Tella, Seppo (1995).
Components of Media Communication Education.
Department of Teacher Education. University of Helsinki.
Research Report 150.

This article is concerned with analysing media communication education or educational media communication (Footnote 1). At the same time, some focus will be laid on modern information and communication technologies (MICT). The main idea is to put forward a number of components whose role and function, however, calls for further reconsideration.

Keywords: Information and Communication Technologies; Media Communication; IT; CAI; CAL; CMHC; CIT; MICT.

"You can lead a computer to the Superhighway but you can't make it think." (Des Wallemoor)

Users' Relation to Technology

One of the basic issues that has not yet received much attention is the end users' relation to technology in general. This question is fundamentally concerned with epistemological, ontological and axiological questions not always explicitly expressed when discussing the introduction of modern information and communication technologies (MICT) into schools. One way to classify users' relations is to point to their inner feelings of how they react to new technologies when having to face them or when getting in a position in which they will have to express their standpoint towards MICT. The following is an introductory classification which should be tested in different groups of end users, but usually it does not seem difficult to identify in the common-room, for instance, individuals representing the following categories

• Staying involuntarily or being pushed outside (dropouts)
• Being worried about or scared of MICT
• Hating or disliking any idea of having to use MICT in one's
• work
• Having a superficial or reluctant attitude towards MICT
• Following suit but with no authentic enthusiasm
• Imitating others (colleagues, friends) so as not to be taken
• for backbenchers
• At once hating and loving MICT
• Getting fond, perhaps little by little, of educational
• applications of MICT
• Pioneering, being enthusiastic about educational
• applications of MICT
• Acting as crackers, hackers or just leading the way

What Are Modern Information and Communication Technologies?

What are or what is meant by modern information and communication technologies? Historically speaking, first there was ADP (automatic data-processing), soon to be replaced by computer-based education (CBE), which was further divided into CAI (computer-assisted instruction) or CAL (computer-assisted learning) and into CMI (computer-managed instruction) (a more detailed analysis, see e.g., Tella 1991; Tella 1994a; Tella 1994b).

The general construct so far has been IT (information technology, sometimes technologies). In a larger perspective, IT is no longer enough, although it is still used occasionally in educational contexts as well. For instance, in the English National Curriculum, IT is said to provide a natural medium for creating, storing, retrieving and communicating information and thus being an ideal resource in language learning (Modern Languages 1992, F1). Information as such is not enough; what is needed is communication. Therefore it is easily understood why a lot of researchers have started talking about communication and information technologies (les technologies de communication et d'information), abbreviated as CIT. This construct is often used in Unesco documents as well. However, in order to avoid any embarrassing connotations due to the pronunciation of that abbreviation in English, it is generally considered wiser to talk about ICT (information and communication technologies) or NICT (new information and communication technologies).

Speaking of "new" information and communication technologies is, in the final analysis, somewhat misleading, as many of the applications are based on rather old technology, i.e., on the telephone network. If "new" is used, it should be understood to imply the latest services, especially telematic and electronic. In this article, these technologies will be referred to as MICT (modern information and communication technologies), as it can be considered a wide enough construct to cover all up-to-date technologies and, more importantly, all pedagogical applications of earlier IT. One way of classifying MICT is given in TABLE 1.

The classification in TABLE 1 is meant to give a general outline on different ways of using computer applications in education. It enumerates some of the main technological developments (left column), with a few references to possible educational applications or emphases (right column). The two columns are interdependent and many components overlap as they tend to have features in common, which also means that emphases mentioned in the right column belong to several technologies on the left and vice versa. The temporal dimension covered by the left-column is fairly long, reaching up to the 21st century (e.g., ubiquitous computing). The previous classifications usually concentrate on the contemporary applications only (cf. e.g., McGrath 1990, 50; see Tella 1994a, 66; Bates 1993, 4; see Tella 1994a, 68; Marra & Jonassen 1993, 63; see Tella 1994b, 152; LeBaron & Bragg 1993, 87; see Tella 1994b, 155).

As new applications keep on being launched, many educators, no doubt, whole-heartedly agree with Collis & Verwijs's (1995, 5) statement that "we seem now to have moved from a time of comparative simplicity to one of a bewildering range of developments and terminology".

At the moment it is easy to understand that a computer which is not logged on to a communications network, is a stand-alone machine, still useful for many purposes, but with no real asset regarding a networked learning environment. From an educational point of view, it could best be described as specific to and within a given computer application. Broadly speaking, computer-based training in its conventional form can also be regarded as a general educational application.

TABLE 1. CLASSIFICATION OF MODERN INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES.

Audio conferencing and audio-graphics rely heavily on the conventional telephone network, although cordless microphones and other equipment can also be used. Audio-graphics has made it possible to transmit graphs and pictures to remote locations, and to use an optic tablet for drawing purposes. Audio conferencing represents traditional distance education technology, still widely used.

Telefax is a special problem from an educational point of view. It certainly represents a user-friendly technology when compared to e-mail, for instance. Besides, practically all fax machines communicate with each other, which is not true of e-mail systems. Naisbitt (1994) sees the difference between telefax and e- mail as the difference between evolutionary and revolutionary developments. Telefax is "a bridge between the old and new. Paper is slid into the fax machine much like being slid into an envelope. And the fax machine is dialed the same way the phone is. It is familiar and comfortable. Electronic mail, on the other hand, is revolutionary and does not relate to paper, only to electronics" (Naisbitt 1994, 96). However, Naisbitt (1994) believes that as people play more and more to e-mail's strength, it will start to gain on faxes.

Computer conferencing has widened the educational perspective by giving more open access to distance and multi-mode (2) educational solutions. In fact, computer-mediated communication and distance education have a lot in common. In both of them, technology can take students into otherwise inaccessible environments (cf. e.g., Bruce 1989, 243). In distance education, the teacher's role is usually fairly active, while in computer conferencing teachers tend to become consultants or co- learners. One of the key issues to be studied further is whether some factual information or knowledge is being transferred through computer conferencing or distance education or whether more attention ought to be paid to interactional effort and process- led collaboration.

Saying that audio conferencing is largely based on listening comprehension, while computer conferencing leans back on written skills and reading comprehension is a simplification because the limits of the traditional language skills (reading, speaking, listening, writing) overlap extensively in the field of MICT. It has been pointed out elsewhere (e.g., Tella 1992) that e- mail, and computer-mediated chat in particular (e.g., communication in real time via computers), emulates the use of oral language though making use of a written mode (see also Chandler 1995 for an extensive analysis of computer-based writing). In fact, it is slightly surprising to notice that while oral proficiency is being underscored in many walks of life, at the same time some of the latest developments of MICT, such as cellular phones when connected to data transmission cards, have started using written messagerie (short written messages typed on the tiny screen of the phones).

From the research point of view, e-mailing and computer conferencing give ample opportunity to gather data electronically. Some of the traditional data analysis techniques, however, cannot be used when computer-mediated communication is analysed. Nordenbo (1990) points out some of the difficulties connected to these kinds of data analyses. Some analysis techniques and classifications are given in Tella (1994b, 52--62).

Computer-mediated communications systems apparently offer different kinds of educational opportunities. Boyd (1987), for instance, underlines (i) epistemological viewpoints, connected to discursive flexibility facilitated by electronic mail systems, e.g., bi- or multidirectional (from one/many to one/many) communication vs. unidirectional communication (from one to many only), represented by mass media; (ii) affiliative viewpoints (e.g., peer tutoring and long-term affiliations between students and their school, or among students), and (iii) the physical flexibility offered by computer-mediated communications systems (e.g., opportunities to study in more convenient places and at more convenient times).

The main focus in CAI and CAL and in traditional computer- based software intended for educational purposes used to be on the proceduralisation of the formal elements of the target language (cf. e.g., Cornu et al. 1990, 364), while in computer- mediated communication and in e-mail in particular, the computer serves not only as a learning tool but also as a tool for communication and information retrieval. As to the position of e-mail in a broader context, Naisbitt (1994) foresees, somewhat paradoxically, that there will be a shift of emphasis towards "virtual tribes" or "electronic tribes", as e-mail is a tribe-maker. Electronics makes us more tribal at the same time it globalises us. This vision refers to the fact that e-mail and communications networks are likely to make communication more networked but laying at the same time more emphasis on telelogic communication, i.e., on small group or specifically targeted group communication.

At the moment, CD-ROMs are gaining ground in the educational sector. More and more schools are purchasing CD-ROM or CD-I players and most of the modern microcomputers already have a CD-ROM player installed when shipped to the users. Basically, a CD-ROM gives an individual learner access to an enormous amount of hypertext-based information. On the other hand, users of communications networks also access CD-ROMs without paying much attention to it. For instance, many library databases are in fact on CD-ROMs which the user accesses through communications networks.

Multimedia and hypermedia are words which mean different things to different people (cf. e.g., Nix & Spiro 1990; Dede 1992; Galbreath 1992; Gayeski 1992; Hill & Wright 1993; see also Leino 1994). Lane (1993) describes how computer, video, and audio can be combined to multimedia in an interactional model. Chou & Matsuoka (1993) talk about an integrated learning system (ILS), which is used to create a computer-based information rich constructivist learning environment (CIRCLE), in which communications networks are made extensive use of and which involve real experts in the activities of the schools. The ambiguity of the word `multimedia' has also led to mild protestations, like in Braswell (1994), who through a parody points out several problems connected to multimedia at school (the dollar factor; just enough to be dangerous syndrome; the Holy Grail syndrome; you don't need much time; the purpose behind repurposing).

On the other hand, it may be worth while trying to find common features between intrinsic characteristics of multi- or hypermedia and up-to-date or communicative foreign language teaching. Liu (1994, 305), for instance, has identified seven features common to both communicative CALL (computer-assisted language learning) and hypermedia (TABLE 2).

EPSS is cautiously taken for a new category of educational software (Collis & Verwijs 1995). Barker & Banerji (1993; see Collis & Verwijs 1995, 6) define EPSS as "a custom-built interactive guidance and information support facility that is integrated into a normal working environment … with a range of different performance support tools, each one of which will have been selected in order to aid a particular job function". One of the EPSSes could, for instance, include all sorts of tools that would help a writer browse databases on the WWW, then retrieve relevant information with key words, integrate all necessary items into a piece of writing, and then write up a complete article, to be finalised and printed out. While these kinds of tools are being built, Collis & Verwijs (1995, 13) consider it most important to advance from a systems approach towards a human approach, which would include questions like "What are the user's activities and needs?", "How can electronic support help?"; "Balance between human and technological aspects?", etc. Finally, EPSSes should be integrated with electronic tools and environments the end user already is using for his on-going tasks (Collis & Verwijs 1995, 20).

TABLE 2. PARALLEL FEATURES BETWEEN COMMUNICATIVE CALL AND HYPERMEDIA (LIU 1994, 305).

Desktop video (= a PC plus a video camera on top of it) is probably going to be substituted for ordinary video conferencing systems in situations where only a few persons are interacting with one another. One of the assets of desktop video software is that communication is possible on the Internet, while ordinary videoconference systems use ISDN lines. Still, both add the visual channel to the interaction between different sender and recipient.

Not much will be said in this connection about the last categories in TABLE 1, i.e., virtual reality, virtual computing, and ubiquitous computing. What seems to characterise all these technologies is learning becoming more and more experiential. Ubiquitous computing is a certain ideal concept (Naisbitt 1994), which implies that by the time this ideal has come true, computing will have been wholly integrated into all educational systems. Naisbitt (1994, 56) also argues that in the global economic network of the 21st century, information technology will drive change just as surely as manufacturing drove change in the industrial era.

Some of the above components will be taken up in the next chapter from a different angle.

The Importance of Communication Channels

The problem of which channels are focused upon when discussing the question of communication is essential. In this context, three channels are often taken up, i.e., monologic communication (i.e., traditional mass media), dialogic communication (i.e., face-to-face human communication), and telelogic (or computer-mediated human) communication (cf. e.g., Tella 1994a, 45--48).

The role of communication can also be approached from other perspectives. We can for example talk about primary, secondary or tertiary communication. Primary communication can be considered as face-to-face communication, mostly in real time, for instance when having a dialogue with somebody or when delivering or listening to a speech.

Secondary communication can be represented by a number of art forms, such as theatre, while tertiary communication consists of mediated communication or, in more general terms, of computer- mediated human communication (CMHC).

Dimensionality of Communication

Another way of looking at communication is the dimensionality or directionality of communication, in which several components can be distinguished.

Basically, if communication is intended to go in one direction only, we can refer to it as one-way or monodirectional (unidirectional) communication. Two-way (bidirectional) communication emphasises the fact that both the sender and the recipient of the message can play an active role in the communication act.

Electronic mail is often considered as an example of bidirectional communication as the roles of both communicators (transceivers) are essential. A third dimensionality contains pluridirectional communication, such as computer conferencing or networking in general, in which communication is spread on several levels of communicators, either simultaneously or asynchronously, i.e., independently of time and space.

There is an eminently clear demand for clarifications as far as the classification of various combinations is concerned. In this article only a few anticipatory examples will be given. An example of primary unidirectional communication would include giving an order, while an example of primary bidirectional communication could be a dialogue. In foreign language teaching, primary unidirectional communication often characterises teacher-centred lessons, during which the teacher tends to limit his use of foreign language to so-called "teacher-talk" commands. The primary target should, however, be primary bidirectional communication, in which the teacher, for instance, aims at more communicative use of the target language, relying on learners' language proficiency as much as possible.

Secondary unidirectional communication is mainly represented by traditional mass media communication, i.e., monologic communication media as they were up till the mid- and late- 1980s. Secondary bidirectional communication includes telecommunications, CD-ROMs, CD-Is, etc. Network-based communication can be depicted as secondary pluridirectional communication, which, at the moment, is growing fast.

Another way of dividing communication is through the communication channel vs. its representation. This division includes oral production (via the phone, for instance), textual production (e.g., letters, faxes), textually produced but emulating oral production (e.g., e-mail), and iconic production (e.g., graphics, audio-graphics).

Two other dimensions are worth mentioning as well: the continuum from stationary to nomadic and from isolating to networking.

Educational technology, in the traditional sense, was mainly synchronous and stationary. A language laboratory represents traditional educational technology at its best--or at its worst. However, technological progress has advanced towards more nomadic products and media, which are independent of time and place, asynchronous, transferable, light, inexpensive, and which gradually become invisible.

Traditional technology also implied isolation, to some extent at least. Language labs as well as traditional computer laboratories used to isolate learners from others while giving all of them a rigid seating order. Portable computers and laptops started to change the situation, which, thanks to cellular phones and datacards is utterly different from what it used to be.

Virtual reality is not yet here to a tangible extent but it is not difficult to grasp what thought-provoking opportunities it will give to, say, foreign language learning as soon as virtual excursions to various target countries become feasible. One step onwards will most probably be virtual computing which, according to some researchers (e.g., Naisbitt 1994) will lead to ubiquitous computing in the 21st century.

The Question of Cost/Effectiveness

"Education has by far the lowest level of investment in technology of any major sector of the economy. (Education invests an average of $ 100 per worker per year in technology, compared to an average of $ 50,000 per worker per year in many industries.)" (Kelly 1988; see Salisbury 1992, 9)

Educational technology has also been handicapped by economic restrictions submitted to schools. The question, basically, is about how costly or how affordable certain communications media are. For the time being, communication via satellites is costly while video conferencing, especially desktop video, such as CU-SeeMe type of software, is becoming affordable at various levels of schooling. What this basically boils down to are the videophones which give full connectivity to the Internet but cost just roughly 10 % of a full-scale video conferencing system. The Kilpisjärvi Project (Husu et al. 1994), however, clearly demonstrates that a full video conference system using ISDN lines can also be fairly affordable.

Audio conferencing and telephony in general have been studied in quite a few countries for years now. Audio conferencing, when combined with audio-graphics, for instance, has proved a success even if in the conventional solution two telephone lines are needed.

At the most affordable end of the scale, educators have had recourse to videotapes, audiotapes, cassettes, minidiscs, etc. These represent conventional if not widely and universally available technology which few educators fight against.

Power and Responsibility

Power, authority, and responsibility--both assuming responsibility and allowing others to assume responsibility--are delicate issues in communicative media education. Power as exercised by the teacher is sometimes divided into four different categories: authoritative, autonomous, authoritarian, and abdicated power (Underhill 1989; see also Ahtee & Tella 1995). As far as MICT are concerned, power is constantly a topical issue which should be studied carefully in various research settings.

Another way of thinking of power is the continuum from monologue to dialogue and polylogue. In order to facilitate dialogue, the teacher has to be able and willing to give up his own monologue. Dialogue will change into an authentic polylogue only if constructivist principles are respected and mutual discussion encouraged. Polylogue is basically a fundamental way of conversation and an exchange of ideas in computer conferencing, but it can be hampered if the technical or pedagogical manager of the conference occupies too much scope of the conference's virtual space. Consequently, the question can be traced back to the role of monopoly or the teacher's (the manager's authority) in comparison to authentic dipoly (two communicators' authority) or tripoly, in which several communicators respect each other's right to express themselves. In many respects, this is closely connected to the question of electronic leadership (cf. e.g., Tella 1994a, 61), which appears to be one of the most important factors as far as the success of an electronic conference is concerned.

At Once Individualised and Networked vs. Mass Communication

Most of the above factors are also linked to the question of whether communication and instruction are being individualised or oriented towards mass communication. Modern information and communication technologies give access to individualised learning tools and make it easy to organise an individualised or learner-focused learning environment which, however, takes advantage of extensive physical and conceptual networking. In the same way, dyadic forms of work are facilitated as well as small group constellations. As stated above, telelogic communication emphasises small specialised group communication or target group communication, while traditional mass media (radio, television or the so-called electronic media in comparison to telematic media, such as e-mail, computer conferencing, WWW, gophers, Archie, FTP, etc.) aim at reaching large audiences.

The benefits of networked computers are accepted as a new starting point. Sawyer (1992) cites America 2000 (1992) in that "[b]y far the most promising benefit of networked computers for education lies in extending the network to include access to computing from the homes of teachers and students. This would address head-on one of the most difficult roadblocks to educational improvement … Non-classroom access to a significant learning tool would be especially important in the case of disadvantaged students … access to a personal computer in the home … could provide a powerful alternative to entertainment television or the street. If students had home access to personal computers integrated into the curriculum and linked to the schools' library resources, they would be able to extend their classroom exposure by repeating lessons missed in class, retrying simulation-based `lab experiments,' and preparing homework using the computer for library access, word processing, drawing, music study, and computation. … The home time available to students during each week of the school year could easily equal the time spent in the classroom. During the summer vacation, the same computer facility would be available for educational gaming, electronic mail, summer projects, and adult literacy or other training programs." (America 2000, 1992)

Communication/Education/Teaching

In the final analysis, the question is about the subtle differences between media communication education, communicative media education and educational media communication on one hand, and about communication as communication or communication as educational communication on the other hand, and, in the final analysis, between teaching, studying, and learning as well as about the shifts of emphasis in learning paradigms, concepts of learning and knowledge in connection with the changes in teachers', students' and schools' status (TABLE 3).

TABLE 3. A SUMMARY OF CHANGES AND SHIFTS OF FOCUS IN LEARNING PARADIGMS, THE CONCEPT OF LEARNING AND KNOWLEDGE, PEDAGOGICAL APPLI-CATIONS OF MICT, COMMUNICATION, AND IN THE STATUS OF TEACHERS, STU-DENTS, AND THE SCHOOL (BASED ON TELLA 1994a, 71Ð72).

Communication, implicitly, covers everything as everything is communication per se, verbal, non-verbal or at least paralingual or extralingual. Teaching may include studying and learning, but there has been a strong shift of emphasis from teaching-based approaches towards learner-centred or learner-sponsored approaches. When speaking about open multimedia-based and networked learning environments or about virtual schools (e.g., Tella 1995), we have to bear in mind that the word `learning' in the English language also implies studying (3), while in Finnish it mostly refers to the product of studying. Or perhaps we should start to underline the importance of education as an overall term; speaking of primary, secondary, adult and lifelong education may also lead us to start talking about computer-based education with a special emphasis on computer-mediated communication, which seems to cover most of the features human-to-human communication has always included. Consequently, open learning and distance education are terms whose role and significance are likely to increase in the years to come.

"The context for human development is always a culture, never an isolated technology."

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1 The article will also appear, in a modified and updated version, in the Research Report Series of the National Foreign Language Resource Center, University of Hawai'i, 1996.

2 Multi-mode is used here to refer the combination of face-to-face learning situations and di-tance learning situations. In Finnish educational parlance, this is often referred to as `multi-form' teaching (monimuoto-opetus). The concept approaches multimedia teaching, which is the current term in the British Isles, for instance.

3 Learn = gain knowledge of or skill in, by study [emphasis added], practice or being taught. (Advanced Learner's Dictionary of Current English).