Session 3: Types of Media Used

Here is a breakdown of the 6 forms of media in terms of Resources I found to help us learn more about the topic, Personal Experience, Pros, Cons, Media Richness, Social Presence, andHow I would use them in my life, or classroom. I tried to keep it as short as I could. Enjoy, Dale

Streaming
Resources: Wiki
Personal Experience: tons with united streaming, digital curriculum, and other random websites, but I am not 100% if is the actual streaming nature of this classes lecture.
Pros: visual and audible for visual and audio listeners, repeatable
Cons: download time, internet connection required,
Media Richness: medium due to the streaming nature of it.
Social Presence: medium to low, the user gets a little out of this.
How I would use this media: I could make a video presentation of a lecture and all it to be streamed from my website.

Podcast
Resources: Wiki, An mp3 keeps the worries away,
Personal Experience: I took Newberry’s Podcasting class this past summer and since then have recorded a handful of Podcasts, the only one useable in my classroom is an introduction to Paint for my Tech 7 classes.
Pros: free to make, audible for audio listeners, portable and repeatable, easy to record, copy and share with others, you can download Audacity for free to edit software; another plus is that video Podcasting is possible.
Cons: download time (long Podcast=big download), internet connection required, editing and posting can be difficult, computer/speakers/headphones required or mp3/iPod device (optional), must have a place to house your Podcast.
Media Richness: High
Social Presence: Medium
How I would use this media: I would record short Podcasts to introduce students to basic components to my technology classes like the Paint one mentioned above. This would allow me to play the Podcast or require students to listen to it for remediation or if I have a new student for catching up purposes.

Forums, BBS, and Threaded Discussions (I put these together for my purposes)
Resources:Newberry Himself, Wiki Forum, Wiki BBS, Threaded Discussions Personal Experience: Last year I implemented threaded discussions using a portal for my students. I found that you first need a thread on a simple ‘hey this is a new fun technology’ then lead into an academic discussion. I then created discussion for ‘I need help’, Tips, etc… Some students did not get engaged by this technology though. It has been years since I have used a BBS. I use Study on the Beach Forum for etec674.
Pros: Asynchronous, great for asking questions or dialoging on specific topics, great resource for avoiding those you have answered that question a zillion times
Cons: Asynchronous=not instant, dialoging can be ‘off topic or lead students astray, internet connection required, not all students get interested in this. I agree with Newberry about the tree structure about the oldest first and newest last.
Media Richness: High in a middle school classroom, or a college class, you can customize your forum with photos, and emoticons, plus sometimes it can feel synchronous if a few users are online at the same time.
Social Presence: High in a middle school classroom because the user is totally engaged.
How I would use this media: see above

Skype and Voice Over IP
Resources: Skype.com,Wiki Skype, Wiki VOIP, Techie stuff: An analysis...protocal,
Personal Experience: None, with the exception of the recent download of the software.
Pros: Synchronous, free (or mostly free)
Cons: high-speed internet connection needed on both sides, blocked at my school district already.
Media Richness: High
Social Presence: High
How I would use this media: To call my sister in Zambia, Africa and my father in law in Stuttgart, Germany. Also to call others in the United States as well.


Chat and Instant Messaging
Resources:Wiki Instant Messaging, Instant messaging in teen life
Personal Experience: None really except for a few times with a fellow technology teacher at school. Oops, I could say I have used Blackboard to IM with Newberry in etec 544 I think.
Pros: Synchronous, kids love it
Cons: chats can easily be off topic, students can be bullied/harassed easily, difficult to mediate. With Blackboard the setup was really difficult with my computers.
Media Richness: High, because you are using technology to communicate
Social Presence: High, each users presence is easily seen, but it can be low if the user does not engage in the discussion.
How I would use this media: I would set up a chat room for my classroom to dialog for technology issues in my classroom. I would prefer to avoid this form of technology in a middle school classroom granted the ‘off topic’ social nature of my students.


Resources:
Newberry, B. (????). Media richness, social presence and technology supported communication activities in education. Retrieved September 25, 2006 from, http://learngen.org/resources/module/lgend101_norm1/200/210/211_3.html
Newberry, B. (2001). Raising student social presence in online classes. Retrieved October 6, 2006, from, http://eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2/content_storage_01/0000000b/80/27/97/1f.pdf
Newberry, B. (2005). The use of bulletin boards for discussions in online learning. Retrieved October 6, 2006, from, http://www.itdl.org/Journal/Nov_05/article04.htm

Media Richness Theory Reading