The Dynamics of Convergence and Divergence in Educational Media ? Past, Present and Future

Abstract

The use and application of concepts such as 'convergence' and 'divergence' are general and vague and often demonstrate internal inconsistencies. Despite this fact, or rather because of it, this paper will take the convergence/divergence dichotomy as a starting point in order to present a model for the understanding of the dynamics in the relationship between convergence and divergence in educational media. This model of convergence and divergence will then aim to show how educational genres relate to and are constrained by technology, production and use in various social, cultural and historical settings. The model is simple and flexible and will be applied to demonstrate how genre convergence and divergence takes place in different educational contexts: past, present and future.