What process do you use to decide what instructional/educational technology you will use in a particular study, course, or academic program? For example, do you select a technology and then determine who to employ it? Do you identify an instructional need and then search for technology to address that need?
I always begin with the end in mind. What is the curriculum goal or objective? Next, what are the teaching strategies that will most effectively accomplish that goal? Those should be a blend of teacher-centered and student-centered strategies (not exclusively one or the other). And those strategies should also include formative and summative assessments (many forget that assessment is a teaching method). It's only third (lastly) that I decide which technologies (across object, print, multimedia, transmedia) will most likely support those teaching strategies (that ultimately get at those goals). Too often we make the mistake of thinking that the instructional technology is the method. But it is not. Here's a short article I wrote about this.
http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ779820.pdf
Hi Michael,
I think it's obvious that we try to find the technology adapted to our needs.
From my point of view, using technology is not a target in it self, it is a mean to help doing something or understanding better. It is a mean to solve some problems may be, but we should not use technology without having one specific need.
Thank you for this relevant question! :)
reply to this matter is related to our view to instructional technology.
If we perceive it such as instrumental technology then the position of it is after the determined of purposes and employed it to facilitation of learning.
But if we understand it as a methodology, therefore we can use it on every stage of instruction.
I always begin with the end in mind. What is the curriculum goal or objective? Next, what are the teaching strategies that will most effectively accomplish that goal? Those should be a blend of teacher-centered and student-centered strategies (not exclusively one or the other). And those strategies should also include formative and summative assessments (many forget that assessment is a teaching method). It's only third (lastly) that I decide which technologies (across object, print, multimedia, transmedia) will most likely support those teaching strategies (that ultimately get at those goals). Too often we make the mistake of thinking that the instructional technology is the method. But it is not. Here's a short article I wrote about this.
http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ779820.pdf
We MUST consider everything! The lesson/program, objectives, pedagogical aspects, lesson plan, stages in executing the teaching-learning, activities, materials, our readiness, our skills to develop, execute and evaluate the whole process, our learners and etc.
It is an interesting question for me as I teach systems development. As others have pointed out, if you have not built or adopted the technology yet, you would start by analyzing your goals and requirements (needs). From a methodology perspective, then you would identify and investigate your candidates or alternative technologies that may fulfill those requirements. You would select the most suitable one for your needs and create a plan to implement that system or technology (as well as testing and training). Since these decisions and technologies are here to stay at least for a number of years, if you are taking the reverse approach, start with the technology in place, and then understand that technology and how to make the best of it. Or if you identify weaknesses, then think about how you can supplement that system or use additional tools to make it work better. Since your question was about the process of technology or system selection and implementation, I have added a link below that might be of relevance. Two years ago, some of my colleagues from the University of Maryland system published an article about a system/project management approach for selecting educational technology. You can jump to the third page to get a quick snapshot of their adopted approach. Thanks for the engaging question.
http://www.jite.org/documents/Vol11/JITEv11IIPp283-300Aggarwal1108.pdf
First of all, you should know the characteristics of the topic/content to define whether it needs to be delivered using technology or not. Then, to analyse these characteristics in addition to learners' needs to decide which kind of technology is suitable for the content and the learners regarding their abilities and needs. In addition, both students and teachers should have the prerequisites to use technology in learning and teaching context and don't forget to be sure that you have the required infrastructure for using every kind of technology. Afterword, it is the time to reorganise learning content and redesign learning situations to be ready for the developing phase and then for implementation phase.
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