Educational technology - an introduction
- This is an outline for a print text on educational technology - DSchneider 18:22, 26 June 2006 (MEST)
Author: DSchneider
Version: 2 (19:09, 3 July 2006 (MEST)). See the discussion page for pointers to other versions.
NOTE: Chapters 4 to 11 may be combined into one huge chapter or 3-4 standard sized ones. Total should not exceed 100 pages.
Introduction (10 pages)
Definitions of the field
A short history
Schools of educational technology
- Goal: Present the major forms of educational technology research. This discussion will be picked up again in the "Research and development" section.
Content (examples):
- EduTech as a design science - part of the learning sciences
- EduTech as playfield for research on learning and cognition
- EduTech as playfield for computer science (technology driven)
Conceptual foundations ( < 20 pages )
Goal: This chapter should be short and "understandable" and demonstrate why learning and education theories are relevant for educational technology practise and research. Its purpose is not really to teach learning theory, didactics etc. but to shortly define/recall important concepts that are necessary to understand the foundations of pedagogical designs that use technology.
Learning theory
Content (examples):
- learning theory
- Behaviorism, including various schools like programmed instruction, etc.
- Cognitivism
- Constructivism, including various schools like socio-constructivism, situated cognition, etc.
Learning types, levels and style
Content:
Ergonomics and HCI
- Goal: Introduce constraints
Content:
- some words on HCI concepts and research
- cognitive ergonomics
- usability
- cognitive load theory etc. ??
Motivation and Affect
Education, pedagogy and instruction
- Goal: This should be very short and strongly be linked to learning theory and explain the difference between educational, pedagogical and instructional theory.
Content (examples):
Pedagogical strategies and tactics
- Goal: Provide a general overview, terms and well know typologies, such as Joyce, Reeves, etc.
Content (examples):
Technologies in education - an overview (10 pages)
Instructional design models in educational technology
- Goal: Reinforce the learning/teaching scenario concept and its relation to abstract design models. This is based on the previous chapter and acts as a bridge.
- Overview: instructional design model (see also various instructional design models)
- Contents: A good sample of designs for which use of technology is relevant. Each entry will have forward pointers to appropriate technologies. The idea is that students should be able to find out what we mean e.g. by "inquiry learning", "case-based learning", etc. and at the same time already show why and where the use of technology makes sense ...
Overview of educational technologies
- educational technologies, including a short categorization of major technologies used in education. This also will go beyond teaching/learning, e.g. include tools for student management.
Standards
- Goal: discussion of various standards and trends. Also discuss the issue here whether teaching can/should be "programmed" (e.g. with educational markup/modeling languages).
Content (examples):
EduTech 1: Technologies for facts learning / teaching (< 10 pages)
- Goal: Provide an overview of a major set of technologies used today in education, each will be linked to appropriate instructional design models/theory or other fields of applications. For this and the following chapters we don't mention these, but provide just an idea of the educational technologies we plan to introduce.
Content (examples):
- CBT, e-instruction, the content parts of LMS (e.g. IMS Content Packaging, CMS, LCMS, multimedia presentations
EduTech 2: Technologies for concept learning
Goal: as above
Content (examples):
- hypertext, wikis, concept maps (both reading and writing), microworlds.
EduTech 3: Technologies for reasoning and procedure learning
Goal: as above
Content (examples):
EduTech 4: CMC, tutoring and collaborative learning
Goal: as above
Content (examples):
EduTech 5: Technologies for problem solving and production strategies
Goal: as above
Content (examples):
EduTech 6: Technologies for learning in action (situated)
Goal: as above
Content (examples):
- learning e-portfolios, C3MS-like portals, etc.
EduTech 7: Other
(Maybe split into 2 chapters, one that has to do with teaching/learning and an other to do with school organization, management of educational materials and such).
Content (examples):
EduTech 8: Integrated learning environments
Goal: Discuss global learning environments (make sure that people understand that and LMS is not neutral, also discuss other alternatives)
Content (examples):
Research and development methods (< 15 pages)
Research schools in educational technology
Content:
- Overview
- design-based research
- clinical experimentation
- quasi-experimentation (ecologically valid experimentation)
- clinical qualitative research (e.g. qualitative cognitive science like dialog analysis and classroom observations)
- educational sociology
Development methodology
Content:
- Introduction to instructional design methods
- Plus a choice of 4-5 major approaches like:
- MISA (heavy industrial)
- Kemp design model, ADDIE (medium industrial)
- Light models, such as Backwards design
- Teacher-centered lesson planning and associated tools.
Evaluation methodology
Content:
- course evaluation principles (what is a good course)
- Design / course evaluation methodology (for practitioners)
- Back pointers to research methodology
Innovation & change management
- Goal: Provide some insights on how to manage a project to introduce ICT
Content:
- General change management methodology
- Teacher development models with respect to ICT usage
The relation between research and the field
- Goal: Discuss an innovation/diffusion model and show how research and practice may influence each other. This may be merged with the previous section