LOCATE: Matching Media with Instruction

By Vicki Hancock

Limited by the modest collection of instructional hardware and software in your school or district? Overwhelmed by an abundance of media materials for a variety of content areas? Many educators lack the systematic approach for matching media materials with instructional outcomes. As a result, they feel much more comfortable perpetuating traditional instructional methods. It is much easier to rely on the tried-and-true lecture, slide show, or videotaped lesson than to start from scratch with a random selection of software and equipment.

With so many different yet appealing materials to choose from, a focused plan helps the educator freshen a lackluster lesson, update obsolete materials, or create a new approach to prescribed content. The LOCATE model for selecting and evaluating instructional media organizes the decision-making process in an integrated, easy-to-remember format. It is suitable for all levels of instruction and all types of materials, from textbook-based lessons to individualized multimedia production activities.

The model is particularly helpful in considering electronic media, such as interactive laserdisc lessons, educational software, and CD-Rom applications. 

• Learners. Begin by considering the intended audience for media materials. Take into account their ages, relevant background experiences, intellectual ability, related cultural or socioeconomic factors, and interest in a given topic. A group of nonreading, multicultural elementary schoolchildren with little experience in formal educational settings, for example, will have interests and needs different from those of children who read, who have similar economic and cultural back-grounds, and who are familiar with the demands of school. Think carefully about the experiences and needs learners bring to the instructional environment as you consider the remaining components in the model.

• Outcomes. Define and clarify the instructional outcomes for the activity, lesson, or unit. Do stated outcomes indicate a need for media materials? For what activities? In what quantities? Outcomes often suggest (indirectly) appropriate media, the sequence of learning activities, and the time required for achievement. One of your intended outcomes might require students to identify the equipment a professional photographer uses. This can be accomplished with a textbook exercise or a hands-on lab setup in the classroom. If, however, your outcome requires that students demonstrate understanding of various photographic effects like depth of field, contrast, and texture, students would require much more time and materials. Learning outcomes provide the framework from which to identify media needs.

• Comparison. Gather information on or samples of potentially useful materials. With the learners and outcomes constantly in mind, determine which media accommodate their needs most effectively. As you examine materials, think about the following attributes:
  • Authenticity: accuracy, objectivity, currency
  • Suitability: vocabulary used, concepts covered, individual or group application, audience appeal
  • Organization: development of concepts, scope, sequence, depth, pace
  • Technical quality: composition, visual effectiveness, literary effectiveness, ease of use, time required
  • Special features: cost, packaging, presence of or need for supplementary materials, durability

This primary comparison of available materials prevents arbitrary, impulsive decisions in media selection. Showing a colorful, highly stimulating videotape cannot be effective if the learners can make no connection between its content and the curricular activities that surround it. At the same time, requiring learners to use computer software whose vocabulary is to sophisticated for their reading abilities cancels its capacity to present effective content. Using equipment and materials just because they are available is no more effective than not having them available at all.

• Assembly. At this point, you have selected materials appropriate for your audience and intended outcomes. Now they must be assembled; that is, they are ordered, selected, created, or modified to meet instructional needs. Be sure you have all the appropriate hardware to support the software you have chosen. You can unintentionally create a completely different learning experience for students just because there is no interface cable to connect the computer to the laserdisc player!

  Consider the environment for your learning activities, accounting for necessary room size, placement of seats, lighting, ventilation, and outside noise reduction (interruptions). Perhaps you need to make plans for students to work in various locations in or out of the school building, or solicit the cooperation of other staff members or outside volunteers. The assembly component includes gathering the media materials you have selected and preparing them for use by your intended audience. 

• Trial. A most effective way to judge media materials is from actual use, as in a trial period before purchase. First, preview the materials to verify that they include the subject matter anticipated. By previewing materials, you may discover that your students need some form of preparation: background information on the topic, directive questions or guides for special focus, rationale for presentation. Next, use the materials with the intended learners. Observe and collect their reactions to the materials, such as students' behavior during the learning activity, oral expressions of enthusiasm, or responses to an itemized form. This leads to the evaluation component.
• Evaluation. Most instructional evaluations assess the learners' success with lesson content. For effective media selection, evaluation must also include an appraisal of the materials themselves and of the methods used to integrate them into learning activities. This process involves assessment of all the other LOCATE outcomes:
  • Are the selected media materials truly appropriate for the intended learner?
  • Will the materials facilitate achievement of defined outcomes?
  • Will the effectiveness of the materials outweigh the cost relative to comparable materials?
  • Is the requisite hardware or software readily available?
  • Has an appropriate environment for presentation been established?
  • Do the learners need additional preparation before using the materials?
  • Does the teacher or facilitator need additional work with the materials?
  • Has an appropriate presentation strategy been used?
  • Was the reaction method or instrument suitable for the materials?

The answer to any of these questions may indicate the need to return to one or more LOCATE components. This model affords continual opportunities for selecting, updating, evaluating, and designing effective instructional media collections.

-Vicki Hancock. (1992). "LOCATE: Matching Media with Instruction." ASCD Curriculum/Technology Quarterly 1,4: 1-2.