Educational Technology

Educational Technology

                              By: Dr. Deepak Sharma

“India can become one of the developed countries in the world by 2020, if we adopt technology as our tool. For this, the teaching community should change their mindset and enthuse the students by means of technology” –   

Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam (2004)

Information Revolution

• Invention of Writing - 6000 years ago
• Publication of Written Book - 1300 BC
• Invention of Printing Press - 1455 AD
• Invention of ICT

Revolutions in Education – Eric Ashby (1967)

• I Revolution: Revolution of shifting the task of educating the young ones from parents to teachers and from home to school.
• II Revolution : Adoption of the ‘written words’ as tool of education.
• III Revolution : Widespread availability of books.
• IV Revolution : Developments in Electronics.

Educational Technology – Meaning

• Application of Technology in teaching process. -------Use of hardware in education - James O. Finn & Others
• Application of Scientific Principles to instruction. -------- Emphasis Psychological principles of learning. - Skinner & Gagne
• Application of system approach to education and Training.

Emphasis the interrelation of Men, Machine, Methods, Media and Materials (5M’s).

According to this view, education should be considered a system in which Machines, Materials, Media, Men and Methods are interrelated parts and are organized in such a way as thy work together for the fulfillment of specific educational objectives. - Davis & Hartley

Educational Technology – Definition

• “Educational Technology defined as development, application, and evaluation of systems, techniques, and aids to improve the process of human learning” - NCERT
• “Educational Technology may be defined as th application of the law as well as recent discoveries of science and technology to the process of education” - S.S. Kulkarni
• “Educational Technology is the application of scientific method and techniques to education” - B.P Lulla

Technology in education

• Technology in Education is the application of technology to any process of educational enterprises.
• Use of the technological advancement in terms of various equipments, materials, and machines for educational purposes.
• It involves the increasingly complex range of audiovisual equipment, sophisticated electronic devices like projectors, films, radio, TV, tape recorder, computers etc for individualized and group learning.

Technology of Education

• Technology of Education is the application of psychology of learning theories, principles of instruction, curriculum, and learning to the process of education.
• In this the educationalist are involved in designing and evaluation of system of learning.
• It enables a teacher to use a variety of media and modes to make his teaching effective.

Educational Technology-Objectives

• Transmitting information
• Assisting the practice of specific skills.
• Contribution to the provision of feedback.
• The need to reach out to maximum number of students.
• To offer greater opportunities for independent study.
• To design, modify and develop appropriate equipment/aids suitable and relevant to the educational process.
• To identify the educational needs of the learner.
• To identify the necessary teaching learning materials.
• To plan teaching strategies, models and methods as per the need and objectives.
• To evaluate the effectiveness of teaching strategy in terms of learning outcomes.
• To provide appropriate feedback to student as well as teachers.
• To modify the teaching learning process on the basis of feedback received.

Approaches to Educational Technology

• Three-Tier Approaches to Educational Technology
• A.A. Lemsdein (1964) has classified educational technology into three types or approaches.

Hardware Approach

• This approaches implies the use of mechanical materials and equipments in education.
• This approach originated from Physical Science and engineering.
• Using technology in the process of education.
• This approach is a byproduct of the scientific and technological developments of the 20th century.
• In this approach the main feature is the use of audiovisual aids like charts, models, filmstrips, slides, audiocassettes, and sophisticated equipments like film projectors, OHP, slide projector, radio, tape recorder, LCD projector, CD players, DVD Players, TV, computer etc.
• This help for knowledge explosion.
• Helps in reaching out to large numbers and hence help in reducing expenses.
• It leads to an overall efficiency in the educational system.

Software Approach

• This approaches implies the use of Psychological principles and learning theories in education.
• Originated from Behavioural Science.
• It is characterized by task analysis, writing objectives in behavioural terms, selection of appropriate learning strategies, reinforcement of correct responses and constant evaluation.
• In software approach, the Psychology of Learning is exploited for the production and utilization of software techniques and materials in terms of learning materials, teaching-learning strategies, tools of evaluation and other devices to soften and smoothen the task of teaching and learning

System Approach

• System approach is a systematic way of designing, implementation and evaluation of a process in terms of its desired objectives.
• System Approach involves accurate identification of the requirement of problem.
• System Approach is the setting of objectives after identifying their needs in performance-oriented terms.
• It is the application of logic and analysis of techniques to the problems.
• It is the development of methods for the solution of the problems and rigorous measurement of the product against specific performance objectives.

Scope of Educational Technology

• Spelling out Educational goals and Objectives.
  Help for the formulation of objectives and goals of education based on individualized and social needs.
• Curriculum Development.
  Planning of curricular and co-curricular inputs in order to realize planned goals and objectives.
• Developing Teaching-Learning materials and Resources.
  Develops necessary learning materials in the form of programmed learning books, computer learning packages, mass media instruction, individualized self-instructional packages etc.
• Developing Human resources.
  ET covers the area of teacher education.
• Developing Strategies.
  Teaching strategies, approaches and methods are devised and developed catering to different types of students.
• Developing Multi-Sensory Aids.
  Design, development of audio visual aids.
• Feedback Mechanism and Modification.
  ET develops tool of evaluation to provide feedback.
• Develops Passive Instruction Services.
  Educational radio, TV, computers are used for transmitting information. They are passive services since all decisions are in the hands of the providers, i.e., what to be presented, for how long, in what sequence and when.
• Develops Interactive Instruction Services.
  ET tries to provide opportunities for the learner to control the pace, mode of presentation etc. eg. Computer Assisted Instruction (CAI), Teleconferencing via Internet etc.
• Develops Learning Environments.
  ET develops learning environment that are learner friendly. Eg. Simulation
• Developing Information Resources.
  ET bridging the gap between developments in Information Technology and Education. Information Resources : Eg. E-libraries, On line encyclopedia, World Wide Web,
• Develops Communication Devices.
  ET has developed communication devices for students who have mental capability to communicate, but are not able to speak.
• To Reduce the Burden of Teachers.
  ET supports the teacher in Teaching Learning Process.