Media and multimedia
From The Learning Engineer's Knowledgebase
Media (or multimedia when using more than one type simultaneously) are informational sources that communicate things like facts, ideas, and concepts to people. Media are present in almost every form of educational product today and are foundational to communicating and supporting people's achievement of learning objectives.
Definition
Media (singular medium) are information sources that are used to communicate ideas, concepts, descriptions, or dialogue. Media are the means of communication between one person and another.
Multimedia is also a commonly used term which just means multiple media sources simultaneously. It is commonly used in reference to video and animation, which typically include photos, graphics, and audio simultaneously. However, the term is also used to reference anything that uses many different types of media (instead of, for example, just books).
Additional Information
In today's digital education world, media are used to communicate information between instructional designers and teachers to learners. Many different types of media exist that are commonly seen in educational settings. Media communicate information about topics, concepts, ideas, or even instructions on how to perform a task or skill. Because this is one-directional, media can lack interactivity when people are learning and thus reduce the opportunities for people to have educational experiences that are memorable.
Media is typically one-way communication between the person who made the media and the person using it. Some media also offer two-way communications between people (e.g., social media, messaging, phones).
People do indeed interact with media and "consume" it. However, because it is not always used right away in a practical setting, the information gained from media may not always stay with the person! It is a classic story about how despite all the things that are read and seen, only little of that information is memorized and recallable when needed. That is why combining media with learning activities is a valuable combination to enhance learning outcomes.
Every educational product will likely have some kind of media to communicate the tasks that people are supposed to do and to share information about what is to be learned. Because a product has media, it does not mean that the product is not active and engaging to the participant. Instead, interacting with and using media should just not be the only activities in an educational product because engaging, active tasks and projects for learners are known to help people achieve learning objectives better.
Common types of media
- Animation
- Audio (podcasts, soundbytes, clips, music, telephone)
- Augmented Reality
- Branching Narrative
- Graphics and illustration
- Interactive Learning Objects
- Messaging (instant messaging, DMs, email, discussion forums)
- Photos
- Documents, Print, and Paper Media (books, texts, pdfs, word docs, google docs)
- Simulation
- Social Media and Networks
- Tabletop Game/Exercise
- Text and Hypertext
- Video (including television, streaming like YouTube, or video on social media)
- Video game
- Website (web pages, blogs, news)
- Wiki
- Virtual reality
Related Concepts
Examples
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