Marshall McLuhan as Educationist: Institutional Learning in the Postliterate Era

Abstract

Acknowledged as the father of media studies and prophet of the information age, Marshall McLuhan is scarcely recognized at all as an educational theorist. But that is changing. Harshly critical of the educational practices of his time, McLuhan offered a vision of learning that replaced lectures with active student participation, interaction, and active involvement, engaging learners in discovery learning, rather than prepackaged teacher and textbook-delivered content to be regurgitated on tests. His vision of "classrooms without walls" included a transition from hardware to software, redefinition of teacher roles, elimination of subjects, reform of assessment, and the use of instructional media, not just books. The curriculum would focus on media literacy and include the training of perception through figure/ground analysis and the inclusion of arts education. Noting the trend toward "learning a living," the constant upgrading of knowledge and skills by professional workers, he anticipated today's emphasis on lifelong learning and workplace training. McLuhan's ideas on education align with the philosophy and theory of constructivism espoused by educational reformers today and anticipate reform initiatives in pedagogy, curriculum, assessment, and the media literacy movement.Not all of McLu is nu or tru, but then again neither is all of anybody else. —John M. Culkin, S.J. (1967, p. 51)