Reiser’s article, cemented for me a strong believe that I’ve held since some of my first days running a classroom. Adaptability to change is among your highest priorities as a professional. At different times and eras of instructional delivery in this country, “educational technology” has come to mean many different things. A critical idea to me (although cliché) is that the only constant in education should ideally be change. Reiser’s discussion, especially the last couple pages where he sorts through the “evolution” of the different definitions for educational technology, is highly relevant in my opinion. What is currently encompassed with the phrase “educational technology” will one day be out-dated and inappropriate.
Something else that resonated with me is the “secondary” role that instructional media should play to instructional design. At the end of the day, what research has proven to make the furthest strides in actual improvements in achievement, are sound design techniques. Utilizing the latest media “bells & whistles” as a supplement to proven design methods should be something any educator sees as vital to student engagement and achievement. But the emphasis that instructional media’s proper role is supplementary to design is an idea that I’ve found to be strongly backed up through practical experience in the classroom.
My definition of educational technology is the use of cutting edge instructional media and communication technologies, as an enhancement tool for an outcome-based design process.
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6 comments:
What if the design does not lead to the use of the "cutting edge" stuff?
I like the fact that you emphasize "enhance". I think that there will be some teachers who just let a computer or other technology just do the teaching for them. It is like a teacher tossing a textbook at a student and saying turn to page 15 answer the questions at the end of the reading and call it good. Do you think that there will be teachers that will abuse technology?
I agree that we as educators must adapt and change or our classroom becomes stagnant. This is a huge challenge for us. Especially as the learning curve for technology continues to get steeper. I also have the same concern Melissa has in her comment. I have seen a few teachers place students in front of computers and think their job is done.
Dr. Tutty ... my reponse would be that it wouldn't be considered "educational technology". It could still be a valid and effective lesson/methodology.
I would love to use new, practical technology in my class, but being a chem teacher (as are you), don't you feel like you'd be bored if you didn't take the opportunity to do demonstrations where you burn stuff, blow stuff up, etc.?
Luckily, I don't have to teach to the OGT at all because all my students have to pass it before they are placed in my class, so I have more free reign then the underclass science teachers to spend more time doing cool demos, labs, etc, even if they don't involve an explicit use of technology.
I agree completely that adaptability is extremely important in education.
In addition, I could not agree with you more that achievement should be the first priority for any teacher. However, does technology always have to take a secondary role? What if a teacher is able to use instructional media as a primary means of education in a middle or high school classroom in way that lead to better student learning? It would undoubtedly take a tremendous amount of work and effort to design and carry out, but it would be worth it in the end.
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