Categories: Theory & Rhetoric, Communication Design, Technology
Summary:
Hailey and Hailey were among the first to notice the contradiction of studies indicating that media "had no influence" on learning, and the anecdotal and experiential indicators from instructors that working with technology actually created many differences. They identified the problem being one stemming from genre, not from the media. By separating the definitions of media (the manner the content is delivered) and genre (the module that houses structured content, the authors furthered the discussion of some of the difficulties of online and distance learning.
This article demonstrated an small, but significant evolution of Genre theory in distance education, that would later continue to the most recent understandings available in Hailey's 2014 book ReaderCentric writing for digital media: Theory and practice. (See review here.)
