ODU ENGL 810 PAB 1 TOPIC: New Media and Rhetoric by Discussing Media and Pedagogy

McEwen, R.., Zbitnew, A. & Chastwick, J. (2016) Through the Lens of a Tetrad: Visual Storytelling on Tablets. Educational Technology & Society, 19 (1), 100-112.

Keywords: new media, tetrad, visual story, enhanced learning, of Visual Learning Environments, VLE,  Virtual Social Space, VSS

College departments of literature, rhetoric/composition, science and technology studies (STS), and communications (both professional and visual arts) each stake a claim on what the authors call “The study of digital and interactive information and communication technologies – so called “new media” (McEwen). Focusing largely on creating visual art on a tablet, McEwen and Chastwick examine the usefulness of tablet-based and visual storytelling for teaching of adults with “intellectual disabilities” (McEwen). They base a relationship between art and media on McLuhan’s statement that “art provides the training and perception, the tuning or updating of the senses during the technological advance.” The relationship is based on McLuhan’s tetrad.

Eric McLuhan’s Laws of Media (Library and Archives Canada) defines a tetrad as the simultaneous outcome of an artefact of any medium, based on these answers to these questions: “What does it enhance, what does it make obsolete, what does it retrieve that had [it makes] obsolete, and what does it become when pushed to extremes (Library and Archives Canada). For a more visual understanding of McLuhan’s tetrad, see Owen Kelly’s Venn-diagram-like view of a tetrad, or four laws of media, right (Kelly).

McLuhan's Tetrad, Illustrated

McEwen and Chastwick’s (M&E’s) paper is based on events stemming from a college extra-curricular art initiative. This further highlights importance of a tablet-based cross-curriculum effort “to foster social interaction and communication. McLuhan’s views on “touch media--…paper and marker and tablets…” brought M&E to consider two key questions (abbreviated here): (1) Do tablets change the art-making process, and (2) Does using a tablet for self-expression alter communication and/or social interaction?

The M&E study focused on using tablet technology as a valid pedagogical and learning effort for mentally challenged adults. Jane Moore and Chris Atkin studied the effects of Visual Learning Environments (VLEs) and online learning for what is often called “mainstreamed” (not mentally challenged) undergraduate and graduate students at the U.K.’s Liverpool Hope University where students are linked through a newly developed a multimodal online communication Virtual Social Space (VSS) (Atkin).  They found that the:

“attempt to realise a more holistic view of online learning support using the latest tablet technology that brings together content and resources, programme support and focused discussion in one place; the flexibility of the user-interface allows for a wide range of functions to be available from one screen, easily navigable, strongly visual, and instantly accessible.”

            The findings show that tablets (new media) enhances and even encourages a growing body of rhetoric for students across the curriculum, regardless of their mental acuity. I recently acquired an iPad mini as part of a new cell phone plan. My experience, like those experienced by subjects the table-use studies referenced above, is that using a tablet is fun, whether creating art, conducting research, reading, or streaming entertainment. Eric McLuhan warns against “taking something simple and making it complicated” (McLuhan).

Bibliography

Atkin, Jane Moore and Chris. "An Application (app) for Learning - The Student Interface with Tablet Technology in Graduate Studies." International Conference on e-Learning: 328-XIV. . Kidmore End: Academic Conferences International Limited. , 2012. <http://proxy.lib.odu.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com.proxy.lib.odu.edu/docview/1326324735?accountid=12967 >.

Kelly, Owen. "McLuhan’s tetrads: what they are and how they work." Jun 2016. owenkelly.net. Web. 12 Sep 2016. <http://www.owenkelly.net/984/mcluhans-tetrads/>.

Library and Archives Canada. "ARCHIVED - Old Messengers, New Media: The Legacy of Innis and McLuhan." 06 March 2007. Library and Archives Canada. 12 Sep 2016. <http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/innis-mcluhan/030003-2030-e.html>.

McEwen, R., Zbitnew, A., & Chatsick, J. "Through the Lens of a Tetrad: Visual Storytelling on Tablets." Educational Technology & Society 19.1 (2016): 100-112.

McLuhan, Eric and Zhang, Peter. "The Interological Turn in Media Ecology." Canadian Journal of Communication 2016: 207-225. 12 Sep 2016.