How Technology Fosters Learning: Inspiration from the “Media Debate”

Abstract

Early back in 1994, Ross (1994) pointed out the issue of debate on media effect was not trifling, but bore great significance for how researchers and practitioners ponder on the implementation of media. Despite technology has come of age, the debate has recurred on the role of technology in education. This article tries to revisit and analyze the media debate between Richard E. Clark and Robert B. Kozma, and through the development of technology, multimedia learning theories and current findings from empirical studies on technology-enhanced learning, propose our viewpoint of how technology fosters learning, a tripartite structure of effective technology-enhanced learn-ing. This tripartite structure indicates that the design of technology-enhanced learning environ-ment should concurrently consider learner characteristics, technology attributes and instruction-al methods. This facilitates learners in achieving upmost learning effectiveness.