Introducing Educational Technology

Education Technology

Although it is very tempting to equate digital technology to shiny late 20th and early 2st century gadgets, it is useful to remind ourselves that many taken-for-granted items today were once revolutionary pieces of education technology. For example, pencil and ball points revolutionized how people engaged in writing; printed books transformed reading habits.

Broadening the definition is a great first start. But equating ‘education technology’ to mere products does not capture the breadth and richness. It’s equally important to capture the processes and strategies. Let me quote Huang et al.

“Educational technology refers to the use of tools, technologies, processes, procedures, resources, and strategies to improve learning experiences in a variety of settings, such as formal learning, informal learning, non-formal learning, lifelong learning, learning on demand, workplace learning, and just-in-time learning.” (Huang, et al., 2019 )

Once we expand our understanding of educational technology, we can appropriately appreciate the transformative potential and reach what educational technology can offer. For example, educational technologies have the potential to not merely supplement and augment instruction - this is the prevailing assumption - but also redefine educational practices by reconfiguring interactions with learning content and transforming instruction and assessment practices (Hamilton, et al., 2016). We are seeing manifestations of the latter in smart classrooms, flipped classroom, personalized and adaptive learning systems.

I find the definition provided by the Association for Educational Communication and Technology (AECT) particularly useful as innovations such as Learning Analytics and Artificial Intelligence mature. AECT defines educational technology as:

“the study and ethical practice of facilitating learning and improving performance by creating, using and managing appropriate technological processes and resources” (Januszewski & Molenda, 2008, p. 1).

The AECT definition includes both processes and resources. In addition, the focus on ethical use signals responsible use of technology to advance learning outcomes for our learners. An example of such application is through learning analytics. Application of learning analytics (LA) relies on accurate collection and interpretation of data, “produced by and gathered on behalf of students in order to assess academic progress, predict future performance, and spot potential issues” (Johnson, et al., 2011). The mention of ‘ethical practice’ is cautionary because data-driven decisions have been shown to have potential for biases (Baker& Hawn. 2021).

References

Baker, R. S., & Hawn, A. (2021). Algorithmic Bias in Education. International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40593-021-00285-9

Hamilton, E. R., Rosenberg, J. M., & Akcaoglu, M. (2016). The Substitution Augmentation Modification Redefinition (SAMR) Model: A Critical Review and Suggestions for its Use. TechTrends, 60(5), 433–441. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11528-016-0091-y

Huang, R., Spector, J. M., & Yang, J. (2019). Introduction to Educational Technology. In R. Huang, J. M. Spector, & J. Yang, Educational Technology (pp. 3–31). Springer Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-6643-7_1