In my Introduction to Educational Technology class I defined
educational technology as “integration of ever
advancing technologies and education”.
I recognized that this was a simplistic definition, but reading the
definitions presented over the years by professionals and professional
organizations of the field has made me realize that it was not my definition
that was simple, but my assumption (yes I know what that word means) that
others would define technology and education the same as I do.
My original undergraduate work and first career
was Computer Programming. So when I
think of technology, I think of what goes into the creation of technology –
requirements, design, creation, testing, product release and finally product
use. Additionally, each of these steps
has numerous reviews at each level. When
I use a product, I am, honestly, judging it with a programmer’s knowledge. For example, the “new, improved” method of
signing in each morning at my school is on a computer instead of the old, pen
and paper method. Many mornings I
complain, “Why don’t they just automatically populate that field?” I am sure other teachers ignore me, as they
have learned to, but it makes me insane.
There are two fields, both drop-downs, one for your name (populated by
all teachers’ names at the school) and one for your reason. The drop-down reason field is populate by ONE
item “check-in”.
So, while I found
the AECT, 2008, definition of educational technology to be extreme in its
length, I do see the need for defining each keyword.
I also think that I define education a little
different than most teachers that I work with.
Again, this is based on my background.
For me, as a special education teacher, I need to know what a student
knows, what they need to know, what previous methods to learn it have failed,
their motivators, their sensory needs and what previous methods have to learn
other things have worked. This, for me,
is just a start. I know and have
observed teachers who seem to think that knowing what they are expected to teach
and “teaching” it, usually via lecture method, is the definition of
education.
I still feel that “integration of ever advancing
technologies and education” is a pretty good definition for educational technology. However, I know now that I would need to add
pages of key word definitions to make sure everyone is on the same page. AECT Definition and Terminology Committee of
2008, please forgive any judgment on my part about the lengthiness of your
definition. You clearly had the right
idea.
I would like to take a second to say that I wrote
the above before I read chapter 2.
As a former Software Engineer who is now a special education teacher in
my ninth year, I often say, “I used to be smart.” To say that I multi-task is an extreme
understatement and my brain has suffered because of it. There are days when, after teaching 11
students with a minimum of 15 different objectives each, I cannot identify the
place where dishes go as a ‘cabinet’. I
use this example because it is real. So,
when I read things in chapter 2 that closely followed what I had written as my
first response, I ran in and made my husband listen to me explain that maybe I
am still fairly intelligent (in a completely incomprehensible, excited, book
waving way that took 20 minutes). So, I had
to take a moment to pat myself on the back.
As I stated above, being a special education teacher
with students who have disabilities that usually result in them being 3 or more
grade levels behind means that I see teaching a little different. In order to be effective, I must be student
centered. If I attempt to teach all
students with the exact same materials or in the same way, I will fail. To start with, all of my students are on
different levels. I need to define goals
for each student that takes into account what they know, what they need to know
and how long it should take them to get there.
My job, by definition is goal oriented. A committee of people set goals and
objectives for each student, at least once a year. I must provide data that shows progress on these
goals 6 times a year.
I work very hard to suggest goals that will lead to
eventual meaningful performance.
For example, I never write an objective for a student to count by two. As an adult, I cannot find a true, meaningful
performance for that objective. I skip
counting by two and go straight to counting by five. We count by 5 when we tell time on an analog
clock. The method I teach to count
change (hairy money) uses counting by fives to determine the value. These are objectives that will add
meaningful, functional value to their future.
Since I began teaching, writing objectives that are
measurable has become a big focus. Gone
(hopefully) are the days when a student comes in with objectives that make you
wonder what the teacher was talking about.
Objectives and goals have a time line (within 36 weeks), a clear goal
(with count to 20 by 1s), a method (by verbalizing), a measure (with 70%
accuracy or with 14 of 20 numbers correct) and any supports given (with a
visual number line). This has helped to
bring us closer to the concepts of measuring outcomes in a reliable and
valid way.
I love that the terms ‘what the learner knows’ and ‘what
they need to know’ appears in chapter 2.
I run my classroom knowing those are the most important pieces of
information I can have. I build new
materials based on this information, present the materials to the student,
analyze the outcome, modify my ‘what the learner knows’ (for better or worse)
and build new materials based on this information. This is a cycle I spend most of my time
in. Only behavior control and assessment
take up more classroom time and nothing takes up more working at home
time. Again, because of my position in
special ed., data collection is constant.
I know, basically each week, where each child stands on each
objective. This assess, build, assess, and
build method makes my design for each child’s objective is empirical,
iterative and, although I never quite thought of it this way, self-correcting.
I try to make my teaching as much of a team
effort as it can be. I am certainly
involved, as is the student and para-professionals who work in my
classroom. I try to involve the parents,
therapists, and general education teachers as much as possible.
I have always been proud of the quality of education
that I provide my students and love that it lines up so nicely with these
characteristics of instructional design.
I think my background and my ‘engineering mind’ probably caused me to
teach this way and it has worked well for me.
This makes me feel a little better about the limited ‘cuteness’ in my
classroom. J
I think that it is easy for most people to
distinguish instructional media from instructional design. In theory this is a physical device vs. a
process. An iPad can be placed into a
student’s hand. This is instructional
media. However, without instructional
design, what is the student going to learn?
I do think that chalkboards, whiteboards, tables, task cards, textbooks
and many other things are instructional media.
I am less sure where I would place teachers. I suppose I am a media, but I am also an
instructional designer. I feel that the
purpose of instructional design is to teach using data, knowledge and media so
that the student can learn.
