What is educational technology?
Educational Technology is a field of study and practice that pertains to understanding, managing, and applying technology tools in an educational setting. This includes selecting, creating, using, and evaluating hardware, software, web based applications and instructional programs or methods to improve learning outcomes, and to assist with learning in a way that would not have been possible without technology. It is a field of study that also draws from historical perspectives that are often underestimated.
The hardware, web, and software applications are a relatively new phenomenon, but the beginnings of methods that foreshadow educational technology go back to the classical school of Socrates and the Elder Sophists, evolve through the Middle Ages and reflect its new ideas and unique approaches to teaching, get a boost in 1800s with new schools and new ways of thinking (Saettler, 1990), skyrocket in the 1900s with the rise of electronics and film, and whirlwind through the 20th century when numerous new innovations turned a new page in education in general (Reiser, 2001). Technology does not only pertain to sophisticated computers and hardware (hard technology), it is really more of an approach, a process of solving different problems in the field (soft technology). It is important to understand that educational technology is concerned with all of the above, and the emphasis is on a systematic process rather than just on electronic tools.
All these developments starting with the Socratic Method and ending with the high tech gadgets that are developed and tested by the engineers at organizations such as NASA are an integral part of the system that has become known an educational technology. Without recognizing the early stepping stones we would miss an important theoretical foundation that helps us not only to understand our field of interest, but also to make connections, synthesize, and discover new ways of using the classical methods that truly laid the foundations to the field of educational technology as it is known today.
All of this should not diminish the importance of the hard technologies that are available for today’s learners. While historically, the approach to educational technology has been more of a mental representation of ideas and ways of thinking, with the beginning of the information age and computers, it has most definitely added a niche that pertains specifically to computer tools and software. These are the new tools that make learning possible in ways that was not possible before. Our students are taking advantages of the increased interactive capabilities of the newer media (Saettler, 1990) as they now have opportunities to learn through computer simulations, test their knowledge using diagnostic tools, and take learning outside the classroom in the form of virtual field trips or retreat to online learning altogether.
References:
Reiser, R. A. (2001). A history of instructional design and technology: Part I: A history of instructional media. Educational technology research and development, 49(1), 53-64.
Pershing, J. A., Molenda, M. H., Paulus, T., Lee, L. H. J., & Hixon, E. (2000). Letters home: The meaning of instructional technology. TechTrends, 44(1), 31-38.
Saettler, P. (2004). Early forerunners: Before 1900. In Saettler, P. (Ed.)The evolution of American educational technology. IAP, 23-51.