My Exploration of Professional Development

Part of any profession is becoming involving in collegial organizations and reading the literature of the field. As a professional librarian I am a member of several library organizations and keep current by reading a variety of journals related to librarianship. However, being a neophyte in the field of educational technology, I am not yet involved in similar professional development activities related to IDT. Chapter 26 of the text provides a comprehensive description of many organizations and journals of interest to educational technologists.

Several of the organizations appealed to me including the Society for Applied Learning (SALT), the European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction (EARLI), and the Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). Two of the three organizations (AACE & SALT) are linked from UF's Educational Technology website.

Many of the journals were interesting, but a few of them really peaked my interest. Several aspects of IDT appeal to me including instructional design, assessment, and online teaching & learning. In selecting journals to investigate I tried to find titles that would accommodate all of my interests. I explored the following journals: the American Journal of Distance Education (AJDE), the British Journal of Educational Technology (BJET), Cognition and Instruction, and the Journal of Technology, Instruction, and Assessment (JTLA).

The UF libraries have subscriptions to many education journals, including those named above. The library has a print subscription (located in the Education Library) to AJDE from 1987-present and an online subscription from 2002-present. The Education Library also houses print copies of BJET from 1971-present and an online subscription from 1997-present. For JTLA, the library has free online access to 2002-present in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ). A print subscription to Instruction and Cognition from 1984-present is housed in the Education Library and the library has online access from 2002-present in DOAJ.

Check back next week as I explore and discuss the knowledge and skills I need to gain in this program to improve my instruction and potentially advance my position in the library. Until then...

Educational Technology: An Evolving Definition

In my last post I discussed a preliminary definition of educational technology developed in class. After reading chapter one of the text, I'm prepared to construct a personal working definition. But first, a summary of how the definition of the field has evolved...

Early definitions of instructional technology emphasized the media, the physical methods used to present instruction. At the time, media consisted of visual material. Between the 1920's through the 1940's visual media became audiovisual media and expanded to focus on sound as an instructional tool. (p.3)

During the 1960's-1970's instructional technology became less of a physical description of the media involved, and more of a process used to solve instructional problems. The 1970's in particular saw the term grow and come into include steps such as design, implementation, and evaluation. (p.4)

Definitions from the 1990's describe instructional technology in terms of practice and theory. The systematic "process" theme that was the root of early definitions is de-emphasized in order to accommodate alternative design methodologies and theories. (p.5)

Newer definitions include an emphasis on ethics and a high level of professional behavior among practictioners and researchers in the field. Another new element of recent definitions is the paradigm shift from instruction that caused or controlled learning, to instruction that facilitated learning. This shift puts the focus of the instruction on the learner and helping the learning apply knowledge. Another way of phrasing this is that one of the goals of instruction is to improve performance. (p.6-7)

So, where does that leave me and my definition of instructional technology? The 1994 definition de-emphasizing the linear nature of instructional design is important because it allows for alternative approaches. The more recent definitions that focus on the learner and learning outcomes as applications of knowledge mesh well with my belief in the importance of learner-centered instruction. The perfect definition of instructional technology is one that combines both key elements discussed above.

Stay tuned...tomorrow's discussion will focus on my exploration of professional organizations and literature in the field of instructional technology.