Traditional Instructional Media

Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.
I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.”
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood.

Most of us easily recognize this passage as text from Dr. Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech (1963, p. 219)-if not immediately, then surely when we read the familiar words, "I have a dream." We would recognize the passage even more quickly if we could hear Dr. King's voice or see the scene on videotape or on the World Wide Web.

Example: Hear, see, and read Dr. King's "I Have A Dream" in audio, video, text, and still pictures.

Although one might argue that the literal content of "I Have a Dream" remains the same whether it is presented as text, speech, or image, it is clear that each medium produces a qualitatively different effect. The textual version of Dr. King's speech contains the words, powerful and evocative. The audio offers vocal cues-intonation, pauses, volume, and pitch-tools this eloquent orator used very skillfully to convey the meaning of his message. The video version adds to the vocal cues a variety of visual ones. There are Dr. King's gestures and facial expressions and the environmental context-the large, responsive audience and the majestic setting on The Mall in Washington, D.C. (see Figure 3.1).

d - Figure 3.1 - "I have a dream ..." AP/Wide World Photos

As this example suggests, the particular qualities of speech, text, and images differentiate their respective communicative power and influence their suitability for various expressive purposes. Each medium's characteristics drive how the brain understands it and how effective it can be in instruction. Understanding the differences among the traditional classroom media can help teachers select the most appropriate means to present different content and tasks. Explorations into speech, text, and images can provide a better understanding of students' learning strengths and weaknesses. They reveal that barriers to learning do not necessarily lie within a student's physiological or psychological makeup, but rather occur at the intersection of the task, the student's strengths and weaknesses, and the instructional media and tools used to present that task.