Foundation

Instructional Design and Technology Definition

Education technology is the study and ethical practice of facilitating learning and improving performance by creating, using, and managing appropriate technological processes and resources. (AECT, 2008)

Instructional design and technology encompasses the analysis of learning and performance problems, and the design, development, implementation, evaluation and management of instructional and non-instructional processes and resources intended to improve learning and performance in a variety of settings, particularly educational institutions, and the workplace. (Trends and Issues in Instructional Design and Technology, 4th Edition)

History of Instructional Design and Technology

1920s: Instructional technology was considered as Instructional media---films, pictures and lantern slides. The increased use of Instructional media was known as the visual instruction movement.

1930s: The developments of new media like sound recordings and radio broadcasting shifted the focus from visual instruction to audiovisual instruction.

1940s: Because of World War II, audiovisual devices were used in the military and in the industry instead of school.

1950s: Instructional technology was discussed as a process instead of just media. Television was used as a medium of instruction

1960s: "Instructional design, systematic instruction, and instructional system" were used to depict the models for Instructional Technology (Reiser, 2012, p. 25).

1970s: Some new models of instructional design were created. Instructional design rapidly developed in different fields, including military, education, business, and industry.

1980s: Computers were used in instructional field. Researchers paid attention to the impact of cognitive psychology on instructional design.

1990s: Instructional designers used computer to improve their performance rather than just as an instructional tool.

21st Century: Some new models of instructional design were created. Instructional design rapidly developed in different fields, including military, education, business, and industry.

Key Scholars in the field of Instructional Design & Technology

B. F. Skinner

(March 20, 1904 – August 18, 1990)

was an American psychologist known for his impact on behaviorism. Skinner's most notable discoveries or contributions to the field of psychology include: The operant conditioning process, The notion of schedules of reinforcement, Introduction of response rates as a dependent variable in research & The creation of the cumulative recorder to track response rates. According to B. F. Skinner's theory of learning, our behaviors are developed or conditioned through reinforcements.

Robert Gagne

(August 21, 1916 – April 28, 2002)

was an American educational psychologist best known for his Conditions of Learning. His work had a profound influence on American education and industrial training. Gagné was among the early developers of the concept of instructional systems design which suggests that all components of a lesson or a period of instruction can be analyzed and that all components can be designed to operate together as an integrated plan for instruction.

Jean Piaget

(9 August 1896 – 16 September 1980)

was a Swiss psychologist known for his work on child development. Piaget's theory had a tremendous influence on the emergence of developmental psychology as a distinctive subfield within psychology and contributed greatly to the field of education. He is also credited as a pioneer of the constructivist theory, which suggests that people actively construct their knowledge of the world based on the interaction between their ideas and experiences. He argued for a “genetic epistemology,” a timetable established by nature for the development of a child’s ability to think, and he traced four stages in that development.

Instructional Desgin & Technology Trends

ChatGPT

ChatGPT is a natural language processing tool driven by AI technology that allows you to have human-like conversations and much more with the chatbot. The language model can answer questions and assist you with tasks, such as composing emails, essays, and code. (Ortiz, 2023)

Virtual Reality

Virtual reality is a simulated 3D environment that enables users to explore and interact with a virtual surrounding in a way that approximates reality, as it is perceived through the users' senses. The environment is created with computer hardware and software, although users might also need to wear devices such as helmets or goggles to interact with the environment. The more deeply users can immerse themselves in a VR environment -- and block out their physical surroundings -- the more they are able to suspend their belief and accept it as real, even if it is fantastical in nature

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence (AI) is the intelligence of machines or software, as opposed to the intelligence of humans or animals. It is a field of study in computer science which develops and studies intelligent machines. Such machines may be called AIs.

Retrieved from: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Behaviourism-Cognitivism-and-Constructivism-as-Learning-Theories_fig1_325368819

Educational Philosophy and Technology Vision

Antoine de Saint-Exupery in his novel Little Prince says that “if you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea”. Every child was born to have their curiosity and has nature to learn new things. As an educator, I keep asking myself what the best education is. Because individuals have their own instinctive character, age, experience, family, and background, there must not be having only one effective approach to instruct them. For me, I will integrate three major learning theories into my instruction in accordance with the different groups of learners and their expectations. The purpose is to protect their aspiration to knowledge and encourage their desire to explore.

Based on my career understanding, the definition of education technology is to efficiently design and utilize the technological educational processes and resources to make the learners be initiated, interested, and motivated to learn a foreign language during in personal classroom and online instruction. Technology plays a crucially important role in education.

Reflection

I grew up in a Chinese traditional education method. That is, the students were asked to listen, note-take, and read the textbooks in class. The teacher acts a lecturer who keeps explaining and guiding the students. Activities such as problem solving, critical thinking, collecting evidence and doing experiments in lab are rare, and the K-12 schools has little emphasis on study skills. I completed my K-12 and college education. When I studied at ETEC5000 – Foundation in Instructional Design and Technology, I began to realize there are many different learning theories. Learning can be fun when the technology is employed. For example, when one Q&A game was added in weekly 8 module of this course, the class mood was exciting, and everyone was encouraged to be involved. Passive learning was too much in my past education history, so I was passionate in cognitivism and constructivism as a learner. However, I would not only limit my teaching pedagogy in these two theories from a teacher’s point of view because every learner is an individual to have their feature. This “ambition” urges me to learn, catch and grasp more technologies in IDT course.

Click here to see My Educational Philosophy and Technology Vision

Teaching Philosophy and Technology Vision

Reference

AECT Definition and Terminology Committee. (2008). In A. Januszewski & M. Molenda (Eds.), Educational tech- nology: A Definition with Commentary. New York: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Reiser, R. A.,& Dempsey J. V. (2018). Psychological foundations of instuctional design. Trends and Issues in Instuctional Design and Technology (4th Edition). Pearson.

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse