Edgar Dale's Cone of Experience

Based on the provided Cisco article, Edgar Dale's Cone of Experience was created in 1954 to explain the relationships of audio-visual materials in the learning process. While the Cisco article could be as bogus as the mythical research erroneously attributed to Dale, the original cone is a logical presentation of various methods of student learning in Dale's day, though it is considerably dated for today. I cannot comment intelligently on whether it is factual, as I have no access to any research that Dale used to put the cone together. I suspect that it was factual according to Dale's experiences, which is not to say that it was factual to everyone at the time. I also suspect that Dale's cone was used to advocate the company or process that Dale worked for.

I further suspect that Dale's presentation was seen often and was somewhat exciting. For Dale's cone to be so misused and misquoted in so many subsequent articles is a sign that many thought the information was interesting and useful, and they took creative license to improve upon Dale's information by imbellishing it with facts and figures that did not exist. Once the ball was rolling, the percentages became an urban myth that perpetuated itself. No one took the time or effort to trace it back to the source, and considering the lack of the Internet where someone can now simply Google the issue, it would have been very difficult to stop in its tracks in its day.

To be used in any meaningful way today, it would need considerable revision, minimizing as a learning experience radio (mostly music and talk shows today); motion pictures (mostly very unrealistic violence and sex); educational television (??? today, the most wasted media in existence); study trips (only the very best private schools can afford these now on a regular basis); and demonstrations (sadly lacking in today's education system-I can remember some really exciting demonstrations in my education!). Replacing them would be regular television (not for the best!), (movies loaded with special effects, death, disrobing, and destruction-not an improvement either!), computers, and the Internet (which is also loaded with a lot of crap-be careful what you read or believe!).

Any other citation of the cone as research is, unfortunately, completely compromised and worthless. Besides, everyone learns differently, no matter how much we would like to homogenize education. To be a good teacher, you have to use every method available to you to get to all the students in your care. Anything less makes you a lecturer, and unless you are lecturing on a very good subject, you risk losing most of your students.