Digital Media Practice and Medium Theory Informing Learning on Mobile Touch Screen Devices
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Touching knowledge: Digital media practice and medium theory informing learning on mobile touch screen devices Victor Alexander Renolds Bachelor of Communications (Interactive Multimedia) College of Arts & Education Victoria University. Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Arts 13 November 2017 Abstract The years since 2007 have seen the worldwide uptake of a new type of mobile computing device with a touch screen interface. While this context presents accessible and low cost opportunities to extend the reach of higher education, there is little understanding of how learning occurs when people interact with these devices in their everyday lives. Medium theory concerns the study of one type of media and its unique effects on people and culture (Meyrowitz, 2001, p. 10). My original contribution to knowledge is to use medium theory to examine the effects of the mobile touch screen device (MTSD) on the learning experiences and practices of adults. My research question is: What are the qualities of the MTSD medium that facilitate learning by practice? The aim of this thesis is to produce new knowledge towards enhancing higher education learning design involving MTSDs. The project involved a class of post-graduates studying communications theory who were asked to complete a written major assessment using their own MTSDs. Their assignment submissions form the qualitative data that was collected and analysed, supplemented with field notes capturing my own post-graduate learning experiences whilst using an MTSD. I predominantly focus on the ideas of Marshall McLuhan within the setting of medium theory as my theoretical framework. The methods I use are derived from McLuhan's Laws of the Media (1975), its phenomenological underpinnings and relevance to the concept of ‘flow' (Csikszentmihalyi, 2014b, p. 24). The key finding of the study is that the experience of being in control is a central issue for students when they use the MTSD to learn. In pursuing this issue I discover the relevance of paradox to my investigation, which develops as the centrepiece theme and method that I deploy for my further analysis of the MTSD. Master by Research Declaration I, Victor Alexander Renolds, declare that the Master by Research thesis entitled \Touching knowledge: Digital media practice and medium theory informing learning on mobile touch screen devices" is no more than 60,000 words in length including quotes and exclusive of tables, figures, appendices, bibliography, references and footnotes. This thesis contains no material that has been submitted previously, in whole or in part, for the award of any other academic degree or diploma. Except where otherwise indicated, this thesis is my own work. Signature Date: 13 November 2017 3 Acknowledgements I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisors, Associate Professor Tom Clark (Prin- cipal) and Dr Stefan Schutt (Associate), for their expert and lasting support. Tom, thank you for your clear guidance, insight and unwavering encouragement. Stefan, thank you for the deliberations, practical advice and generosity with your time. I also thank Dr Mark Cot´e (Associate) at Kings College London for his guidance and support as my supervisor during the design phase of the project. I would also like to thank the following people with whom this research project has been made possible: Professor Arshad Omari (Edith Cowan University) and David McLean (RMIT University) for their support as my referees My colleagues and friends at La Trobe University, especially Associate Professor Matthew Riddle, Dr John Bevacqua, Bowen Yang, Mike Harbour, Ann Moss, Debbi Weaver, Lyndon Walker, Logan Balavijendran, Daniela Signor, Lisanne De Jong, David Scrim- geour, Matthew Carter, Donna Bisset, Dan Laurence, Mungo Jones, Simon Knight, Terry Young, Kenneth Neven, Brian Dunell, Kate Mitchell, Tom Cotton Mark Jenkinson, Erik Adams Eugenie Tuck, Robert Millard and Claire Thomas My siblings, Anna, Dot, Roger and Rex My partner, Dr Olivia Millard, our daughter Morgan and my son Noah I dedicate this thesis to Bernard Verwer, Mary Renolds, Geoff Cooper, Terry Barker and Ken. 4 Contents 1. Introduction9 Background and context of the study....................... 9 The problem.................................... 11 Aim, significance and scope of the study..................... 12 Operational definitions.............................. 12 Summary and thesis outline............................ 16 2. Medium and flow 21 Medium theory.................................. 21 The Toronto School................................ 24 McLuhan and the digital age........................... 31 The digital media practitioner........................... 33 Design, human computer interaction and the MTSD.............. 33 Calm technology.............................. 37 Flow theory and phenomenology......................... 38 Summary and conclusions............................. 42 3. Learning medium as context 44 Touching the (MTSD) medium.......................... 44 Touch as communication and the tablet in the classroom............ 45 The tetrad..................................... 46 McLuhan's Laws of the Media.......................... 47 The MTSD and the tetrad........................ 48 Enhancement............................... 49 Obsolescence............................... 51 Retrieval.................................. 53 5 Reversal.................................. 54 Conclusions about the learning medium as context............... 55 5. Analysis: The flow and simultaneousness of practice 57 Introduction.................................... 57 First impressions.................................. 58 Reflect on the initial findings........................... 60 The Epoche: Personal learning interaction experiences with the MTSD.... 61 The distraction can be work....................... 62 Note taking exercises July 2015...................... 63 Time and space.............................. 65 Existing at once in the past, present and future............. 66 Significant statements............................... 67 Themes that have emerged from the data.................... 70 Textural description of what happened...................... 72 Hegemony and flow qualities of the MTSD............... 72 Flow control and interruption....................... 73 Learning and teaching implications.................... 75 Paradoxical effects of the MTSD and mobile technologies........ 76 Structural description............................... 78 Impact of the initial findings....................... 79 Conclusions.................................... 79 6. Conclusions: The MTSD and flow as medium 82 Introduction.................................... 82 Essence of the phenomena: Using the MTSD for learning practice....... 83 The conclusions.................................. 83 Hegemony................................. 84 Paradox.................................. 85 Flows................................... 86 Simultaneous model............................ 86 The paradox of flows........................... 88 Implications in society............................... 88 The role of the artist........................... 89 6 Recommendations................................. 90 Between design.............................. 91 Wider pedagogical implications...................... 93 Medium theory.............................. 94 Contribution to knowledge............................ 95 Theory of oscillating logic......................... 95 Between design.............................. 95 Epilogue...................................... 96 Bibliography 97 Appendices 103 Appendix A: Mobile phone-Tablet Assignment (20%).............. 103 Appendix B: Information For participants..................... 105 Appendix C: Consent form for participants involved in research......... 107 Appendix D: Researcher notes.......................... 109 Appendix E: Flows in which learning occurs................... 129 7 List of Tables 3.1 Four laws of the tetrad.............................. 47 5.2 Significant statements by students........................ 70 5.3 Themes...................................... 72 List of Figures 1.1 How I experience using a medium: artist and medium are interdependent, as are learning and practice (\X" denotes experience)................ 16 5.2 Student description of mindmap......................... 74 5.3 Student mindmap of two learning processes using a tablet........... 74 6.4 Flows: Information, thoughts | stream of consciousness | flow state, and mediums...................................... 87 8 1. Introduction Background and context of the study It is January 2017, and I am working at the department of Learning and Teaching at La Trobe University. My experience working in this role titled Mobile Learning Designer seems all at once a world away and yet deeply connected to that of my Radio Technician apprenticeship in 1979, which I left to pursue a career as a professional musician and artist, well before the advent of digital communications and mobile devices. My education as a young musician was to learn through experience, by practice and knowledge shared or handed down from respected elders. I learnt by doing and participating in what was going on, and it all revolved around the medium of the electric guitar. In 2004, it seemed to me that what was going on was the rise of the digital revolution: I was teaching at the School of Multimedia and Communications, Edith Cowan University having just completed my Communications degree there as a \mature-age student"1 while