Instructional technology

Definition

To the author (DKS) it is not clear what we mean by Instructional Technology, therefore we shall present several definitions and invite you either consult educational technology or instructional design. Our feeling is that Instructional Technology should be defined as a subset of educational technology that (in principle) adopts a relativly behaviorist instructional design perspective plus a classic top-down Design Methodology.

• One of the definitions ties Instructional Technology to needs for industrial and military training. E.g. the Wikipedia:Instructional_technology entry states:

While Instructional Technology can apply to the military and corporate settings, Educational technology is instructional technology applied to a school setting (including charter schools, public schools, online and home schooling environments).

• For the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (ACET 2004:16 ) Instructional Technology is:

While this project uses the broad concept of educational technology as its framework, we propose that the term \u201cinstructional technology\u201d describes a subset of that broad concept. Instructional technology refers to the concept, theory, and field that focus on facilitating learning through technology under conditions that are \u201cpurposive and controlled,\u201d as proposed in an earlier AECT definition of the field (AECT, 1977, p. 3). Although \u201ceducational technology\u201d and \u201cinstructional technology\u201d are sometimes used interchangeably, we propose that education and instruction refer to broader or narrower processes. Instruction is narrower than education in the sense that it refers to situations that are more purposive, that is, in which the learner is directed toward specific goals or objectives set by someone else, and more controlled, that is, using methods and resources planned and guided by someone else.

References

• AECT (1977). The definition of educational technology. Washington DC: AECT.
• AECT (2004) The Meanings of Educational Technology, Washington DC: AECT, Definition and Terminology Committee document, June 1, 2004 #MN4.0 [[1]]