The Media Equation

I enjoyed reading the article on “The Media Equation”. It was interesting to read that psychological studies have shown that people treat computers, television and new media as real people and places. I also found it interesting that people are polite to computers; that they treat computers with female voices differently than male-voiced computers; and that motion on a screen affects physical responses in the same way that real-life motion does.

As for the relationship to my blog, I am focusing on using technology to increase student participation in the classroom (and in particular the use of clickers). According to this article, keeping the user engaged and interested is an important objective. As people respond socially to computers, this can be used in software development for improving engagement and motivation. This knowledge can help to better design and evaluate media technologies. It is important when designing software to make it polite, friendly, and arousing.

I see some of these aspects in the design of i-clickers. While pleasant voices and other techniques are not used to make the software more social, the designers are attempting to make the software easier to use and more fun. While instructors may use i-clickers (or similar systems) to assess student learning, to get instant feedback, and to engage students in large, impersonal lecture halls, students seem to like their use because they make the classroom fun. Students like the social aspect of almost playing a game similar to “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” or “Jeopardy” in class. Students seem to believe that it is more enjoyable punching a button on a clicker than just sitting in the traditional lecture. In designing the clickers, it is apparent that the designers attempted to make the clickers more enjoyable or game-like as well as easy to use. Students would not have fun using them if they were difficult to operate or required tedious training. Clickers are designed to engage student in learning the subject matter and make the classroom a more sociable setting. This is especially important as many students are shy or unwilling to participate in class discussion. If students do not enjoy using them, then instructors are probable not going to use them in class. In addition, designers make the software friendly in that students’ responses are brightly graphed to again appeal to the students. These are only a few of the ways that i-clickers are related to “The Media Equation”.

Reeves, B., & Clifford, N. (1996). "Ch 1, The Media Equation," pp. 3-18 in The Media Equation. Cambridge University Press.