Co-written by Priscilla, Adam, & Audrey
Although the Message is the Massage was written in 1967 its message about technology and communication theory are still applicable to the technologies of today. We can imagine the author is now turning in his grave. McLuhan’s theory is that the medium is just as, if not more, valuable than the content. Compared to the technologies McLuhan mentions, the internet is a vastly more powerful medium than anything that existed before because it connects us globally more than any other medium. “The new electronic interdependence creates the world in the image of a global village” (McLuhan & Fiore, p 67). McLuhan’s book as a medium itself, a combination of both written text and purposeful visual design, is not unlike the Web of today. Different forms of media — text, video, photography, and design communicating content in tandem. While some of the text in the book takes a paranoid tone, paired with the visual imagery gives it a sense of humor, and thereby changes the lens through which the message is communicated.
In the field of web design, clients try to use the internet to “do the work of the old” or to do the work of print. We’ve seen that with newspapers and their demise. The same happens as well in online education. It’s not enough to build a website. “If you build it, they will come” does not always apply. You can design the most beautiful website with the most amazing copy, but it won’t bring people there. The medium that carries your message is what matters and expands your reach. So, my first questions to a client are typically “who is your audience is and what are you asking them to do”? The internet can be your medium, but you have to consider how you will reach your audience, depending who and where they are. A website alone doesn’t carry the message, but say, in combination with social media, it may. Whatever you chose to bear the message affects the perception of that message. So when considering your audience (e.g. A Teenager’s View on Social Media), you have to consider your message and design with that in mind.
Unpredictability of Disruptive Innovation
In addition to a disruptive innovation being considered inferior from the outset, it brings with it a sense of uncertainty. Disruptive innovation often calls for a redesign of the existing system, the traditional, the way things have always been done. It could be considered disconcerting to attempt a new design when “we cannot know, ahead of time, the full, systematic effects of a design implementation,” (p. 12) making new innovation a partial liability along with a potential for change. Christensen argues that business models are meant “to solve one class of problem very well” (p.20), which makes their evolution at the onset of a disruptive innovation a difficult one. Disruptive technologies bring an uncertainty to higher education of how they will reshape education, the traditional function of institutions, the role of faculty, and learning outcomes. Accountability has become a growing trend in education, both K-12 and postsecondary. For change to take place, there is a need for predictable outcomes which designing with disruptive technology cannot account for, which likely makes educational leaders nervous.
The Wicked Problem of Higher Education
Nelson and Stolterman introduced the idea of tame and wicked problems where tame problems are easier defined concerns while wicked problems are complex problems without a clear solution. The issue of redesigning or reinventing (re-envisioning?) higher education is that it is a wicked problem as opposed to a tame one with easy answers and procedures. The wicked problem of higher education raises more questions such as What is the purpose of higher education? What can be considered a well-rounded education? What does it mean to be an educated person? What is learning? Unfortunately, in the attempt to simplify a larger problem, “energy and resources are misdirected, resulting in solutions that not only are ineffective, but also create more difficulty because the approach used is an intervention that is, by necessity, inappropriately conceptualized” (Nelson & Stolterman, 2012, p. 17). The lack of direction in higher education reform can be traced back to a focus on the wrong problem. However, focusing on the wicked problems is no easier as it cultivates more questions than it answers and more problems than it solves.
When a community of practice encounters a tame or technical problem, a solution can be created from the shared repertoire and mutual engagement of the community. For example a few people might meet to work on a solution and draw on existing jargon to help institutionalize the solution. But, when a community of practice encounters an adaptive or wicked problem there is high likelihood that the community will have to change in someway to meet the challenge. Members of the community will have to use imagination to conceptualize a solution, negotiate amongst themselves, and alter their participation (either by bringing in a non-participant, increasing or decreasing their participation, or becoming a non-participant) as they address the wicked or adaptive problem. These changes may only affect one community or it may impact the entire constellation of communities. Either way, a wicked problem will likely require the community to change in order to be able to survive.
New Paradigms of Learning
The world of education has a new set of rules. “Now all the world’s a sage,” (McLuhan & Fiore, 1967, p. 14), due to the rapid rate of information dissemination and access to information due to technology, the teacher is not the center of the classroom. This is a shift from the traditional form of the “sage on the stage,” the professor firmly fixed at the head of the classroom controlling all activity. Learning is no longer passed down from a knowledgeable central figure filling the minds of students. With the world as a sage, learning becomes communal and lends itself to the emergence of communities of practice as “our new environment compels commitment and participation” (McLuhan & Fiore, p 24). Within the changing classroom, a new call for instruction is in order as well. “Mere instruction will not suffice” (McLuhan & Fiore, 1967, p. 18) resulting in a shift from traditional lecture-based education and paving a way for learning as a process of discovery. Students can no longer be what McLuhan & Fiore refer to as the detached observer but unified and involved. According to Wenger, this is accomplished through shared practice. For it is “in the process of sustaining a practice, we become invested in what we do as well as in each other and our shared history” (p. 89).
All photos by Audrey Romano
Brandon says
The format of your post (very well done, by the way) really drives home the point. Even though the format of McLuhan’s book is physically possible (obviously), it is uncommon enough to be experimental. Yet, your post, which is similar in many respects, also fits in with a particular style of communication which normal for the internet. Even though the medium of print allows for such use of visual elements, it’s far easier to do with the internet, and so has become a more common form of communication.
Leah Bug says
Very creative way to integrate images with your text! I was also struck by McLuhan’s insights into media and its impact on society. I had to keep reminding myself this was written in 1967 and not 2015. It made me wonder what was going on in the world during this time which may have influenced his thoughts. US involvement in the Vietnam War was increasing, the Apollo program suffered a setback, but would eventually land on the moon two years later. The Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 brought a focus for commercial free educational programming and there was use of audiovisual equipment in schools. This audiovisual included filmstrip and slide projectors, 16 mm films, and television. Speaking of television, in 1947 only a few thousand people had tv’s in their homes, but by 1955, 1/2 of all Americans had them. It seems to me that tv was quite the disruptive technology of the time and his comment “The medium, or process, of our time—electric technology—is reshaping and restructuring patterns of social interdependence and every aspect of our personal life.” This is definitely a timeless statement as the dinner conversation tonight discussed how people are so engrossed in their smartphones that it is changing social interactions. I wonder if each generation will have it’s own significant disruptive technology and accompanying impacts on society…and communities of practice.
Katie Bateman says
Your statement “With the world as a sage, learning becomes communal and lends itself to the emergence of communities of practice as “our new environment compels commitment and participation”” really brings to mind the idea of how teachers play into all of this. Are we being designed out of the system? Can a student learn by exploring. The instructor in this article seems to think so. Is giving students free reign the same as lending ourselves to the community’s collective knowledge?
Isaac Jason Bretz says
Wicked problems are structural and can only be solved by addressing them through changes in ideology. Disruptive technology will not fix these problems, but can be a way to inculcate learners with new ways to belong, feel, and know. Collaboration is a major ideological change in the ways we teach.
Zach Lonsinger says
I second what Brandon and Leah said. The format of your post was wonderful. Very engaging, very visual, very Web 2.0! I want to focus on two comments from your post:
So I’m currently at the Pennsylvania Educational Technology Expo & Conference (PETE&C) in Hershey, PA. It’s really amazing. I’m surrounded by K-12 teachers and higher education professionals who all have “converted” – if you will call it that. Everyone here is on Team Tech. It’s really intriguing to talk about how school districts around the area are implementing a 1:1 with iPads or Chromebooks around the area. Some schools are implementing a BYOD at the high school level. And then there are those conversations with teachers who work for districts which have miles upon miles of legislative bullcrap hindering such innovations. Education is changing, whether or not higher ed likes it. Classrooms are being flipped. BYOD and 1:1 are flooding public K-12 schools. Will higher education heed the call?
pul121 says
You did a good job by combining all materials covered. I agree that the Internet or web design is just a tool to deliver information and medium used has an effective approach to reach people, however, content and relevance are the most important factors that can have an impact on people. I do think website can carry the message because it is create by people. But if the users can receive the message or get the perception that web designers intent to communicate depends on the design framework and tool used. Therefore, media always strongly influence and alter audiences’ perception of the world.
Dean says
Excellent write-up. Like Zach, I keyed-in to this statement – “Either way, a wicked problem will likely require the community to change in order to be able to survive.”
So many folks seem to be afraid of change, or afraid to change in themselves. So it seems that problems go unsolved for as long as people can hold on to them before they can’t be held onto anymore.
“A desire for change is often assumed to imply a need for comprehensive analysis, and rational decision making, leading to a clear choice for action. The reality is that analysis often leads to ever-greater numbers of choices, which then require more analysis. The consequence is that decisions cannot, and are not, made rationally – at least not in the rational tradition of scientific comprehensiveness. The real world is much too complex to be dealt with comprehensively” (Nelson and Stolterman, 21).
This paragraph points to why design is so important. Analysis isn’t enough, and can become too much in the fractured and the analog life.
“Design – as an alternative to this limit on rationality – uses a process of composing and connecting, which pulls a variety of elements into relationships with one another that are then formed into functional assemblies” Nelson and Stolterman, 21).
Designing our way through change seems like an intelligent approach.
Koun says
Every medium has strength and weakness, and it influences the way of communications. When thinking of schooling from instructors’ perspective, the pressure to incorporate more student participation not mere instruction, and choose and use different medium in class to bring students different experiences that medium offers is quite heavy, and their burden seems getting high. Actually, their job seems to designing learning for future designers/leaders, and which we as a researcher, or parent are not doing successfully. If the use of medium should be consulted, should there be consultants for instructors who help out the adoption and adaptation of medium in class?
Michael Sean Banales says
I don’t know if there’s much I can add, this is a very well done post. I do find myself fixated on the ideas of learning and where teachers will fit into the grand design. I do think traditional “sage on the stage” will disappear, but I feel that educators are vastly underutilized in the current system anyways, so I’m strangely comfortable with that. I feel that this will free them to be more effective educators, but I can’t quite place my finger on how that will shape up yet.