Communication and (Educational) Media: Dewey's "Media Theory" Reconstructed

• In Event: 30.080 - Roundtable Session 10
  In Roundtable Session: 30.080-1 - Deweyan Perspectives on Social Media, Communication, and Reconceptualizing Community

Abstract

In addition to being an educational reformer and philosopher nonpareil, John Dewey also theorized media and communication. For example, Marshall McLuhan once characterized Dewey as “surf-boarding along on the new electronic wave [that] …has now rolled right over this age.” Dewey himself repeatedly referenced “the radio, the railway, telephone, telegraph” as developments that rendered “social life …almost completely changed.” This paper undertakes a reconstruction of Dewey’s theory of communication and media, particularly as it relates to education, scholarship and democracy. It concludes that despite its moments of ambivalence, Dewey’s “theory” of media and communication in education remains both current and compelling.

Author

• Norm Friesen, Boise State University