| Edutainment instructs or socializes
its audience by embedding lessons in some familiar form of
entertainment.
Computer Based Training
Rich Media has been extremely successful in the production
of computer-based training [CBT] courses and reference material
such as encyclopaedia and almanacs.
Where a basic CBT only provided the user with a series of
presentations, text and illustrations, incorporating rich
media, meant that these could be presented in multiple formats,
incorporating a fun element into the education process. This
is known as Edutainment .
Edutainment
Edutainment instructs or socializes its audience by embedding
lessons in some familiar form of entertainment. An historic
form of this is fables; that seek to teach an important value
or principle in story-telling format. Historical novels could
be seen to be another.
By utilizing rich media, we now see these messages interwoven
into television programs, computer and video games, films,
music, websites and rich media software.
Edutainment seeks either to tutor or to change behaviour
by subetly infusing sociocultural attitudes. This is used
both in schools and for media aimed at the wider public Learning
becomes fun.
Social Edutainment
Edutainment is a popular device deployed to address health
and social issues as substance abuse, immunization, teenage
pregnancy, HIV / AIDS, and cancer. Through its fun personality
it is more adept at managing issues around ethics, diversity
and compliance.
Edutainment On Radio
Successful radio programs that have incorporated Entertainment-Education
principles include:
- "The Lawsons/Blue Hills" - a radio program
that was designed to help Australian farmers adjust to new
farming methods.
- "Tinka Tinka Sukh" - a Hindi-language radio
program that results in environmental and health improvements
in India.
- "Soul City" - An extremely successful, South
African radio serial drama that carried AIDs prevention
messages.
[Reference Souce – Wikipedia]
Edutainment On Television
From the success of early education shows such as Sesame
Street and Teletubbies, the older population has also been
targeted.
Programs that address health and medical issues in their
storylines. In 2006 this included popular shows such as:
- Numb3rs - organ donations.
- Greys Anatomy - organ transplantation and cancer.
- As the World Turns - breast cancer.
- The George Lopez Show - kidney transplant.
- Don Pedro's Diabetes - diabetes.
[Reference Souce – Wikipedia]
Success Of Edutainment
Edutainment is proving successful due to its combination
of communication theories, based on:
- Power of Persuasion - Psychological
characteristics such as the credibility, attractiveness,
effect the response of a person to messages.
- Reasoned Action - Social influences
effect behavior, including beliefs and perceived social
norms
- Social Learning - People learn by observing
others and the consequences of their behavior. They then
chose whether to emulate the behavior.
- Diffusion - Behavior spreads through
a community or group over a period of time just like viral
marketing content. Television may sow the seed, but social
networks reinforce it and cause it to grow.
- Relevance: people more readily adopt
a learned concept when they can see the usefulness of the
knowledge.
- Incremental - Learning is most effective
when people can learn at their own pace.
- Distributed Format – allows for
the different ways and rates which people learn; and allows
information to be presented in multiple formats to increase
the adoption rate of the target population.
Sitcoms
Situation comedy episodes [sitcoms] also act as a good edutainment
vehicle. One episode of the American sitcom Happy Days was
reported to have prompted a 600% increase in the U.S. demand
for library cards.
Radio also had its Sitcoms. A British radio soap opera The
Archers educated its audience on agricultural matters. A Tanzanian
radio soap opera Twende na Wakati ["Let's Go With the
Times"] was written primarily to promote family planning.
[Source Wikipedia]
Criticism Of Edutainment
Some academic bodies claim that edutainment emphasizes fun
and enjoyment at the expense of educational content. Their
concerns surround media format expectations and literacy.
Benchmark Expectations - Their concern
is that raising the entertainment factor of learning using
endutainment, leads to lack of appeal for static presentation
used in science centers and museums. Whilst I agree with the
premise of what they are stating; it behoves such institutions
to raise their game to todays media standard and incorporate
more rich media experiences within these domains. And many
are doing just that, and very successfully.
Literary - Multimedia literacy is being
recognised as replacing reading and writing literacy as technology
expands the way we communicate. Both new and old generations
need to cope with the multiple media in use. There are many
older generations still struggling with simple computing services,
ATM machines, interactive touch screens at information centers,
multi-media security etc.
My view is that it is the responsiblilty of each individual
to maintain their ability to effectively communicate with
society. In doing so, we take a giant step towards closing
the so called generation-gap. Too many adults believe that
literacy learning stops when they finish high school or college.
Fortunately there are just as many that are embracing the
new formats of technology to keep in contact with family members
around the globe. I for one, would be totally at a loss if
not for video IP telecommunications to communicate with my
children. The added visual presentation to the audio has the
abilty to bridge distance, where audio alone fails.
The Next New Media
The rich media of today, is one step closer to formats such
as virtual reality, computer programming and robotics. The
world of ‘The Jetsons’ and ‘Thunderbirds’
is not too distant.
With the integration of rich media into our learning formats,
our children today have a solid foundation upon which to adopt
more advanced levels of multimedia literacy.
Next: Rich
Media Presentations
Using Rich Media Index | Commerce
| Edutainment | Presentations
|
