ETEC 511: ePortfolio

As the concept of educational technology grew out of “audio-visual communications”, it is interesting to note how “process” increased in importance over time. I feel “process” is still a part of educational technology that is often ignored. Often, educational technology departments become over burdened with the management of hardware, such as computer labs, Smartboards, clickers, etc. In order for these departments to stay relevant with the actual learning of students they should consider carefully what Scallan writes about educational theory. There are theories that focus on the systematic deign of learning and teaching materials and ones that “help to understand the culture and context of different learning situations and their impact on learning” (2002). I feel that educational technologists should use these latter theories to help guide their purpose within an institution to keep the focus on the learner experience.

Loh points out that any Google search of the term “elearning” will demonstrate the vagueness of the term. The term can be interpreted in many ways but increasingly, eLearning is a concept with traction in corporate training and has spawned an industry of eLearning authoring tools and software. When I hear the term I personally envision the template-structured, perhaps voiced, slides commonly produced by programs such as Adobe Captivate. Loh believes that the definitions within educational technology such as instructional design, online learning, computer enhanced, technology enhanced learning imply that learning is something separate from technology. I think this true because the definitions focus on the method content is delivered rather that learning experience. I personally hope that definitions and theory of ed tech move further towards the student experience as this idea may help instructional designers and technologists in creating quality educational experiences.

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Loh, C. S. (2007). A suitable textbook for the classroom. Review of the SAGE handbook of e-learning research. Educational Researcher, 36(9), 573-578. Library Portal Access

Scanlon, I. (2002). Educational technology: The influence of theory. Journal of Interactive Media in Education, 6, 1-19.