Defining Educational Technology
It is challenging to define educational technology with a view to the foundations and history of the field.
We were asked to focus on the following task: Firstly, define educational tecnology. Secondly, identify nature and characteristics of a good ET program based on your own field observations and readings. Thirdly, give some examples such as philosophical, psychological, social and cultural foundations of ET.
My reflection and response was: I have a system I use in my daily work that I tried to apply to the definition of educational technology. The more I worked with it, the more I see the links and the fit to what I have read in all the articles. It’s the PPFF model.
PEOPLE: -who create, use, manipulate, build knowledge, collaborate and manage the technology. PROGRAMS: – refers not primarily to the computer programs or programming, but the processes and purposes of learning, and practices originating from curriculum requirements.
FINANCES:- this relates to all elements of economies within education and technology, not just the total cost of ownership, but also the analysis of cost benefits, funding of technology initiatives and the cost attached to the human elements of time, management and energy.
FACILITIES: relates to all elements of hardware combinations, building requirements, locations for technology, and the organization of space with human interactions in mind.
When it comes to characteristics of ed. tech I think in terms of KISSSSS – keep it seamless, stimulating, supportive, supple and suitable.
I was interested to see the information about Plato and how education and technology are historically intertwined. The image of foundation that I have is the walls and buildings in parts of Peru where rocks are nested so closely that mortar was not used. These have stood the test of time (centuries). The image of ET doesn’t go deep enough or tight enough to fit that image. (many rocks, few fit together!)
Foundational elements of educational technology includes:
As a response to another person’s post, I had a blast from the past when viewing this video clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXR9Ft8rzhk
It is about the Skinner Box: the advent of new technology called the teaching machine. What scared me was the parallels that I saw in how some educators continue to use computers to provide similar drill and practice activities in their classrooms.