Abstract
Within and beyond the field of educational technology, Richard Clark's writings are widely believed to have shown that any number of media are equally capable of delivering any instruction, so that media choices are about cost and efficiency but not about cognition and learning (Clark, 1983; 1994b). However, if it is accepted that one type of efficiency is cognitive efficiency, then it follows that media choices are often about cognition and learning and can profit from an understanding of cognitive processes. Media and learning can then be reconnected in limited ways that do not compromise any of Clark's main points, and doing this will bring media work into line with current research into the role of surface information codes.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abu Rabia, S. and Siegel, L.S. Different orthographies, different context effects: The effects of Arabic sentence context in skilled and poor readers.Reading Psychology, 16(1), 1–19.
Adams, M.J. (1990).Beginning to read: Thinking and learning about print. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.
Anderson, J.R. (1995).Learning and memory. New York: Wiley.
Balmuth, M. (1982).The roots of phonics. New York: Teachers College Press.
Chappelle, C. (1996). CALL—English as a second language.Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 16, 139–157.
Chi, M.T.H., Glaser, R., and Rees, E. (1982). Expertise in problem solving. In R.J. Sternberg (Ed.),Advances in the psychology of human intelligence, Vol. 1. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Chomsky, N. (1975).Reflections on language. New York: Pantheon.
Clark, A. (1993). Symbolic invention: The missing (computational) link?Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 16, 753–754.
Clark, R.E. (1983). Reconsidering research on learning from media. Review ofEducational Research, 53(4), 445–459.
Clark, R.E. (1984). A reply to Petkovich and Tennyson.Educational Communications and Technology Journal, 32, 238–241.
Clark, R.E. (1985). Confounding in educational computing research.Journal of Educational Computing Research, 1(2), 137–148.
Clark, R.E. (1994a). Media will never influence learning.Educational Technology Research and Development, 42(2), 21–29.
Clark, R.E. (1994b). Media and method.Educational Technology Research and Development, 42(3), 7–10.
Clark, R.E. and Salomon, G. (1986). Media in teaching. In M. Wittrock (Ed.),Third handbook of research on teaching (pp. 464–478). Chicago: Rand McNally.
Clark, R.E. and Snow, R.E. (1975). Alternative designs for instructional technology research.Audio-Visual Communications Review, 23(4), 373–394.
Conrad, K.B. (1996). CALL—Non-English L2 instruction.Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 16, 158–181.
Coulmas, F. (1989).The writing systems of the world. Oxford: Blackwell.
Dick, W. (1991). An instructional designer's view of constructivism.Educational Technology, May, 41–44.
Donald, M. (1993). Precis of Origins of the modern mind: Three stages in the evolution of culture and cognition.Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 16, 737–791.
Dunkel, P. (1991). The effectiveness research on computer-assisted instruction and computer-assisted language learning. In P. Dunkel (Ed.),Computer-assisted language learning and testing: Research issues and practice. New York: Newbury House.
Glaser, R. (1990). The reemergence of learning theory within instructional research.American Psychologist, 45(1), 29–39.
Gleitman, L.R. and Rozin, P. (1973). Teaching reading by use of a syllabary.Reading Research Quarterly, 8, 447–483.
Hayes, J.R. and Simon, H.A. (1977). Psychological differences in problem isomorphs. In N.J. Castellan, D.B. Pisoni, and G.R. Potts (Eds.),Cognitive theory. Hillsdale, NJ Erlbaum.
Jamieson, J. and Chappelle, C. (1988). Using CALL effectively: What do we need to know about students?System, 16(2), 151–162.
Koda, K. (1988). Cognitive processes in second-language reading: Transfer of L1 reading skills and strategies.Second Language Research, 4(2), 133–156.
Kozma, R.B. (1991). Learning with media.Review of Educational Research, 61(2), 179–211.
Kozma, R.B. (1994). Will media influence learning? Reframing the debate.Educational Technology Research and Development, 42(2), 7–19.
Marr, D. (1982).Vision: A computational investigation into the human representation and processing of visual information. New York: Freeman.
Martin, S.E. (1972). Nonalphabetic writing systems: Some observations. In J.F. Kavanagh and I.G. Mattingly (Eds.),Language by eye and by ear: The relationship between speech and reading (pp. 81–102). Cambridge MA: MIT Press.
McLuhan, M. (1962).The Gutenberg galaxy. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Miller, G.A. (1956). The magical number seven, plus-or-minus two: Some limitations on our capacity for information processing.Psychological Review, 63, 81–97.
Norman, D.A. (1993).Things that make us smart: Defending human attributes in the age of the machine. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
Pagels, H.R. (1988).The dreams of reason: The computer and the rise of the sciences of complexity. New York: Bantam Books.
Perfetti, C.A. (1985).Reading ability. New York: Oxford University Press.
Petkovich, M.D. and Tennyson, R.D. (1984). Clark's Learning from Media: A critique.Educational Communication and Technology Journal, 32(4), 233–241.
Pinker, S. (1994).The language instinct: How the mind creates language. New York: William Morrow and Co.
Randall, M., and Meara, P. (1988). How Arabs read Roman letters.Reading in a Foreign Language, 4(2), 133–145.
Romizowski, A. (1988).The selection and use of instructional media: For improved classroom teaching and for interactive, individualized instruction. London: Kogan Page.
Rosch, E. (1978). Principles of categorization. In E. Rosch and B. Lloyd (Eds.),Cognition and categorization. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Rumelhart, D.E. (1980). Schemata: The building blocks of cognition. In R.J. Spiro, B.C. Bruce, and W.F. Brewer (Eds.),Theoretical issues in reading comprehension. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Salomon, G. (1991). Transcending the qualitative-quantitative debate: The analytic and systemic approaches to educational research.Educational Research, 20(6), 10–18.
Salthouse, T.A. (1991). Expertise as the circumvention of human processing limitations. In K.A. Ericsson and J. Smith,Toward a general theory of expertise: Prospects and limits. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Sasanuma, S. (1975). Kana and Kanji processing in Japanese aphasics.Brain and Language, 369–383.
Scribner, S. and Cole, M. (1981).The psychology of literacy. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press.
Shrock, S. (1994). The media effects question: Read the fine print, but don't lose sight of the big picture.Educational Technology Research and Development, 42(2), 49–53.
Tzeng, O.J.L. and Hung, D.L. (1981). Linguistic determinism: A written language perspective. In O.J.L. Tzeng and H. Singer (Eds.),Perception of print: Reading research in experimental psychology. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Ullmer, E.J. (1994). Media and learning: Are there two kinds of truth?Educational Technology Research and Development, 42(1), 21–32.
Whorf, B.L.. (1956).Language, thought, and reality. Edited by J.B. Carroll. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Zhang, J. and Norman, D.A. (1994). Representations of distributed cognitive tasks.Cognitive Science, 18, 87–122.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Cobb, T. Cognitive efficiency: Toward a revised theory of media. ETR&D 45, 21–35 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02299681
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02299681