Meaning of Educational Technology

What is Educational Technology?

Educational technology  is also referred to as technology of education and is in reality incorporation of IT into the realm of classroom. This is a constantly evolving field that depends upon technological advancements. The use of technology in education has many advantages just as technology has enriched the world in all walks of life. One can see and feel the change in air as classrooms are becoming modern and teachers and students are benefiting with gadgets such as smart boards and computers.

The advent of the internet has made a sea of change in the way teachers can demonstrate concepts and ideas to children and make learning almost fun. Information today has been encapsulated in the internet which can be beautifully used to allow learning be a fun rather than being a drudgery which it used to be in earlier times.

What this has meant is that education is no longer limited to the privileged few, and even those who are downtrodden and poor can learn all the ideas and concepts which were like a dream to them in earlier times. Internet today has become very commonplace and its true potential can be realized by disseminating knowledge through it to all, without any discrimination.

Educational technology  is not limited to making use of technology to make learning and imparting of education easier in all possible ways but also a field of study in itself for those who are involved with developing technological tools for educational purposes. Keeping in mind the end user which are the students and teachers, technologists are busy inventing tools and gadgets for use in classrooms. These are the people who are behind this revolution and are working overtime in the field of educational technology to cover all the processes of learning and instruction.

Educational technology refers to but is not limited to the use of hardware and software, including internet and other related activities, for the purpose of increasing human capabilities. The use of technology in education is always welcome as it enables both teachers and students to gain knowledge in a much better and faster rate. Nevertheless, ultimately it is teachers who make use of all the technology and hence, they will remain as important as ever, and technology can never even think of replacing teachers.

Educational technology is the effective use of technological tools in learning. As a concept, it concerns an array of tools, such as media, machines and networking hardware, as well as considering underlying theoretical perspectives for their effective application

Educational technology as defined by Richey  "the study and ethical practice of facilitating learning and improving performance by creating, using and managing appropriate technological processes and resources". The Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) denoted instructional technology as "the theory and practice of design, development, utilization, management, and evaluation of processes and resources for learning."As such, educational technology refers to all valid and reliable applied education sciences, such as equipment, as well as processes and procedures that are derived from scientific research, and in a given context may refer to theoretical, algorithmic or heuristic processes: it does not necessarily imply physical technology.