Education technology

The term "education technology" encompasses the study and practice of facilitating teaching and learning via hardware and software. Educational technology borrows theories and ideas from a number of related fields such as learning theory, instructional design, computer science, and educational evaluation. Educational technology is concerned with all aspects of teaching and learning. For instance, some issues in educational technology focus on learning sciences: how do people learn and how does technology facilitate the optimization or efficiency of learning and skill building. Other issues in educational technology are more policy oriented and deal with issues of equity and access.

There are a number of professional organizations affiliated with issues in educational technology. The Association for Educational Communications and Technology is among the largest research organizations in the field of educational technology. The International Society for Technology in Education is the largest professional practitioner organization with a special focus on school-aged children. EDUCAUSE is the nonprofit association that focuses on educational technology in higher education.

Brief History

Just as the children of early hunting and gathering societies learned to participate in society by playing with bows and arrows, so contemporary society's children should learn by playing with information. The issue at the heart of educational technology pertains to the types of tools used in teaching and learning and how these tools interface with the types of knowledge and skills required of an educated citizenry. Connecting bows and arrows to a modern information-based economy highlights the need for a definition of terms from the onset. A challenge in discussing educational technology is the broad definition of the term "technology." One commonly accepted definition of the phrase is “applied science.” According to several scholars, this broad definition includes any procedures or processes derived by using the scientific method. All teaching techniques and methodologies could fall under this definition of technology.

Likewise, bows, arrows, spears, and the like are a type of technology that has been used in the education of children since pre-history. This is important to understand because it highlights the fact that in many ways, educational technology is nothing new. Students and teachers have always relied on tools for thinking and learning.

A more modern historical origin of educational technology could be traced to the teaching machines developed by Ohio State University educational psychology professor Sidney Pressey. In the early 1920s, Pressey developed a machine to provide practice items to students in his introductory courses. Pressey was inspired by the 1912 writings of educational psychology professor Edward Thorndike whose vision of what textbooks could be anticipated much of modern-day computer-based instruction.

Pressey was interested in providing students with learning drills as well as easing the workload of teachers. Not looking to replace the teacher, Pressey wanted to free the teacher to engage students in deeper, more meaningful learning. He saw his machines as lifting from the teacher’s shoulders “as much as possible of this burden and make her free for those inspirational and thought-stimulating activities which are, presumably, the real function of the teacher” (374). Both Pressey and Thorndike were working before modern digital computers, yet the echoes of their goals for teaching and learning can be heard in modern innovations in the field.

Overview

The US military and government have long been innovators and have set standards for educational technology. For example, training films were used during World War II when it was vital to quickly and effectively train soldiers. This now outdated medium anticipated many of the presentation-style teaching tools in modern use, and the need for quick, standardized, and effective instruction continues so that military and defense innovations keep pace with the changing technological landscape. When delivery of content via computers became possible and necessary, the Office of the United States Secretary of Defense developed the Shareable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) through its Advanced Distributed Learning initiative. SCORM became an important standard for content delivery across eLearning platforms used by schools, universities, military, and various other organizations. The Department of Defense has also been a leader in the use of video games and simulation for training purposes. These technologies began to garner serious attention in education circles outside of the military as well.

Access, standardization, and individualized learning continue to be trends in educational technology with efforts such as massively multi-online courses and on-demand online videos such as those popularized by Khan Academy, a nonprofit educational website. With a wealth of information available via online video, educators have questioned the value added by classroom lectures. Flipped classrooms use the internet to deliver lecture-based material, which then frees up classroom time for one-on-one, peer, and individualized instruction. Some initiatives in educational technology emphasize the role of creativity. Movements that have collectively been called the creator society emphasize digital and electronic authorship and expression. These types of educational technology initiatives cultivate the type of creativity and critical thinking that many argue are central to an information-based economy. Some educational technology trends focus on the business of educational technology and examine how the agile development processes of Silicon Valley start-up culture can penetrate classroom learning. These trends are a reminder that technology is not necessarily always married to digital and electronic devices.

The role of educational technology in the classroom is a topic that is not without controversy. Education scholar Larry Cuban summarized many people’s concerns about educational technology in the title of his book Oversold and Underused: Computers in the Classroom. Cuban argued that schools and school districts have been too quick to invest in computers and technology without investing in the professional development needed to make these technologies useful. He argued that teachers use computers to recapitulate the same unimaginative lessons that prevent students from reaching their learning potential.

Another criticism of technology in education is that technology may be hindering cognitive skill development among school-aged children. A 2012 Pew Research survey found that nearly 90 percent of teachers believe digital technologies were responsible for creating a generation of easily distracted students with a short attention span. Another 60 percent felt that students’ abilities to read, write, and communicate face-to-race were hindered. According to the RAND American Educator Panels, while 90 percent of teachers reported using digital instruction materials as of the spring of 2019, the majority also indicated that their main curriculum was used for more of their classroom time than the digital materials, meaning that the digital materials were typically still used in a more supplemental manner.

The Pew report exposes concerns about over-exposure of children to technology. There are also are concerns about the so-called digital divide. The digital divide is the apparent “divide” between middle- and upper-class children and those from less advantaged urban and rural communities. Concerns about the digital divide have grown to be more refined over the years. Scholars point out that it is not the lack of physical availability of computers that should be of concern. Rather, it is people’s ability to make use of technologies to engage in meaningful social practices that defines where an individual falls within that divide.

Finally, technology has introduced classroom and behavior management issues that many schools and districts have found themselves under-prepared to deal with. Issues such as cyberbullying and harassment often move to the forefront before school administrators and counselors have a policy in place. Related issues are concerned with protocols such as whether teachers or administrators should be engaged in online social media with their students. Other evolving policy issues are whether elementary, middle, and high school students should be allowed to access social networks during school hours or on school computers. Additionally, there are concerns across compulsory and higher education as to how to control privacy issues when so many individuals have access to cameras and can record and post sensitive information.

Educational technology often talks about teaching and learning in the twenty-first century but teaching with tools has always been a part of education. Many contemporary goals of educational technology have been in place since the earliest twentieth century. From standardizing teaching to individualizing learning, educational technology encompasses varying and divergent philosophies and borrows its understanding from a number of academic disciplines. As technology changes and evolves, so do the concerns and priorities of educational technology.

Between late 2019 and 2021, education technology became essential to teachers and students at all levels, including high school, during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic, as many schools had to institute fully remote learning, and later a hybrid learning model, to adhere to quarantine and lockdown mandates for public safety. Many schools resorted to teaching over online platforms, using video services like Zoom and Google Meet, and online classrooms like Google Classroom and Edmodo. This period of enhanced dependence on technology for education instruction brought debates to the fore once more about the possibilities for the use of such technology and whether it could or should play an even bigger role in teaching and learning. In some cases, this period prompted more dedicated efforts toward closing the gap in access to digital technology. By the summer of 2021, some experts and educators were continuing to emphasize caution in further technology integration, particularly as more work needed to be done in making sure students with disabilities or learning English as a second language were supported enough through such technology.

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