Educational technology

Educational technology is any electronic technology or tool that is used to support learners or teachers in an educational setting to achieve one or more learning objectives. Technologies enable a person to perform actions in enhanced ways in comparison to performing the actions without the technology.

Definition

An educational technology is an object or tool that can be used by a person to perform a specific task to meet an educational goal. Technologies in education are most frequently digital (i.e., connected to computers) and internet-connected (i.e., broadly networked with other computers).

Technology does not necessarily have to be digital or use a computer, as many technologies are simply electronic and just perform their function (i.e., an electric guitar, a coffee maker). Furthermore, a technology doesn't always have to be electronic, as pencils and paper can be defined as technologies that are used to help someone to perform the tasks of writing or drawing. However, non-electronic technology devices are not often considered as "technology" in educational settings.

Additional Information

Technology, at its most basic form, offers the capacity for actions that are not possible for a person to do alone. This of course opens up new possibilities for learners so that they may learn new skills and achieve their learning objectives. Because it changes the possibility for what actions are even possible, the design and inclusion of technology for educational purposes can have a dramatic influence on how people act and what they are able to do.

People use technology, not the other way around. Technology may support or nudge a person's participation within a learning experience, but it does not guarantee that a person will participate in the first place. Additionally, the presence of a technology in a learning environment does not guarantee that learning objectives will be achieved. Instead, technologies must be used by people to perform the intended tasks for learning. If the technology is not used in the first place, then it will have no effect on learning or performance.

It is common to include technologies as a part of educational products with the expectation that the technology will be used equally by everyone - this is a fallacy. The use of technology within learning contexts is highly varied among participants and, as such, has different effects on people's behavior and participation. For some, the technology may not have any demonstrable value to them for how they perform tasks, and won't be used as a result. For others, the technology may be used to perform other unintended actions that are not productive for learning, leading to other outcomes or even disruption of the learning environment. To this end, it is important for designers to remember that technology doesn't get used in the same way by everyone and it doesn't always enable people to do tasks as expected. Technology is not a "save all" in a learning context and actually complexifies the learning experience. Because of this, technology use should be closely evaluated in an educational product to ensure that it is enhancing people's ability to perform tasks and activities as expected!

Audience commitments to technology design

The use of technologies in educational products and experiences are often not voluntary in formal educational settings or other required learning contexts (e.g., corporate training). Most often in K-12 settings, children are required to Because learners sometimes have no choice in the matter, commitments to ethics, equity, accessibility, and diversity are necessary in technology design when considering the audiences that will use the technology to ensure that the technology enables all learners to benefit from the experience.

First, a commitment to accessibility ensures that access and use of technology for anyone who wants to participate.
Second, ethical commitments should be in place to ensure that technologies is designed and provided in a way that does not adversely affect or harm someone, particularly children. Also ethical commitments are necessary with digital technologies specifically regarding the security, privacy, protection, and positive use of any data that are collected and analyzed from technology to ensure it does not adversely affect someone's performance or everyday life. Examples of ethical data use and protection include the use of personal technology use data in algorithms that deliver advertisements, share information with other people, or even where computer-based decisions are made and people may face potential discrimination.
Third, equity commitments should be in place, as not everyone has the same knowledge or level of experience with technologies and their inner workings. Toward this goal, people should be specially supported at different skill and experience levels to help them maximize the benefits from using the tech, or recognizing when technology is not the right answer to supporting activity.
Fourth, diversity commitments should be in place, in that tech is designed with multiple perspectives of input and understanding how people from different backgrounds might use it, what they need to accomplish with it, and how it may influence other aspects of their lives from its use. By actively including people from multiple backgrounds and perspectives in the design of technology and in any media it uses, designers signal a dedication to the communities in which the technologies serve and actively avoid any issues where the technology might exclude someone, reduce their affect toward the learning exercise, or discount their identities as learners.

Types of educational technologies

Technologies enable learners to perform tasks that would otherwise be more difficult, not realistic, or even impossible to complete in certain contexts, such as communication or participation at a distance. The goal of educational technologies is to enable learners and teachers to perform additional activities and interactions that extend a person's capacity for action. In other words, no matter how complex they are, all technologies are simply tools for performing actions within a learning environment. If a technology does not substantially enhance someone's ability to perform tasks for the purpose of learning, then the use of the technology should likely be questioned (especially during the evaluation phase of design).

Education researchers continually investigate ways to engage learners and improve their achievement of learning objectives by doing educational tasks. To support these educational activities, a range of educational technologies are continually being developed and improved to enable learners' actions and tasks as they participate in a learning experience.

Each of the below-listed educational technologies enable activity that a person can do, have the computer interact with learners, or provide information that can be used by a person in a learning experience:

Tips and Tricks

Digital technologies give designers many options for enabling learners to perform tasks, demonstrate skills, and access informational content. As actually doing things is a prominent part of active learning, technologies can help your learners perform tasks that may not be possible just by themselves.
If you use technologies within your product, make sure that you consider the audience that will be using the product. This includes a thoughtful look and commitment to diversity, equity, accessibility, and ethics related to the technologies you will be using.
Consider the financial and human skill costs associated with the development and use of educational technologies in your design. These costs are an important part of constraining the design to be within a reasonable scope for the project.
Consider the skills that your design team has and needs if you wish to include certain technologies in your product. What kinds of things need to be done to develop, maintain, and implement the technologies and are these tasks within the skillset and resources of your design team? How will these things be maintained over time?
Consider whether your product will "package" the educational product within an app, software, or website. If so, consider how these interfaces will look and feel to the participants and what skills are necessary for navigating the technology's features and interfaces. Ask how will you support participants as they navigate the technologies to find and do what they are looking for.
Because technology can be complex and can open the door for new actions for participants, consider including substantial scaffolding and support mechanisms to help learners of all skill levels to perform the intended tasks.
When using technology in an educational product, it is important to document how people are expected to use the technology and to evaluate how people used the technology according to plan. This allows designers to improve the technologies in the future so that they more closely align with the intended interactions and activities and have a greater impact on the achievement of learning objectives.

Educational technology

From The Learning Engineer's Knowledgebase

Contents

Definition

Additional Information

Audience commitments to technology design

Types of educational technologies

Tips and Tricks

Related Concepts

Examples

External Resources