While reading over the important terms page in week 5 of the course, I found myself agreeing and disagreeing with bits and pieces of every definition/metaphor. It was difficult to settle for one specific definition, so I didn’t.  I think that if I was faced with this task many many years ago, I might have just chosen one definition.  But with the cultural change that technology brings with it, I feel that I can mash up a definition by taking the applicable pieces and adding my own:

Technology is our tools, our methods, and our creative attempts to solve problems in our environment (Roblyer, 2012). Applying this to education, we combine the processes and tools to address educational needs and problems (education being the environment) (Muffoletto, 1994). Then educational technology can support meaning making by students when students learn with rather than from technology by utilizing tools and their applications, and often emphasizing the use of the most current tools (Jonassen, 2000).

I remixed this definition, so it covers some of my pieces that fit under the umbrella of technology. The first part connects with life in general and how we do things, such as using a pencil to write on paper. The second part takes our culture and lives into the classroom, this is the lens most of us view from, where we are using the pencil and paper to learn in class. The third part breaks it down to what it looks like in the classroom with newer technologies and applications, such as using word processing or calculators to help give opportunities to amplify the learning with cognitive affordances.

References

Jonassen, D. H. (2014). Mindtools (Productivity and Learning). Encyclopedia of Science Education, 1-7. doi:10.1007/978-94-007-6165-0_57-1

Muffoletto, R.  (1994). Technology and restructuring education:  Constructing a context. Educational Technology, 34(2), 24-28.