EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY

 

EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY

1 UNIT

From the ancient abacus to handheld calculators, from slide projectors and classroom film strips to virtual reality and next-generation e-learning, educational technology continues to evolve in exciting new ways inspiring teachers and students alike.

Technology is continually changing the way we work and play, create and communicate. So it's only natural that advancements in digital technology are also creating game-changing opportunities in the world of education.

For teachers, technology is opening up new possibilities to enrich and stimulate young minds. Today, there is growing excitement around the potential for assistive technology, virtual and augmented reality, high-tech collaboration tools, gamification, podcasting, blogging, 3D printing, artificial intelligence, personalized learning and much more.

Educational technology is a systematic and organized process of applying modern technology to improve the quality of education (efficiency, optimal, true, etc.). It is a systematic way of conceptualizing the execution and evaluation of the educational process, i. e. learning and teaching and help with the application of modern educational teaching techniques. It includes instructional materials, methods and organization of work and relationships, i.e. the behavior of all participants in the educational process. The term "teaching resources" is commonly used, although they are not synonymous. The word technology is derived from the Greek word "techno" which means the willingness, skills, knowledge of the way, rule, skill, tools and "logos" which means science, word, learning, mental state. There is no single term for educational technology. Different countries use different terms and synonyms as educational technology, educational equipment, Audio Visual resources, the technology of teaching etc.

Terminological differences mostly occur on the grounds of the approach to the technical characteristics and the use of modern appliances, and not their actual application in teaching i.e. their actual pedagogical application. For this reason, there are different opinions among teachers in the field of social and technical sciences. Therefore, the application of educational technology requires knowledge from several areas: pedagogy, psychology, didactics, computer sciences, informatics.

Because of this diversity, there are also different perceptions of educational technology, where every author defines the concept of educational technology, according to their needs. Educational technology is still not being applied sufficiently, mostly for reasons of lack of school equipment, necessary resources and insufficient qualification of teachers for the implementation of these funds.

Educational technology has three domains of use

Technology as a tutor (computer gives instructions and guides the user).

Technology as a teaching tool and

Technology as a learning tool.

Educational Technology, in terms of terminology and structural composition, may carry out two basic components, namely education and technology. We are focusing here more on the evolutionary nature of the second component, i.e. technology, as a subject has its sole concern with the task identifying the most suitable, appropriate and developed technology (both hardware and software) for serving educational needs and purposes of the students and the society at a particular time and place. It is a matter of no secret that there has been a continuous shift in the nature of the use of technologies means and measures for improving the process and products of education depending upon the type of excellence attained by the members of the society and communities all over the globe in terms of scientific, philosophical, psychological and technological progress and advances. This is why; we can witness a continual shift in the modes and means of educational technology being used for serving the cause of education in different periods of human history and civilization.

MEANING AND DEFINITIONS OF EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY

Educational technology is a term used to describe a wide array of teaching-and-learning- related software and hardware that's increasingly being used in college and university classrooms. The ultimate goal of educational technology, also referred to as Ed Tech, is to enable an improved learning environment, which in turn is meant to boost student outcomes. It has also been proven to increase student engagement and participation in class.

Educational technology refers to technology that usually helps facilitate collaboration in an active learning environment. By using educational technology, educators can create digital, interactive textbooks, gamify lessons, take attendance, assign homework, hold quizzes and tests and get real time results related to teaching material, style and format. Educational technology is disrupting traditional education and teaching methods by offering both teachers and students the ability to learn in an environment that makes use of now-common devices such as smartphones, laptops and tablets.

Following are some of definitions of Educational Technology:

GO.M. Leith: "Educational Technology is the systematic application of scientific knowledge about teaching-learning and conditions of learning to improve the efficiency of teaching and training (Leith, 1967)."

Shiv K. Mitra: "Educational Technology can be conceived as a science of techniques and methods by which educational goals could be realized (Mitra, 1968:4)."

/S.S. Kulkarni: "Educational Technology can be defined as the application of the laws as well as recent discoveries of science and technology to the process of education (Kulkarni, 1969)."

D. Unwin: "Educational Technology is concerned with the application of modern skill and techniques to requirements of educational training. This includes facilitation of learning by manipulation of media and methods, and the control of the environment is so far as this reflects on learning (Unwin, 1969)."

1.K. Davies: "Educational Technology is concerned with problems of education and training context and it is characterized by the disciplined and systematic approach to the organization of resources for learning (Davies, 1971)."

J.R. Gases: "Educational Technology has to be seen as a part of a persistence and complex endeavour of bringing pupils, teachers and technical means together is an effective way (Ford Foundation Team, 1971). "

These definitions initially encompass the whole range of educational technology activities from the analytic methods of psychology of learning and teaching the audio-visual communication and mass media technology. The views propagated by these definitions may help us to conclude about the meaning and nature of educational technology as follows:

1. Educational technology is concerned with the systematic application of science and technology in the field of education and thus may be defined as the application of technology to education in order to further the case of the latter.

2. Just as science and technology help in carrying out the practical task in general, educational technology helps in providing efficiency to the task of teaching and learning.

3. Educational technology provides technical guidance and solutions to the problems of education. 4. Teaching is communicating and education technology can play an effective role in the communication between teacher and student.

5. Educational Technology is not limited to the use of audio-visual aids and does not symbolize merely educational hardware such as sophisticated gadgets and mechanical devices used in education. For the effective management of the total teaching-learning process it tends to utilize the results of all goods, experiments and researches in the field of human learning and the art of communication and employs a combination of all possible human and non-human resources to achieve the desired educational objectives.

In brief, educational technology should stand for a wise application of the available human and non-human resources for providing appropriate solutions to the educational problems and to improve the process and products of education.

NATURE OF EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY

The nature of educational technology may be described as the following points:

1. The basis of educational technology is science.
2. Educational Technology studies the effect of science and technology upon education. In other words, science and technology are used under educational technology. Hence, it is the practical aspect of science.
3. Educational Technology is a continuous dynamic, progressive and effect-producing method.
4. New conceptions are possible only due to educational technology such as programmed learning. micro-teaching, simulated teaching, interaction analysis, video-tape, tape-recorder, projector and computers, etc.
5. Educational Technology accepts schools as a system. In this system, the school-building, furniture and teachers act as input while various methods, techniques, strategies and the teaching and examination with the help of audio-visual aids function in the form of a process. Lastly, the output is in the form of the ability of the pupils.
6. Audio-visual aids cannot be termed as educational technology. It is because its concern is only with the process-aspect of educational technology and not with the input and output aspects. But if these A.V. aids are used to achieve educational objectives, then it can be put in the category of Educational technology.
7. Programmed Instruction is also different from Educational Technology. Its main cause is that the student learns himself during the programmed instructions. It does not allow interaction between pupil and teacher. Hence, it can be used only for limited objectives and limited subject-matter. 
8. Therefore, programmed instruction is merely a part of educational technology.
9. Engineering Technology is not educational technology because the engineering technology has manufactured radio, tape- recorder, video-tape and T.V., etc., which are used in teaching as audio-visual aids, but still engineering technology is different from educational technology. In education, it is accepted as a hardware approach only.
10. Educational Technology cannot solve each and every problem of education. It can be used successfully in teaching and instructional systems only.
11. Some people assume that educational technology will replace the teacher which will make the teacher unemployed one day. It is their mistake. Educational technology can never replace the teacher. It is because of three aspects of educational technology.

These are 1. Input, 2. Process and 3. Output. Input is the teacher's job and therefore, educational technology cannot snatch the place of a teacher.

In spite of this, educational technology develops cognitive domain only and not the affective domain. An effective domain can only be developed when an interaction between teachers and pupils takes place. Hence, educational technology cannot replace the teacher.

In Educational Technology, both hardware and software mechanisms are involved.

Garrison (1989), opines "technology will be viewed here as having both a process (software) and a product (hardware) component, where process is the creative application of knowledge of purposeful activities. A subset of hardware is media, where media are the devices used to distribute information."

In Educational Technology, hardware covers TV, Computer, Overhead projector, Tape Recorder, Teaching machines etc. Software includes audio/video cassettes, Filmstrips, micro films, slides etc.

Educational Technology is comprehensive. It is associated with all aspects of educational process-methods, teaching strategies, learning materials, handling of various equipment etc.

The following 4 M's are the major components of Educational Technology:- (i) Methods, (ii) Materials, (iii) Media, (iv) Manpower.

    (i) Methods: It is concerned with the devices such as Programmed Learning Team Teaching, Micro             Teaching, Personalized System of Instruction in Teaching Learning situations.

    (ii) Materials: Instructional materials such as Programmed Text book the material of this type may be             handwritten or printed.

    (iii) Media: The media used here are audio, or visual or audiovisual. A few examples are radio, tape                 recorder, charts, films, educational television etc.

    (iv) Man Power: Man power controls educational technology in every way. Educational                 Technology without man is zero.