IT Definition
Official Definition by ACET
"Educational technology is the study and ethical practice of facilitating learning and improving performance by creating, using, and managing appropriate technological processes and resources." (Reiser & Dempsey, 2017, P. 4)
1. The first key term in the latest version is ethical. It reflects that the people who engage in this field must possess high-level professional conduct (Reiser & Dempsey, 2017).
2. The other key term is facilitating learning. In the past version of the definition, the instructional solution was viewed as the process of controlling or causing learning. While the latest definition realized that learners should predominate over their learning rather than only follow instructional intervention they are exposed to (Reiser & Dempsey, 2017).
3. Moreover, the latest definition mentioned that one of the goals is to improve performance. It focuses on instructors should instruct learners on how to apply the new skills and knowledge acquired rather than simply delivering inert knowledge to learners (Reiser & Dempsey, 2017).
4. The addition of the term "appropriate" in the latest definition meant that nowadays, instruction more thoughtful and reasonable(Reiser & Dempsey, 2017).
My Definition
Instructional technology is an ethical practice field to study how instructors improve teaching quality to stimulate students' interest in learning by utilizing systematic instructional design and appropriate instructional technologies.
The terms" Visual education " and “Visual instruction” were first used; meanwhile, the various documented medium like the museum, exhibits, stereographs, slides, films, study prints, and charts was used in instruction (2016).
The term "audiovisual instruction" is used. In this period, with the advent of sound, the audio and video with sound began to be widely applied in instruction (2016).
Because of the "Divison of Visual Aids for War Traning" in the period of World War II, television is used as a key instructional medium for war training (2016).
In this period, Computer-Aided Instruction (CAI) is employed by public schools and universities and the first advent of terms “Educational Technology” and “Instructional Technology” (2016).
The birth of eLearning: microcomputers were widely used in public schools, and the term "instructional media" was considered an effective instruction technique (2016).
The Rise of Online Learning: with the internet thrive, stimulating the increase in university online education enrollment due to the computer already became a necessity for students. In this period, Emerging an obvious feature was greater diversity and choice in education, such as computer-based training, eLearning, simulations, gamification, and social media. The internet era makes instructional technology became a limitless possibility (2016).
IT Scholars and Contributions
Programmed Instructional Materials
B. F. Skinner (1954)
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B. F. Skinner is a pioneer of behaviorist theory, and he emphasized that learning allowed being evaluated through some observable behavior or events (Reiser & Dempsey, 2017).
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In 1954, In the article "The Science of Learning and the Art of Teaching," B.F. Skinner explained that the programmed instructional materials included increasing human learning and the desired characteristics of useful instructional materials (Reiser & Dempsey, 2017).
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In this article, he described programmed instructional materials should "present instruction in small steps, require active responses to frequent questions, provide immediate feedback, and allow for learner self-pacing" (Reiser & Dempsey, 2017, pp.13). Actually, this process is a prototype of today's formative assessments that gathered relevant data to identify drawbacks as to modify and perfect instructional materials.
Benjamin Bloom (1956)
Retrieved From: https://getsynapse.com/blog/what-is-blooms-taxonomy/
Support
Explore
Design
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In 1956, Benjamin Bloom and his colleagues published the Taxonomy of Educational, namely Bloom's taxonomy. This systematic learning method has been used by generations of K-12 teachers and college instructors in their teaching (Mcdaniel, 2020).
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Bloom's taxonomy helps educators develop critical thinking and higher-level cognitive thinking in students
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The purpose of bloom's taxonomy is to provide a framework, or organization, for classifying classroom lessons of objectives that are aligned with different levels of bloom's taxonomy.
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To develop critical thinking and higher-order cognitive abilities in students, educators use bloom's descriptive verbs to write lesson objectives that were aligned with different levels of bloom's taxonomy
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Robert Glaser 1962
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Robert Glaser was a cognitive psychologist and his criterion-referenced testing is an essential factor that facilitates instructional design (Reiser & Dempsey, 2017).
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Before the criterion-referenced testing, most tests called norm-referenced tests were designed to compare individual performance with the performance of a group. Even though the norm-referenced test covers a broad range of content, it often mismatches what is taught to what is tested. In contrast, a criterion-referenced test focuses on an individual's skills and knowledge a student has mastered regardless of how well others perform. (Reiser & Dempsey, 2017).
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Glaser's criterion-referenced testing purpose was to use a more scientific measure to evaluate learners' entry-level behaviors and post-training outcomes (Reiser & Dempsey, 2017).
Robert M. Gagne 1965
Retrieved From:https://www.coursearc.com/gagnes-nine-events-of-instruction/
Gagné elaborated on five types of learning outcomes verbal information, intellectual skills, psychomotor skills, attitudes, and cognitive strategies. Moreover, he also described nine events of instructional activities that are essential for facilitating any learning outcome. Gagné s various types of learning outcomes and the events of instruction are the basis of instructional design practices (Reiser & Dempsey, 2017).
Three learning theories
Retrieved From:https://elearninginfographics.com/learning-theories-of-instructional-design-infographic/
The work of B.F. Skinner and the concept of operant conditioning is the root of behaviorism. Behaviorism is a learning theory based on the idea that all behaviors can be controlled or modified by external stimulus, namely “stimulus-response" (Behaviorism, 2007).
Behaviorism is always utilizing to shape students’ behavior and help students cultivate basic facts and skills.
Typical applications of behaviorism include positive and negative reinforcements such as rewards, punishment. For example, if you want your kid to finish his homework as soon as possible, you can say that you can watch TV if you are done with your homework.
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In contrast to behaviorism, which only concentrates on external stimulation, cognitivism mainly focuses on "how information received, organized, restore, and retrieved by the mind. Also cognitivism seen the mind as an information processor like a computer"(Use a Learning Theory: Cognitivism, 2012, 0:34–0:45).
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For example, If teachers desired their students to acquire some complicated learning content efficiently, cognitivism would allow instructors to make knowledge accessible and meaningful by organizing, sequencing, and presenting. Thus, students enable retention or recall of relevant knowledge via quality instruction.
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The application of cognitivism:
1. Creating the lesson of the hook such as a good question or video to capture students' attention.
2. Setting the pre-quiz to activate students' prior knowledge
3. Convert complex knowledge into comprehensible and
digestible chunks, like 1. 2. 3.
4. Using job aids like diagrams, ppts to construct related knowledge structures(Use a Learning Theory: Cognitivism).
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If you want to cultivate students' collaborative and communication skills, critical thinking, problem-solving skills, constructivism would be the appropriate instructional method.
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Constructivism is a learning theory that "equate learning with creating meaning from experience"(Use a Learning Theory: Constructivism, 2012, 0:51–0:59).
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The meaning of constructivism is that it could foster the ability to interact with a problem or theory and motivate students to act as a real and active role in the learning process.
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constructivism emphasizes teachers require to build meaningful contexts by employing interactive instructional strategies, thus helping students create their own knowledge system based on their own experiences (Use a Learning Theory: Constructivism, 2012).
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The application of constructivism :
Collaborative learning or active learning like group learning
Roleplay or simulation
Internship (ETEC 692)
Debate
My Educational Philosophy
I liken the relationship between teacher and student to a lighthouse and a captain in my educational philosophy. Students should take the learning process initiative, just as the captain will be the only decision-maker. Simultaneously, the teachers' role is inclined to guide students to avoid them deviating the correct direction, just as "Lighthouse" guides the captain to keep the right direction in the dark.
This kind of thought coincides with the constructivism learning theory. In my opinion, teachers should pay more attention to students' creative ability and critical thinking in the teaching process and allow them to put forward their own ideas bo instead of controlling students to abide by their thinking patterns.
1. Online collaborative learning (OCL) :
Online collaborative learning is representative that constructivism employed in an online educational environment. OCL is now widely employed in an online learning environment, and its vision is that students should be encouraged to solve problems via discourse rather than memorizing knowledge together.
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2. Social Media in Learning:
Social media became an efficient communication and learning tool in eLearning. Students not only can interact with their peers and their teachers but share materials and opinions on projects.
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3. Mobile Learning：
With mobile technology and cloud technology development, Mobile learning already broke down the restriction of location and time and realized that learning anytime and anywhere.
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4.Open education :
Open Education exerts the power of the Internet to make Education more affordable, accessible, and useful.
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5. Gamification in Education
Teachers use gamification to increase engagement, boost motivation, and create an interactive classroom environment.
Reflection of ETEC 500
The foundation of instructional technology is an analogy with the cornerstone of a house. Mastering the foundation will lay a solid foundation for in-depth studying instructional technology.
In the ETEC 500 class, I learned the relevant instructional technology definition, history, and influential scholars in this field. Also, I grasped the APA style for writing and finding scholarly sources in an online library and Annotated Bibliography, which is critical for me to create a graduate-level paper. Moreover, this course covered some interesting topics like choosing appropriate Web Hosting Services, building my e-portfolio website via hand-coding. This part of knowledge is meaningful for my future instructional design and technology career.
References
Behaviorism. (2007, Jan 31). In Learning Theories. Retrieved from https://www.learning- theories.com/behaviorism.html
Reiser, R., & Dempsey, J. (2017). Trends and Issues in Instructional Design and Technology (What’s New in Ed Psych / Tests & Measurements) (4th ed.). Pearson.
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N. (2016, May 15). A History of Instructional Design and Technology. Instructional Technologies & Material Development. https://nihanytu.wordpress.com/2016/05/07/a-history-of-instructional-design-and-technology/
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Use a Learning Theory: Behaviorism. (2012, December 31). [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYDYzR-ZWRQ&t=35s
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Use a Learning Theory: Cognitivism. (2012, December 31). [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYDYzR-ZWRQ&t=35s
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Use a Learning Theory: Construtivism. (2012, December 31). [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYDYzR-ZWRQ&t=35s