Two recent definitions of our field
The following is an excerpt from:
Reiser, R. A. & Ely, D. P. (1997). The Field of Educational Technology as Reflected through Its Definitions. Educational Technology Research and Development, 45 (3), 63-72.When a field is defined, practitioners gain the benefits of a precise statement about their day-to-day operations. Such definitions help to indicate who is "in" and who is "out." The purpose of such a distinction in a broad field such as education is an aid to relating one area to another. Definitions do not create a field but, rather, help to explain its purposes, functions and roles to those within and those outside the field.
THE LONGEST STANDING DEFINITION: The 1977 Definition
The 1977 definition (Association for Educational Communications and Technology, 1977) differed from previous definitions in several ways. Perhaps most noteworthy was its length-16 parts (spread over 16 pages of text) were followed by eight chapters which explained the basic definition in detail. Although the authors clearly indicated that no one portion of the definition was adequate by itself, and that the 16 parts were to be taken as a whole, the first sentence of the definition statement provides a sense of its breadth:
Educational technology is a complex, integrated process involving people, procedures, ideas, devices, and organization, for analyzing problems and devising, implementing, evaluating, and managing solutions to those problems, involved in all aspects of human learning. (p. 1)
Comparisons with Previous Definitions
The length of the 1977 definition caused some concern among those accustomed to terse dictionary definitions. However, by going beyond the few sentences that had typically constituted definitions of the field, the authors were able to address a variety of issues that had not been addressed in previous definitions. Among the more notable additions were detailed tables describing the various learning resources associated with the field and the various functions (clusters of related tasks) performed by professionals in the field. The list of learning resources gave equal emphasis to people, materials and devices, reinforcing the notion that media were not simply to be thought of as supplements to the classroom teacher.
The 1977 definition also broke new ground by incorporating terminology that, within a period of a few years, was to become commonplace in the profession. For example, the definition includes the terms human learning problems and solutions, foreshadowing the frequent current-day use of these terms, especially in the context of performance technology. The definition also was the first to mention the analysis phase of the planning process, which at that time was beginning to receive increasing attention among professionals in the field.
THE CURRENT DEFINITION: New Developments Lead to a New Definition
During the period from 1977 to the mid-1990s, many developments affected the field. Cognitive and constructivist learning theories began to have a major influence on professional practice. The profession was also greatly influenced by technological advances such as the microcomputer, interactive video, CD-ROM, and the Internet. The vast expansion of communications technologies led to burgeoning interest in distance learning, and "new" instructional strategies such as collaborative learning gained in popularity. As a result of these and many other influences, by the mid-1990s the field of instructional technology was very different from what it was in 1977, when the previous definition of the field had been published. Thus it was time to redefine the field.
Work on a new definition of the field officially commenced in 1990 and continued until 1994, when the most recent definition of the field was published by AECT as Instructional Technology: The Definitions and Domains of the Field (Seels & Richey, 1994). The new definition is brief:
Instructional Technology is the theory and practice of design, development, utilization, management, and evaluation of processes and resources for learning. (p. 1)
Trying to define instructional technology...
"it is possible to see that meaning depends considerably on what part of the elephant is being touched and by whom! (Gentry, 1987 cited in Cutshall 1999)"
References
Association for Educational Communications and Technology. (1977). The definition of educational technology: A summary. In The definition of educational technology, (pp. 1-16). Washington, D.C.: AECT.
Cutshall, T. (1999). Trying to define instructional technology.......... Retrieved February 15, 2001, from the World Wide Web: http://www.arches.uga.edu/~cutshall/itdefhome.html
Gentry, C. G. (1987) Educational technology: A question of meaning. In Miller, E. E., and Mosley, M.L. (Eds.), Educational media and technology yearbook. Littelton, CO: Libraries Unlimited. p.4
Richey, R. C., & Seels, B. (1994). Defining a field: A case study of the development of the 1994 definition of instructional technology. In D.P. Ely (Ed.), Educational media and technology yearbook: 1994. Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited.
Reiser, R. A. & Ely, D. P. (1997). The Field of Educational Technology as Reflected through Its Definitions. Educational Technology Research and Development, 45 (3), 63-72.
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