Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Volume: 1 Issue: 4
195 206
_______________________________________________________________________________
Role of Mass Media in Higher Education & its Economic Viability Part: 2
Mass Media and Higher Education
Dr S Tiwari,
GE, eYuG (Free-lance Academician),
stiwari.eyug@rediffmail.com
Abstract: In the first part, an attempt has been made to examine the ground realities of higher education in Indian context. It has also been
stressed as to how the higher education has been visualized and implemented during the last five decades since independence. Its growth,
role and constrains have also been highlighted. It has been noticed in the process of presenting the panorama of different aspects of higher
education in India that it has been facing a problem of massification. The system of higher education needs a drastic reconstruction,
almost a revolution to democratise higher education. With this background, it has been observed that in the process of development of
higher education the great potential of communication technologies and mass media could be used to find the remedies of its shortcomings.
The mass media can be harnessed in open and distance education, which is today the most viable means of offering cost effective and
quality education to the masses. Hence, role of mass media has been analysed in this chapter to find out the answers to our concerns of
higher education for all. It has been attempted to analyse the role of mass media in relation to higher education and making it accessible to
aspirants of higher education.
Mass Media, comprises the institutions and techniques by which specialized groups employ technological devices like Press,
Radio, Television, Computer, films, Internet etc. to disseminate knowledge: to large heterogeneous as well as widely dispersed audience.
With the evolution and development of information technology and electronic media, the social scientists and engineers teamed together in
the studies of the total communication process, its feasibility, cost effectiveness and speed. Here this broader view of Mass Media can be
taken in the context of its application in the field of imparting higher education to all. Mass Media has been universally characterized by
four attributes these are: (1) Broad appeal (2) Speed (3) Availability (4) Low cost. The term 'mass' refers to a large body of people in a
compact group. The mass consists of an audience unseen and unknown.
The term 'media -has distinct meaning -That is communication as the 'transmission of messages' a receiver and a channel or a
medium through which the message is transmitted. Thus "Mass Media [4] is delivering information and ideas, to a sizeable and diversified
audience and is directed to a large, heterogeneous and anonymous audience."
Keywords- Mass Media, Relevance of Mass Media, Information Explosion, NPE 1986, Information Highways, Programmed learning,
Micro-teaching, Economic Viability.
________________________________________________________*****_________________________________________________________
1.
_______________________________________________________________________________
195 206
_______________________________________________________________________________
uncharted areas. Conventionally, the transfer of information has
been through the media of letters, books, telephone, radio,
video, television and computers. These have now been
integrated at the electronic frontier to give information
highways (rather superhighways) that facilitate rapid transfer of
information on a global scale. Basically this involves the linking
of (millions of) computers through telephone lines via a device
called modem. Technologically, it requires a harmonious
intermeshing of optic fibers, telecommunication cables and
satellites. Today, this linkage allows the transfer of not only
data but also sound and visuals.
Education technology has immense potentialities for
augmenting education facilities and improving the qualities of
education, particularly at the higher stage. It includes the
Internet, various modern and traditional media radio, television,
video recorder, audio recorder, films, printing materials and
graphics etc. With a view to make higher education available to
various learner groups of vast diversities and entering to the
requirements of different curricular courses, media support is
essential. These media need to be used in seminars, symposia
conferences, meetings, workshops, demonstration and so on,
besides classroom teaching. In the various modern methods like
programmed learning, team teaching or micro-teaching,
computer media are indispensable or are largely required for
ensuring effectiveness and efficiency in learning.
The age-old teaching methods like lecture or "chalk
and talk" are not adequate to do justice to the intellectual,
psychological and emotional needs of the learners of higher
education at present. The various dynamic methods of teaching
with the help of media appropriate to learning objectives and
experiences need be adopted both informal and non-informal
settings of education. Self instructional materials with the
support of teaching machines, computers, TV and radio can
makes higher education very effective as well as interesting. An
environment of ability, dynamics, interest and attractiveness
should replace the atmosphere of dullness, lifelessness inertia
and unattractiveness. This can be done only with the use of
different media.
Mass Media can be used in planning and organising
and instructions for removing inequalities and regional
imbalances. The open learning system through the open
universities can play a significant role in facilitating learning by
media supported summer courses, contact programmes,
correspondence and distance education programmes. Satellite
communication system has made the learning process more cost
effective, more enlightening and more interesting. The
University Grants Commission (UGC) has taken the initiative to
utilise the time slot available for higher education to telecast
programmes in higher education titled countrywide classroom,
through which higher education is spread to remote and
backward areas of the country. The Indira Gandhi National
Open University (IGNOU) is already making use of mass
media. It has plan to launch a variety of mass turning
programmes in various fields to meet the educational
expectations of a large country like India.
The Role of Technology in Education
Technology is a force of significance in most aspects
of modern civilization, and it is no less significant in the field of
education. With new media and instructional technology,
invidiualisation is not only economically feasible at the present
time, but is actually required if universities are to accomplish
196
IJRITCC | APR 2013, Available @ http://www.ijritcc.org
_______________________________________________________________________________
195 206
_______________________________________________________________________________
and blackboard. The components that make up educational
technology include television, films, overhead projectors,
computers, and the other items of hardware and software. In
nearly every case, the media have centered education
independently, and still operate more in isolation than in
combination.
Purpose of Educational Technology
The second and less familiar education of instructional
technology transcends any particular medium or device, in this
sense, instructional technology is more than the sum of its parts.
It is a systematic way of designing, carrying out, and evaluating
the total process of learning and teaching in terms of specific
objectives, based on research in human learning and
communication, and employing a combination of human and
non-human resources to bring about more effective instruction.
This comprehensive approach may be considered to hold the
key to the contribution, technology can make to the
advancement of education.
Instructional technology, by either of the two
definitions, includes a wide array of instruments, devices and
techniques, each with its particular problems, potential, and
proponents. It is important to note that neither definition equates
technology with machines. Many observers believe, for
example, that fascination with the gadgetry of instructional
television to the exclusion of the idea behind it has often led to
stereo-type and impoverished uses of that medium.
Many people see instructional technology primarily as
a way of recording, storing, transmitting, distributing, and
displaying material. But equally important is its capacity for
response and feedback and for reinforcement of learning.
Programmed learning, for example, provides immediate,
constant and infinitely patient feedback. Another quite different
example is the use of videotapes in teacher education (microteaching), which gives teachers a new way to see themselves,
to analyze small units of their own teaching, and to improve
their methods as a result.
The basic purpose of educational or instructional
technology is to arrange the various educational media in
concord with the other resources of education to achieve or
contribute to a higher quality and/or quantity of output from the
educational systems. The five major areas where progress in
educational technology has been, and is being made, are:
Making the teaching-learning process more visible.
Increasing labour-specialisation in faculty.
Improving concepts of measurement and evaluation of
aspects of the education system.
Objectifying goals and clarifying intentions of instruction.
Shifting the factors of production toward less labour and
more instructional materials and equipment.
The major components of Mass Media and their role in
Higher Education
In a general sense, educational media include texts,
work-books, programmed books and other print materials:
tapes, records and other audio materials; filmstrips, motion
pictures and other photographic materials; games, apparatus and
a number of other manipulative materials; charts, signs, maps
and other graphic materials; dioramas, bulletin boards, felt
boards and other displays; as well as other resources which
serve as the carriers of messages. The individual learner in his
classroom accesses many of these media based messages, others
_______________________________________________________________________________
195 206
_______________________________________________________________________________
concept of access leads to many new ways in which
universities might organise learning situations.
New devices and techniques can be used as aids to the
assessment process. There is no obviously convenient or
generally accepted system for classifying learning resources;
usually they are classified on the basis primarily of information
sources.
The various components of mass media and their role are as
followsa. Audio-visual Materials and Equipment
A variety of materials to aid instruction has been
available to the colleges and schools for some years, employing
the use of such equipment as tape recorders, record players,
slide and filmstrip projectors, overhead projectors, motion
picture projectors and radios. Whether these employ sight or
sound, or both together, they are grouped as audio-visual
materials. They are also frequently referred to as conventional
aids, though this term is somewhat misleading. Another
important development in the increasing emphasis on the use of
audio-visual resources for independent study. This has led to the
concept of the learning resource center. Usually a learning
resource center has learning booths or Carrels, in which
individual students can use slides, filmstrips, film loops, tape
recorders and books. There is a fundamental question whether
audio-visual materials are a means of instruction or merely aids
or adjuncts to instruction. Basically, they are amplifiers, which
extend the range of the human voice, the eye, and ear;
alternatively, they bring distant sights and sounds into the
classroom. As such, they are or can be a means of instruction
just as a textbook is. But whereas books are taken for granted,
audio-visual materials are often introduced or not, largely at the
whim of the teacher.
In higher education, resistance to the use of audio-visual
materials is usually attributed to the following reasons:
Faculty and administrative inertia.
Unavailability of films, equipment, or operators when
needed.
Lack of equipped classrooms or other viewing areas.
Problems of obtaining the right material when needed.
Lack of budget to provide decentralization of certain
materials and equipment.
Unavailability of appropriate materials.
Limited time of instructs for locating or designating
appropriate materials.
Lack of information about sources.
Lack of technical assistance for preparation of materials.
b. Language Laboratories
The purpose of the language laboratory is to develop
listening and speaking skills in foreign languages. The system
employs individual study carrels (booths) and the use of audio
tape equipment and headphones in combination with other
materials. For reasons of convenience, these facilities are
housed in one place, as opposed to being portable or mobile.
The maintenance of the complicated electronic components is a
highly skilled job, requiring an appropriately skilled staff.
c. The Computer
The computer has three main uses in education: it is a
research tool; it is a management tool; and it is a teachinglearning machine. While the role of the computer in higher
education for the purposes of research and management is well
_______________________________________________________________________________
195 206
_______________________________________________________________________________
Advantages of Radio
It is cost-effective.
It is suitable for both classroom and home listening.
Even remote areas can be easily reached.
It is easy to use.
Programmes can be recorded for future also.
The software design of other media can be emulated with
suitable modifications.
Disadvantages of Radio
Individualised instruction is not possible. Minority needs
are thus ignored.
For the purpose of specialized teaching, radio is only an
audio medium, with no visual mode.
e. Television
The television can serve to bring academic material to
the student in a more direct and personal way then printed units
can, and it can give a sense of association to the members of a
widely scattered institution. In years to come, television
(recorded video-cassettes as a support facility) can lead an entire
course; but the appropriateness and cost factor of the available
technology has to be kept in view. Indeed, in any distance
education programme where the target audience is around 100
or so, the use of this technology would be an avoidable luxury,
but where larger numbers are involved (country-wide classroom
is an example) the technology can be put to proper use, within
the constraints of cost and availability of resources. For
effective utilization, the radio/TV lessons should be reinforced
by suitable printed reading material, supplied before and after
the presentation of the programme. A TV programme,
particularly for teaching a language, can be effectively designed
for spelling recognition, vocabulary acquisition, speed-reading,
oral comprehension, and for improving knowledge in the use of
the language.
Advantages of Television
Communication with large audiences is possible.
Communication with audiences scattered in different areas
is possible.
The vision-sound modes have a special appeal.
Flexibility in editing is possible.
Use of video-tape-recorder (VTR) makes it ideal for
individualized instruction, cost permitting.
With accompanying/pre-dispatched instructional materials,
it can be very useful as a follow-up process.
Software production could emulate other available media
such as movies/and dramas.
With accompanying checklists, it can be used for testing
purposes.
Disadvantages of Television
TV is expensive.
Technology is not readily available.
It neglects a minority audience. Individualized reading is
difficult to accomplish, if VTR facility is not readily
available. Even when VTR is available, it may prove to be
expensive.
While software production is relatively easier, the software
package may be expensive.
The time schedule is generally inflexible.
199
IJRITCC | APR 2013, Available @ http://www.ijritcc.org
_______________________________________________________________________________
195 206
_______________________________________________________________________________
interpreter of public events and a professional forum for
investigative and interpretative journalism.
g. The magazine
The word magazine is derived from the French word
magazin, meaning storehouse, and early magazines were
miscellanies of information and amusement. The modern
magazine succeeded as a mass medium chiefly because of its
original role as an adjunct of the marketing system. Like the
newspaper, it was able, over the years, to appeal to an
expanding range of tastes and interests. But, unlike other media,
most magazines were designed for homogeneous audiences or
special-interest groups. And, in contrast to the newspaper, their
circulation was nationwide. Thus, although many magazines
were directed to specialized audiences, magazines in general
developed as a mass medium in the sense that they appealed to
large numbers in a national market that cut across social,
economic, and educational class lines. Magazines fast are
becoming the strongest of the mass media. While individual
magazines may find their growth limited by greater competition
for advertisements, magazines as a group are more prosperous
in readers and in revenues than at any time in their recent
history. Not since the so-called golden age of magazines in the
late 1980s, this mass medium has been so strong.
h. Books
Books are a medium of mass communication that
deeply affects the lives of all of us. They convey much of the
heritage of the past, help us understand ourselves and the world
we live in, and enable us to plan for the future. Books are
significant tool of our education process. And they provide
entertainment for people of every age.
Teachers and pupils find in textbooks the vast
knowledge of history, philosophy, the sciences, literature, and
the social sciences accumulated through the ages. People in
every walk of life read to keep abreast of a fast-changing world,
to find inspiration, relaxation, and pleasure, and to gain
knowledge. Books explain and interpret nearly every aspect of
life. Whether they are paperbacks or hardcover volumes printed
on high quality paper, books have characteristic performance.
The newspaper reporter and the radio-television commentator
address a large but ephemeral audience. Videotapes, audiotapes,
records, motion pictures, and filmed products such as
microform and microfiche may deteriorate through the years.
Magazines, especially those printed on high-quality paper and
bound into volumes, may have extremely long lives. If cared for
properly however, books, such as the superb copies of the Bible
produced by Gutenberg in the fifteenth century, last virtually
forever. For the mass communicator, books perform several
important functions. They not only serve as wellsprings of
knowledge but, through translation and reprinting, and through
conversion into movies, television productions, and live
performances; they may convey vital ideas to millions of people
throughout the world. And in the publishing trade itself the mass
communicator may find a rewarding outlet in writing, editing,
and promoting the distribution of books.
i. CCTV
Most of the students in the Indian universities are now
interested in getting degrees by selective study and cramming. It
is, therefore, felt essential to provide media facilities for giving
motivation and creating interaction in knowing more and
acquiring skills better. Closed circuit television (CCTV) has
great potential in playing significant role in education. CCTV
_______________________________________________________________________________
195 206
_______________________________________________________________________________
communicating ideas, searching for information and
experiencing new concept of common media ever developed.
The basic advantage of multimedia over the conventional form
of media, which uses sound, graphics and text for example TV,
audio etc. is the interactive feature of multimedia. For example,
a multimedia version of news bulletin would be the situation
where you can request the broadcaster the type of news you are
interested in, when you want to hear it, and with the press of a
button or click of the mouse you can hear the news.
l. Teletext
Teletext is the general term used for transmission of pages
of information as digitized signals through the television
medium. It makes the television function like a computer
terminal for retrieval of textual information and graphics from
remote database. With the help of a suitable device, the user can
select any information from the text being transmitted and can
see this on the TV screen in place of normal television
programmes. Telecast can be used widely for dissemination of
textual and graphic information. The only limitation is that there
is no possibility of two-way communication.
m. Videotext
Videotext is one of the latest technologies, which seems to
offer tremendous potential for distance education. Unlike
teletext, it is a two-way interactive communication, wherein the
user can transmit their requests to a remote database in order to
obtain specific information. On the other hand, teletext is a oneway system flowing from a source to a user who can read the
desk information on a television screen. The video makes the
home television to function like computer terminal and retrieve
text information and graphics from a database.
n. Videodisc
Videodisc is yet another medium, which is helping to
increase capacity of the television set. The videodisc resembles
a long-playing record. It has two audio tracks, offering
alternative narration in two different languages. It uses a beam
of laser light to reproduce audio and visual information stored
on the disc. The videodisc has the capacity to store 54000
separate visual images on each side. It would be a mistake to
think of videodisc systems as merely a more advanced form of
videocassettes. The major educational advantage of the
technology is in term of learner control. Each frame of the disc
is labeled and can be accessed at random. The control of speed
and search facility is more refined. The disc is not affected by
constant use, because it is laser based, and therefore has a
unique potential for distance education. The video disc linked to
the computer and the learners can interact with the materials at
their own pace and choice. However, the biggest limitation is
lack of equipment in student homes. Furthermore, the cost of
production is also very high.
o. Tele Conferencing
Teleconferencing is an appropriate and flexible means for
distance education, which facilitates two-way communication
among user at different locations with the experts (Central
location). The users also get immediate feedback from the
experts and fellow users at other locations as well. Thus it is
providing to be an effective learning technique. There are three
types of teleconferencing: namely audio teleconferencing,
Video teleconferencing and computer teleconferencing.
Teleconferencing has a certain inherent limitations. It is a very
costly technique of instruction. It requires sophisticated
technology and expert human power.
p.
2.
201
IJRITCC | APR 2013, Available @ http://www.ijritcc.org
_______________________________________________________________________________
195 206
_______________________________________________________________________________
technology is thus used as a scientific way of designing,
developing, implementing, evaluating and perfecting techniques
in distance education. In this context, educational technology is
a problem solving approach to distance education.
Technology developments
Technology developments are an extension of mans
power over nature. Technology is providing a man with powers,
which can possibly be attributed to superman. In this context, a
teacher of today has enormous capabilities to transmit
knowledge and skills to students with the help of educational
technology materials, most of which are in the form of audiovisual materials.
Audio-Visual material
Audio-visual material displays information in the form
of pictorial representation (still or moving images), written
symbols (words and figures) and/or recorded sound (speech,
music, natural noises). This information and content can be
displayed through a variety of media like charts, maps, slides,
tape-slides, audio-tapes, video tapes and film, etc. These are
called software. Some materials themselves present information
like posters, charts and maps. Some others require presentation
devices. A slide requires a slide projector to present visual
information and audio tape requires a tape player to present
auditory stimuli. These are called hardware.
A few examples of hardware and Media used in
distance education at study centers and in personal contact
programme or otherwise are given below:
Media
Hardware
Slide
Slide projector
Overhead
transparency
Overhead projector
Audiotape
Tape player
Tape-slide
Video tape
Film
Film projector
where the human eye cannot go; we can picture what cannot be
safely observed in reality, we can emphasize (using diagrams,
editing or selective photography) and eliminate confusing detail;
and of course, we can picture the invisible (using diagrams;
animated or still) as also scenes of things, people and events that
are extinct.
Audio Visual educational functions
Recorded sound is also helpful in presenting reality,
e.g., original speech of a leader. Not only this, we can amplify
it, lower it down, edit out confusing noise or extraneous detail
and repeat it as and when, where and as often we like it. The
sounds, we may be interested in, may be natural (e.g., bird song;
physiological, e.g., heart beats; the mechanical, e.g., the moving
train; musical, e.g., a concert; conversational, e.g., foreign
language sounds; dramatic, e.g., a poetry recitation; educational
e.g., a lecture; or environmental, e.g., a noise from a village
fair).
In view of the above mentioned qualities, audio-visual materials
performs many useful educational functions:
Audio-visual material helps in extending the range of
vicarious experiences. These experiences are substitutionary in
nature. The student imagines his participation in the events
being shown to him. Hence, audio-visual material may be
developed by adopting approaches of either behaviourism,
humanism, or those of cybernetics, cognitive theorists and
gestaltists, as discussed earlier. In a nutshell, they can be
developed to perform a number of educational functions, some
of which are mentioned below:
Engage the students motivation: The student should
involve himself in learning. He may be motivated by:
identifying objectives, understanding why he should learn,
creating interest in the subject by way of introduction, etc.
Recall earlier learning: Student may read a review
before he begins new learning. Sometimes further learning is
impossible without mastery of some pre-requisites. It may be
necessary to test him and give remedial education or any prerequisites in which he lacks.
Provide new learning material: Many sub-functions
can be identified under this heading. For instance, the audiovisual material should present a meaningful message, explain
things from his point of view, give illuminating examples (and
non-examples), emphasize the vital issues, control interference
between competing ideas, draw the distance learners attention
to important discriminations and generalizations, show the
distant learner what to look for without telling him what to see,
provide a varied repetition of the main ideas, encourage transfer
of learning to new situations, adjust the intensity of learning so
that the individual student is neither bored nor overwhelmed,
but is always challenged, persuade the distant learner towards
aspiring to mastery and so on.
Activate the distant learners response: If the
learning is to mean anything to the distant learner, and if he is to
make it his own, he must be led to respond to it, to be an active
producer and user rather than a passive recipient of knowledge;
so the audio-visual material must provide him the appropriate
activity.
Provide feedback: Feedback can be provided very
speedily and flexibly by human interactions. This means that the
audio-visual material may specify the role of tutor after its
presentation. But the audio-visual material may itself propose a
few queries in its presentation; make the student think of the
202
_______________________________________________________________________________
195 206
_______________________________________________________________________________
answers and then receive the correct answers to check his ideas
mentally. The audio-visual material may be interlinked with a
workbook on which the distant learner is made to respond to
various queries while he/she is seeing the presentation.
Encourage appropriate practice: The audio-visual
material may enable a distant learner to make his response not
just once but many times. In learning pronunciations, spellings,
rules of grammar and technical vocabulary, practice is
necessary. But constant repetition and drilling, suitable in a few
instances, is of no help in the development of concepts and
principles of problem solving. The student must be led to
discover for himself the concepts, principles and strategies. And
after he has grasped them, practice may help him use them more
confidently and transfer them to a variety of new situations.
Moreover, there is no reason why the distant learner should
practice all at once. Spaced our practice is likely to be helpful
for which, series of audio-visual material may be developed and
used.
Audio Visual Aids
A few audio-visual aids are described below:
Blackboard: The blackboard is a vehicle for visual
material. It is used in different educational situations. The main
purpose is to display symbols, visual and verbal, usually for a
short period of time. It provides an opportunity as no other aid
can, for creativity and initiative. The blackboard may also be
used for display of other material. They are the mainstay in a
study center. Every tutor requires them. A tutor should know
techniques of using the blackboard effectively.
Charts: Charts are combination of such pictorial,
graphic, numerical or verbal materials, which, together, are
most likely to present clear visual summaries of important
processes or relationships. Therefore, they can be helpful in the
tutorial situation in providing indirect purposeful experiences,
which can be supplemented, by providing on the spot study and
explanation for gainful learning, wherever possible. The term
chart can be applied to several different types, and any
classification system for charts must be arbitrary. They may be
classified according to use, function or similarity of
construction. Specific charts can be designed for special
purposes such as Show relationships by means of pictures, symbols, facts,
figures or statistics.
Present materials symbolically;
Summarize information;
Show continuity in process;
Present abstract ideas in visual form;
Show the development of structures;
Create problems and stimulate thinking;
Encourage use of other instructional materials;
Motivate students desire to continue related research; and
Attract and concentrate attention.
Overhead transparencies: These have considerable
advantage as they can be used in full light. It can be used for all
those purposes for which the blackboard is used. However, they
have certain distinct uses as follows:
Diagrams and drawings can be prepared before hand and shown
when the need arises. Moreover, it is possible to draw a part of
the diagram and complete the rest of it, while one is explaining.
Since a drawing in a transparency can be superimposed on
another drawing or on another transparency, it is possible to
_______________________________________________________________________________
195 206
_______________________________________________________________________________
pictures simultaneously onto a magnetic tape. In its end product,
it is like film because it captures the visual image. In its
operation, it is like an audio tape-recorder with the exception
that it can record and play back both sound and pictures at the
same time and instantly. It is extremely simple to operate a
VTR/VCR; play back, record and duplicate video programmes.
The video today is compact, reliable, flexible, portable and
economical. Like the transistor revolution of the sixties, the
world is currently witnessing what may be called a videoboom.
Obviously, the video has several advantages:
Unlike film which has to be processed in a lab before it can
be screened, video programmes can be played back
simultaneously as they are being shot. That means we can
record as well as playback, relay and broadcast video
programmes instantly.
Video programmes can be used, stored and used again and
again for broadcast as well as for non-broadcast (playback
on video) purposes.
Video programmes can be easily duplicated, dubbed and
circulated/mailed to interested parties and a variety of
television outlets. Because of its improved quality and ease
of operation, video has almost replaced film for duplication
and dissemination of programme.
Video programmes can be easily erased to record new
programmes on the same tape several times.
It is also easy to make off-transmission recordings of
desired TV programmes which can be used for playback
any other time or day to suit the teaching/training schedule.
All the 229 study centers of IGNOU have been provided
with VCRs. They have also been supplied with copies of all
the video tapes developed by IGNOU.
Computers: The computer is the most versatile
equipment to generate, store, analyze and retrieve information.
In instruction, it is widely used in computer-assisted instruction5
(CAI). The basic principles and some possibilities of CAI are
discussed below:
In its simplest form, the computer can present
information to a learner and can put a question to the learner to
identify his understanding. The learner types out the response
on the terminal. The computer analyses the answer and provides
the feedback to the learner along with a corrective message, if
required. The computer can perform this work when it is
specially programmed to do so. The CAI programmes are to be
written by specialists and stored in the computer. The
instruction continues if the response was right. The learner can
indicate to the computer the unit he wants to study or his desire
to quit. The interaction between the computer and the learner
can be made more sophisticated. The learner could pose
questions to the computer or ask for information, say, regarding
some process or definition.
The computer can also be used to generate practice
problems to learners in which the computer generates problems
and poses it to the learner. The learner is allowed to solve the
problem and the computer provides all the information desired
by the learner for their solution. If the learner is not able to
solve the problems correctly, it provides hints and helps him to
solve them. Thus, the computer continues to generate problems
and provide exercises to the learner till the learner has mastered
the problems. Simulations and gaining on computer are very
204
IJRITCC | APR 2013, Available @ http://www.ijritcc.org
_______________________________________________________________________________
195 206
_______________________________________________________________________________
Telephone teaching: Telephones offer two-way
interactive communication across distance, i.e., people can talk
to each other discuss and ask questions.
One-to-one
telephone tutoring is sometimes resorted to. But this may be a
luxury, or a supplementary exercise. For this, tutors and
students will have to be present at home or at a study center
during fixed hours. The scope for one-to-one telephone tutoring
differs from country to country.
Other techniques useful for small group teaching and learning
are:
Loud speaking telephone and tele-conferencing,
Audio teleconferencing,
Video Conferencing,
Six-center teleconference network,
Broadcast (radio) with multi-channel telephone hook-up
with listening groups/learning centers within a limited
radius/distance.
Cyclops: This is a useful and interesting medium for
small groups of students. It is based on the conventional TV set,
standard audio-cassettes, micro-computer technology and
telephones. It was developed in 1976 by a research team in
Britain. A light pen should be used to draw or write on the TV
glass during Cyclops trials.
It has three provisions and as such it has been accepted
as a powerful technology in distance education. They are: (i)
writing and drawing facility, (ii) interactiveness of the system,
and (iii) ease of preparation of teaching material. Graphics can
be produced and stored in cassettes for replay. This finds
application in subjects like economics, geography and statistics
to provide graphical information, or in biology, technology, etc.,
to present complex diagrams. It can also be used as a selfinstructional system by synchronizing a voice-track with a
Cyclops graphics track on a stereo audio-tape. This tape could
be sent to students/groups to be used as per their convenience.
3.
_______________________________________________________________________________
195 206
_______________________________________________________________________________
which do not have properly equipped laboratories and qualified
teachers. The video can greatly enrich classroom instructions.
Gulati and Dutta (1985) list some of the important findings of
the responses of students to the video programme. Hundred
percent students in one group felt that they were competent to
conduct the tests on their own after seeing certain video
programmes. Sixty per cent students in another groups felt that
the test procedure as explained in the video programme was
better than the explanations given in the laboratory. Seventyfive per cent of students in group three felt that they would have
found conducting the tests more interesting had they seen the
programme earlier. Many felt that video programmes conveyed
much more in the same amount of time than what is conveyed
in the laboratory on account of the total preparation of content
matter necessary for production of video programme. New
developments in the electronic media such as video discs and
video texts are increasing the capacity of the television set.
Video disc is a system similar to the long playing record except
that it carries both audio and video through a conventional
television set. The video disc particularly the optical disc has
enormous storage capacity. Optical discs can store 1,00,000
tracks and 54,000 on each side. The entire Encyclopaedia
Britannica could be stored on a single disc with room to spare.
Video text allows home television sets to function like a
computer terminal and retrieve information and graphics from a
remote data base. A video text system would be very useful in
disseminating general information about courses and
programmes available through distance education.
In several countries telephones are used, particularly in
distance education to provide interaction between the tutors and
students. These, however, can be used only in countries where
they work very well.
There are countries, which are using audio and video
conferencing, for instance, in Canada tele-conferencing, is being
used in several educational programmes, including professional
development courses in medicine, law, teacher education, health
science, business and management.
4.
5.
Conclusion
In this chapter it is attempted to analyse different mass
media and their role in higher education. The revolution in
information technology has equipped the media with
tremendous power. In the present digital age, multimedia access
which is a powerful mechanism to accelerate the development
in higher education through distance learning. We have the
media like Internet, which is equivalent of a telephone, fax and
radio, TV all rolled into one service. It has been observed that if
mass media could be appropriately used to the suiting and to the
learning needs created by the forces of change like population
explosion, knowledge explosion, electronic distance education
and technological explosion. The media may be utilised in a
package by ensuring the maximum effectiveness. Technology
and economic constraints are important points for consideration
in developing countries like India. But the social hurricane
forcing changes in higher education is unavoidable. The entire
system of higher education has no option but to make adequate
planning, imaginative production and appropriate utilization of
the mass media to get rich dividends and make higher education
cost effective, democrative, relevant and meaningful. It has been
tried to find out, how different mass media are in the process of
changing the society and they are capable to get our higher
education into cyber space.
References:
1. Rastogi Satish: Educational Technology for Distance
Education, Rawat Publication N Delhi, 1998, P
18,20,21,30-39,86-89.
2. Mukhopadhyay M: Educational Technology challenging
issues, Sterling Publisher N Delhi, 1990, P 69-72, 88,89,9092,95,96,98,99,212-215.
3. Hakemulder J R, Fay, F A D Jonge & P P Singh: Mass
Media, Anmol Publication, 1998, P 2,7,8,17-19,4345,149,189,190,191.
4. Mohanty Jaggan Nath: Educational Technology, Deep and
Deep Publication, N Delhi, 1992, P 36,38,39,123,124,129131,160-162,167.
5. N Balasubramanian and Kadhiravan S: Trands in the
Development of Computer Mediated Instruction, staff and
Educational Development Internation, Vol-3, N0-2, Sept
1999, P-187.
206
IJRITCC | APR 2013, Available @ http://www.ijritcc.org
_______________________________________________________________________________