Elements of Educational Technology
Strangely enough reading this article brought me back to my days of being a stay-at-home mother. The connection is made because in those days I remember trying to have conversations with adults and feeling inadequate because I couldn't remember how to talk in sentences longer than a few words and felt that my brain had turned to the consistency of the food I was feeding my kids. That same feeling came back for a few minutes when I read just the definition of the concepts. I don't often string together that many words when communicating with my second grade students. At first, the definition seemed to be just that, a string of words that didn't really seem to mean much. However, when I continued reading, the meaning became evident. All those words are very closely related to one another in the sense of technology. I was surprised to see how intertwined they all are, so much so, that a few of the definitions seemed almost identical.
Memories of my college and early teachings days also came flooding back to my mind while reading this article. These memories were brought on by two small pieces of the article that no one else probably noticed. Under the element of managing, the words "audiovisual centers" jumped right out at me. The other piece was the fact that the element of resources was one of the smallest explanations. I remember one of my college classes briefly taught us about the resources available in the college's audiovisual center and how we needed to familiarize ourselves with them for school and our future careers. They contained overheads, mimeograph machines, ditto masters, and filmstrip and film projectors. This was technology for me when I began my career 27 years ago. (Yes, I opened cans of film, loaded a projector, hoped it didn't get stuck or you could watch the film melt right before your eyes, and heard the thwap thwap noise of the film as it spun around at the end.) Resources was technology years ago. That's all it was. Now it is one of the smallest elements.
When I think about what I am personally embarking on with this program and how it change the way I teach my students, or rather how I will help facilitate my students become learners, I am amazed about the changes. Technology has evolved from a few machines(yes, I do realize it has always been more than this but to most it's what it was) to a completely different method of teaching. It is interesting too because I really can see such a change in the students as well. Without knowing it my students are asking for the change.
Memories of my college and early teachings days also came flooding back to my mind while reading this article. These memories were brought on by two small pieces of the article that no one else probably noticed. Under the element of managing, the words "audiovisual centers" jumped right out at me. The other piece was the fact that the element of resources was one of the smallest explanations. I remember one of my college classes briefly taught us about the resources available in the college's audiovisual center and how we needed to familiarize ourselves with them for school and our future careers. They contained overheads, mimeograph machines, ditto masters, and filmstrip and film projectors. This was technology for me when I began my career 27 years ago. (Yes, I opened cans of film, loaded a projector, hoped it didn't get stuck or you could watch the film melt right before your eyes, and heard the thwap thwap noise of the film as it spun around at the end.) Resources was technology years ago. That's all it was. Now it is one of the smallest elements.
When I think about what I am personally embarking on with this program and how it change the way I teach my students, or rather how I will help facilitate my students become learners, I am amazed about the changes. Technology has evolved from a few machines(yes, I do realize it has always been more than this but to most it's what it was) to a completely different method of teaching. It is interesting too because I really can see such a change in the students as well. Without knowing it my students are asking for the change.
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