Moore and Keasley’s Two Media Selection Factors

Moore and Keasley (2005) suggest two factors to consider when selecting media for instructional activities, content delivery, student participation, or assessments: (a) social presence and (b) media richness. Social presence is the ability to project oneself physically and psychologically (Short. et.al, 1976), and media richness refers to the capability to convey a large spectrum of information. Instructional tasks that involve interpersonal tasks or are highly abstract most likely require a media that enables a high level of social presence and media richness (i.e. video conferencing). An instructional task that requires the exchange of information requires a low level of social presence and media richness (i.e. lecture note posted on a content management system).
iDevice icon Think About It Activity 5.3

A counseling faculty is planning to design an online counseling skills course. The faculty needs to choose technologies to disseminate course content, to demonstrate and to teach reflective listening skills and other counseling skills, and to encourage students to self-reflect on their skills and what they learn in the course. What technologies would you suggest that would support the interaction needed for this course? Would both a high level of social presence and media richness be needed for all planned activities?

©2010 By Michael and Amanda Szapkiw.