Week 2: Definitions

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       When first approaching this Med my understanding of it was skewed and I am quickly finding that what it is isn’t what I thought it was.  To me, instructional technology was the idea, ability, and application of using different types of machinery and media to better facilitate a teacher’s lesson plan and a student’s ability to retain what is being taught.  Having done the readings this week (including the 3 day orientation in August) has helped me to realize and evolve my own thought processes of what instructional technology really entails, which becomes a great example of what instructional technology is really about.

       After having done the readings, the three definitions I would like to blog about are (1) learning, (2) technology, and (3) educational technology.

·         Learning:  The three types of learning I have seen most often in my life have been formal, rote, and observational.  Formal learning is teacher-student relationship based.  My formal training took place from kindergarten to college.  I was able to learn how to process knowledge and retain that information to help me become a valuable member of society.  My most recent experiences with my undergraduate work in college seemed to be rote learning oriented.  I received a Bachelors degree in History.  Papers and exams focused on regurgitating names, dates, places, etc. (memorization and recall skills) that helped me to earn my degree.  The learning process that I am very fascinated with right now is observational.  We have a 3 month old baby in the house that is just learning how to smile, laugh, and copy what his parents and brothers and sisters are doing.  It fascinates me that what Ryker is learning will help him develop social, psychological, and individualistic skills that will make him who he is, even at such an early age.

·         Technology:  Before the readings I understood that technology dealt with tools (e.g. computers and the like) to help better the environment in which one belongs, but to think of technology as things material AND immaterial was an eye opener for me.  Technology is anything really that encourages the learning process and helps to adapt and control a person’s environment.  Technology is more than machines.  It is crafts, it is tools.  It is language.  It is skill sets and abilities.

·         Educational Technology:  The intent of educational technology is to improve education through a range of disciplines.  Textbooks, microscopes, beakers, pencils, pens, and erasers, critical thinking theories, and modes of learning all contribute to the furtherance of education and are considered technology.  One thing that impresses me about educational technology in the readings was the three aspects (or levels) of ed tech, namely transfer, tutoring, and coaching.  To know something is instructional transfer.  To be able to take that knowledge and do something with it become tutoring.  To do it regularly gives one the ability to master the content.  Knowing leads to doing which in turn leads to mastering if practiced often.