body as the first extension

"The medium is the message. This is merely to say that the personal and social consequences of any medium - that is, of any extension of ourselves - result from the new scale that is introduced into our affairs by each extension of ourselves, or by any new technology."

- Marshall McLuhan

Sometimes we forget that information is a physical phenomenon obeying physical laws. For instance, it is subject to degeneration over time and its transfer speed is limited by the speed of light. Think of the photons in fiber optic cables, vibrations in the air, bits on a hard disk, ink on a paper... These are all real things that your senses can interact with in complex ways.

HUMAN BODY IS A MEDIUM

Our body is also a physical extension. It is the first "technology" we have learned to utilize for transferring information. Yes, we use our vocal chords to transfer verbal information, but most of the information transfer occurs non-verbally via body language. We can convey danger, fear, love, sadness through our facial expressions alone.

So the human body is the most primitive medium, but even at that stage we see how medium can shape the message in complicated ways. For instance, encoding is not universal or one-to-one. (My angry face could be your very angry face. Expression of two different emotions could look similar.) This of course opens door to miscommunication. Moreover, you do not have complete control over your body. You make involuntary mimics which can sometimes conflict with your intentions. (Psychologist Paul Ekman has revealed that certain facial expressions can trigger the emotions they are associated with. In other words, your body can control you as well.)

MASTERING REQUIRING INTERNALIZATION

Saying that body is the first extension of ourselves may sound paradoxical, but it really is not. Your mind has a map of where your body parts are. The presence of this mapping becomes apparent when it goes haywire. For instance, most people feel the presence of their arm even after it is amputated. In a similar way, when you drive a car, the contours of the mind map of yourself enlarges. The end points of the car literally become end points you in your brain. In fact, mastering control over any tool requires internalization of the tool itself. It can be disastrous for a pro-tennis player to become conscious of the fact that the racket is a tool separate from his body.

LANGUAGE IS A MEDIUM

Language is a fairly recent phenomenon in our evolutionary history. Its birth introduced for the first time the possibility of message to transcend the medium. You can carve "Be happy!" on a stone or write it on a paper. It will mean the same thing, or does it? I think it is this confusion that has undermined the importance of medium in education technology design.

In education, the goal is to transfer knowledge which is often transcribed in words. The word "transcribed" here is very important because language itself is a medium. The tendency to confuse words with the actual thoughts themselves is a very deep one. (Look at history of philosophy, even very eminent minds got it wrong.) So when a teacher reads out loud a story in class, the message goes through three mediums before reaching the students. The author's message is encoded in words which are then encoded in print which are then encoded into vocalizations by the teacher.

A cold looking "Be Happy!" carved into a stone in Times New Roman will not create the same effect as a colorful "Be Happy!" hand drawn on a paper.

LESSONS FOR EDUCATION TECHNOLOGY

Students can not interact directly with the message. They always interact with the medium-message complex. For instance, all elements involved in the formatting of a page should be chosen to make reading easier. A video should not be out-of-sync with its narration etc.

Teachers also tend to forget that their body is a medium as well. A teacher should utilize his body in a way that makes students more comfortable and open. His body language should not be too domineering or too timid, his voice should not be too low or too loud etc. These are all important factors that he can learn to control.

The body of the teacher is the most fundamental educational technology at work in all classes around the world today. Especially young students have such an hard time cutting through all the messy socio-psychological aspects of human-to-human communication that they can not clearly see the message that is trying to be delivered. Part of the success of online learning is probably due to the fact that texting/chatting make it easier for students to focus on the message.