A CRITICAL-REVIEW OF LAURILLARDS CLASSIFICATION OF EDUCATIONAL MEDIA

In Rethinking University Teaching Diana Laurillard classifies educatio nal media, including the various uses of computers in education, into four categories: discursive, adaptive, interactive and reflective. Thi s review discusses the consistency and usefulness of the classificatio n. After summarising her development of a model of the teaching and le arning processes in Higher Education, the relationship of the classifi cation to the model is examined. First, the classification is mapped t o the twelve processes in the model. Then, the described uses of vario us media for supporting these processes are correlated with their plac e in the classification. In this test of consistency with the model th e classification is found to be only partly accurate. The shortcomings are discussed. Finally, other classifications are briefly considered and a framework for a pedagogically useful classification is described .