Communication is valuable
The means of communication are mere vehicles that transport instructions. Their attributes are their capabilities, always present to be used to influence the students' learning.
The debate over the influence of this means of communication is valuable because it helps us to clarify who we are, what we're trying to do, what we know and how to invest our limited resources in research. It seems to be more productive to consider their effectiveness in an independent manner.
The vision of teaching and learning that is prevalent in people who produce teaching tools is sustained by the idea that the tools or the planning they've developed – if used in the way they conceived it – is the 'correct' one, that it will help the students acquire a specific learning.
This doesn't usually consider the student's intrinsic characteristics, and his learning biography, his expectations and capabilities, with which he'll interact with the teaching tool, producing processes with different meanings and qualities. In short, it doesn't take into account learning and all the elements that can facilitate or inhibit the learning process.
Planning educational innovation propositions supported by new technologies has to take into consideration how comfortable the user feels around the tool, what learning activities he's engaged in, what their educational value is, what role they play in the acquirement or creation of knowledge.
Knowledge forms a practical relationship between mind and world.