of paying attention(promote attentiveness)
Disadvantages:
-Extremely expensive
-Time consuming in creating and editing
-They require special audio visual equipment to show to large groups of people
-Doesn’t encourage students to participate and ask active questions during the presentation
EMERGENCE AND EVOLUTIONAL RADIO AND TELEVISION:
Ways how the radio can be used;
-Direct Class Teaching: This is where broadcast programming substitutes teachers or temporary basis. Learners listen to the radio, note important aspects but cannot ask any questions but can record their questions and ask the teacher later
-School Broadcasting: This is where broadcasting is programmed to provide complementary teaching and learning resources that are not available in the curriculum designed. This is always general and usually covers general studies like life skills, guidance and counseling, communication skills, etc
-General Education Programming Over Communities: This is where broadcasting is done by national and international radio stations to provide general and informal education. The broadcast is done specially to meet an educational need of the communities. Its very important to note that radio programmes are a lot cheaper to make and broadcast and can also reach thousands or even millions of people at once at any time
EDUCATIONAL TELEVISION:
Advantages:
-it is learner centred and very exciting and easy to watch
-can reach many people at once
-engages the learner in a multi-sensory experience-it is a dynamic medium and therefore suited to stimulating learning
-can also communicate not only ideas but also emotions
-it is well suited for psycho motor skills
Disadvantages:
-it is an expensive medium i.e. it costs a lot to produce any time that goes on television
-it also involves a lot of technical modalities like personnel and other logistics
-it is unable to adequantly present the various conditions necessary for students’ learning like discussion and cooperative learning
EMERGENCE AND EVOLUTION OF BOARDS( WHITE BOARDS, BLACKBOARDS, DISPLAY BOARDS, etc):
CHALK BOARDS: These are large flat slabs of slate. Slates were usually black so chalk boards were familiarly known as blackboards, they can be green or blue. It can as well mean a reusable writing surface on which texts or drawings are made with sticks of calcium sulfate or calcium carbonate known as chalk.
A chalk board can be simply be a piece of board painted with matte dark paint. Chalks used here can be easily wiped off with a cloth,sponge or special eraser.
Advantages of using chalk boards:
-using chalk boards in teaching improves effectiveness through illustrations
-it promotes writing skills and since the material can be rubbed off at any time, it therefore enhances attention
-disruptive students may be less disruptive if they are within teacher’s visibility because the teacher has to be present so it enhances classroom management
-it enhances students’ comprehension thru visual reinforcement like diagrams
-teaching with chalk is an advantage for teachers of students with mixed learning abilities. Content written in chalk can be easily supplemented with additional information
-providing notes on the chalk boards increases the chances of students taking correct note
-using chalkboard in class room enhances students’ participation. Getting the students to participate makes class more enjoyable for the teacher and students. Teachers can have students write on the chalk board to display their understanding of course material
–chalkboards require no special care
-chalk boards are relatively cheaper compared to other instructional media
Disadvantages of chalk boards:
-chalk boards use chalks which produce dust and some people find it uncomfortable or may be allergic to it
-according to American academy of allergy, asthma and immunology(AAAAI) there are links between chalk dust and allergy and asthma problems
-it is not good in areas shared with dust-sensitive equipment such as computer
WHITE BOARDS:
White boards were invented by Martin Heit, a photographer ana a Korean veteran. During his work with film, he realized that notes could be recorded on film negatives using a sharpie and could be wiped off simply with water.
Advantages of white boards:
-white board ink-markings are less susceptible to external factors such as water, because the ink adheres in a different manner than does chalk to chalkboards. Using markers doesn’t generate dust that comes from using and erasing chalk, allowing their use in areas containing dust sensitive equipments. Some people who are allergic to chalk or asthmatic use white boards as an alternative
-a white board can be used as the projecting medium for an over head or video projector
-a white board pen is easier than chalk to hold and write with
-when compared to chalk boards, a white board can have significantly more colours because markers have a greater range of color than chalk
Disadvantages of white boards:
-they require special markers. It becomes a problem when other markers are used on these white boards
-white boards have a white background that can cause contrast problems to people with visual impairments
-markers on white boards are generally less pressure sensitive than chalk. It therefore makes it harder to draw heavier and lighter lines.
-markers can easily dry out if the writing tip is un capped for long periods of time.
-white board markers usually have a strong odor which in most cases smells bad to some people
PROJECTION OVER HEAD PROJECTORS:
They are devices used to project images onto a screen. The size of the display is dependent on angle of projection and the distance between projector and screen. They are typically used in class rooms and conference rooms
Limitations of using over head projectors:
-resolution problems, for class to see items clearly, the over head projector needs to be at the perfect distance angle
-they need skilled technicians to manage them and repair them in case of technical problems
-they are very expensive especially the cost to replace bulbs
-they are large and bulky an d usually require careful transportation from venue to venue
Benefits Of Projection/Power Point/Slide Presentations In Class Rooms
-they encourage interaction and engagement.they hold student’s attention thru the use of video, graphics and music, so slide shows increase student involvement and interactions
-they allow the teacher to incorporate text, video, audio and photos from the internet easily and allow him to share the most recent information using media that engage students
-using power point and slide shows helps the teacher to integrate multiple sources in his her class room presentations e.g he/she can easily incorporate photos of student’s work video from a field trip, related content from news content and the latest expert research into a single representation.
-projection helps to replay the previous lesson using the slide show
-using projection and slides, teachers can share lessons and presentations simply by using a file sharing system or a flash drive. Teachers can share the work load thru creating different presentations.
Advantages of the over head project:
-facilitates an easy how cost interactive environment for educators. Teaching materials can be preprinted on graphic sheets upon which the educator can directly write using a non- permanent, washable color making pen. This therefore saves time since the transparency can be preprinted and used repeatedly rather than having material written manually before each class..
-projection allows the educator to write in comfortable small script in a nature writing position rather than writing on a large script on a blackboard and having to constantly hold his arm out in mid-air to write on the black board.
-in the projection when the transparency sheet is full of written material, it can simply be replaced with fresh sheet. It can again save class time against the blackboard that would need to be erased, cleaned and teaching material re-written by the educator.
STORAGE MEDIA:
There are two parts of any storage system
1.Storage media: Where the data is actually stored. They include; flash disks, floppy disk, compact disk(CD), video compact disk(VCD), Digital Versatile Disk(DVD, memory cards, etc
2.Storage device: This is where a storage medium is inserted such that it can be written on or read from, They include; a floppy drive, CD/VCD/DVD drive, flash disk drive and memory card drive, etc.
Advantages of removable media devices:
-it is easy to replace them once they are full
-they are portable
-they can be easily duplicate and share among the students and teachers
Other types of storage media:
1.MAGNETO-OPTICAL DISCS: These are read thru magneto optical drives. They are usually optical discs inside a rectangular cartridge, similar in appearance to the DDVD-RAM
2.FLASH MEMORY MEDIA, flash memory sticks, flash memory cards.