Research on Educational Media: Half a Century of Doing Things Right Rather Than the Right Thing

This paper critically examines research on the influence of educational media on learning. It argues that much of the supposed benefits of media such as greater concreteness, improved learning performance, more efficient learning and increased retention, among others, are not supported by the evidence thus far. Comparative research on different forms of media, and on media attributes have likewise proved inconclusive. The paper goes on to explore reasons for these findings and urges that future studies should focus on studies with media rather than on media.