iteachers-blog

[iteachers-blog]

Educational Technology: Compare, Contrast and Definition

The book I refer to is "Trends and Issues in Instructional Design and Technology" by Robert A. Reiser and John V. Dempsey.

---

Having not always been in the educational or technological fields, in all honesty, I’d thought that educational technology were the items that technology teachers and their departments used in computer labs or put into classrooms. That’s a pretty narrow and inaccurate definition, I know. That definition changed rapidly when I started working on my teaching certification and I ended up teaching my “Teaching Technology” class at the local college instead of the actual professor. I had a bit of an epiphany in that computer lab. There is a step missing here. You have to have a plan. You have to have an entrance and exit strategy. Throwing computers at a room full of future teachers and saying, “Go! Educate!” is a bit silly and it doesn’t help anyone, much less his or her future students.

Looking at the early definitions of educational technology is a bit like my own early ideas on the subject - It’s all “stuff” and visual aids. There wasn’t any focus on the how or why. It was all what and where. The focus was on using what technology was available as a method of exposition. There wasn’t anything above understanding on bloom’s taxonomy. 

Just like my definition of educational and instructional technologies, as time and technologies evolved, so did the clarity of purpose and the specificity of its definition. In the 1970s the definition began to include the human portion of the learning equation. Not everyone learns at the same speed or by using the same methods. Which means you’ve got to acknowledge what the Association for Educational Communication and Technology referred to as human learning problems and develop a solution. While the 1970s saw educational and instructional technology more clearly defined, it was still considered a fairly linear process - More algebra than art. 

It wasn’t until more recent times that the definition began to include what I find to be critical to my own personal definition of educational technology, systematic and cognitive learning strategies. Without a system and strategies, educational technology is like smart boards or iPads sitting in a cart in the corner. They’re not living up to all they could be. 

I’m glad the modern definition of educational technology isn’t limited to just electronic devices. It seems to encompass anything that is used as part of the design for instruction. Effectively used white boards can be vastly beneficial learners and they don’t need power outlets or huge fiscal commitments. Analog and digital strategies needn’t be mutually exclusive. If they both fit into the best practice, any piece of media or technology can become a piece of educational technology.

After having read chapter one, I realized there was a huge evolution in my own definition of educational technology that greatly mirrored that of the educational industry. It started with a very object based view. Let’s give our learners maps and moving pictures and they’ll learn. 1+1 = 2. Which as time, technological developments and cognitive learning theories have shown us, is a bit limited. Educational technology is more of a dance than linear math equations. It’s looking at a goal and then looking at the road to it and saying okay, how are we going to get there. Let’s look at our learner, resources and environment and apply some systematic thinking about how we can best get there. 

[iteachers-blog]

Educator Evaluated Apps

http://www.iear.org/ Tagged resources to help educators find apps. They're all community educator evaluated. Pretty nifty!

[iteachers-blog]

Diigo in the Classroom

Diigo - Social Bookmarking and Annotation website with the ability to use applets and toolbar additions to update and manage.

Seneca College's overview of Diigo

Student Learning with Diigo - Great ideas on how to use it for multiple levels of students as well as professional development. 

Diigo in the Classroom (Video) - An interesting tool for classrooms. They've got some ideas on how you can integrate it specifically for literature teachers. I'm trying it out as a way to share school approved web resources. Once you've got an account, you can apply to have it upgraded to an educator account in order to get some additional bells, whistles and sparkly items.

[iteachers-blog]

Apple's Educational iPad Resources

Apple.com's iPad Education Resources

At the bottom of the page, there is a great tab called In the Classroom. Links to apple innovative instruction on iTunes U, great apps for the classroom and a bevy of other handy resources.

[iteachers-blog]

Timelines, made of lines and time

I ended up doing a bit of research regarding online timeline creation. 

http://www.xtimeline.com  Pretty, printable

http://www.tiki-toki.com/ BEAUTIFUL, but not printable

http://www.timelineindex.com Very Cool! Printable and Web

http://timeline.thinkport.org/ Looks nice, prints and very customizable

http://www.timetoast.com/ Free, nice, but not the best

http://www.timelinemaker.com/ Really neat, but really not free.

http://www.preceden.com/  $50, printables but with lots of options, maybe too many

http://www.capzles.com/#/category/?catID=18f3ca22-1117-4fbd-87de-0343938a6fff Okay-ish. Very media heavy. 

http://timerime.com/en/ Free, for the most part. Rather neat looking.

http://free-timeline.com/timeline.jsp Kinda plain, but it works

[iteachers-blog]

Good points for further thinking.

The Good, the bad, and the ugly of kids development on technology. Kaiser Research

[iteachers-blog]

iPads and Bloom's Taxonomy

iPad Curriculum - One of my favorites. Use the handy drop down menus on the right side to narrow down what you're looking for. You can even search by device. iPads, iPods, etc. Need an app for analysis for middle schoolers? Go for it! Lots of details and information and even pictures of the app icon and usually pictures of the open app.

Teach With Your iPad - Neat resources organized by level using by the actual app icons as links to the app for more information. Make sure you click on the icons for more about that app.

Kelly Tenkely's Digital Live Binder for Bloom's Taxonomy - A great livebinder filled with resources for Bloom's Taxonomy and some personal experiences or knowledge about many of them.

Edutopia's iPad apps for K-5 by Bloom's Taxonomy - Edutopia's guide to k-5 iPad apps.

Additional great resources on Bloom's and iPad apps

Kathy Schrock's Bloom'n Resources - Digital resources beyond Apple products

iLearn Technology

Langwitches

[iteachers-blog]

YouTube Education It’s got over 400,000 videos divided by content and level. YouTube Education has videos on subjects ranging from academic lectures, to speeches to laboratory experiments.

[iteachers-blog]

Tumblr & LiveBinders full of awesome

KB Connect is one of the most amazing resources for teaching. I want to run out and do or make all of the things I've seen on this tumblr.

[iteachers-blog]

It took me a fair bit to get onto the Twitter bandwagon, but I got there eventually. TwHistory is a neat site that works Twitter into a history or literature project. Romeo & Juliet via Twitter? Oh, yes. The bombing of Pearl Harbor? Mmhmm. That as well.

Here is my philosophy on twitter - While it’s limited to by how many characters, there is no limit to its character.

Twitter Door- The kids can tweet about what is happening. There are 30 laminated sentences strips so everyone (including the teacher) has a place to “tweet” on the door.

[iteachers-blog]

This is true for all ages. I was at a tech conference last month and couldn't help but look outside. Sunny Florida weather and I was inside for another 6 hours.