Introduction to Instructional Technology

Okay, I disappeared from this blog for a while. I want to keep up with it much more regularly, so I'll try to tie it in with my current academic pursuits at Georgia State University. Right now, I am trying to get into the PhD Instructional Technology program. I've been taking classes since last year to get the hang of it, and now I need to apply and get into the program. Yes, I should have applied sooner, but it's extremely competitive since there are very limited spaces. Hopefully I've made a good impression on my instructors so far, but that can all change in the blink of an eye. I still have something to prove and will continue to have to prove myself until the day I graduate from the program (provided that I get into it)...

So enough about me and more about just what the field of Instructional Technology is about and how it relates to New Media.

Figure 1: Robot taking over the computer lab.
Beware. Original images from here and here.

What is Instructional Technology?

In a few words, Instructional Design and Technology (IDT or IT) is a field that focuses on the meaningful integration of technology into classroom instruction so that more opportunities for learning, communicating, and collaborating can take place between all participants in a class (students and instructor alike).

The IT program at GSU is completely online, so there is a great emphasis on using Web 2.0 Tools/New Media. This is not to say that an IT course has to focus on online/distance education. An IT course is meant to generate ideas for how a course (whether it's in a traditional classroom setting, lab, online, or anywhere else) can use technology to assist the learning process. It is also not an issue of technology replacing teachers, but one of instructors and students using technology as a system of support.

So what is the purpose of technology in the classroom? Can't instructors get the job done with a chalk board, projector, screen, and transparencies? Maybe they can, but our society is much more heavily dependent on the use of computer mediated technology than it has been in the past, so it's up to educators to follow suit in order to prepare students to understand and become adaptable to a technologically advanced world that they will have to interact in currently and when they prepare to enter the workforce. Not only is it about getting students adjusted to using technology, but it's also about finding new ways to help students learn course specific content in ways that are advantageous and engaging.

Would you have a better experience while sitting in a classroom and taking note while a teacher narrates class material or would you retain more information from a multi-modal source that integrates some combination of audio, video, text, and graphics while giving users the opportunity to add their own ideas, ask questions, and converse with others all within one system? Even if you argue that these things can be done in traditional classrooms to some extent, at least the discipline of Instructional Technology is putting the idea of collaborative learning and interactivity more to the forefront. It doesn't just have to be about learning with computers, but empowering students to work together, showcase their work, and generate knowledge that can be understood and used by others.

At least that's part of what I'm taking away from this...


Future Career in IT

So if I get a PhD in IT, what will I do with it? Good question. Perhaps I will become an instructor in a department of Education at another university or community college. Maybe I will just return to a department of English and teach Professional Communication or Rhetoric. Teaching higher education courses is the plan, but I'm open to working in the private sector.


Recommended Readings

Here are some blogs that focus on Instructional Technology in case you would like additional readings. Hey! That doesn't mean you can't still check back here.

Free Technology For Teachers gives information about New Media devices and online resources that could be of interest to instructors. The blog raises awareness of different applicaitons and gives somre reviews or ideas on how to use them in the classroom. There is more to the blog, but that is one of it's major purposes.

http://www.freetech4teachers.com/search?updated-max=2011-08-26T07%3A00%3A00-04%3A00&max-results=5


The Innovative Educator gives reviews of technology but it also provides articles about other ongoing issues in education. It isn't strictly about technology, but it is an interesting blog to anyone involved in education. Most of the posts deal with educational issues, such as what the author may consider to be outdated modes of instruction (like standardized tests or the constraints of traditional classrooms, for instance).

http://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.com/


Elearn Space is more of a personal interest blog by someone that works in the Technology Enhanced Knowledge Research Institute at Athabasca University. I just happen to find a number of the posts to be interesting, not because he goes in depth with reviews of technology or teaching practices, but because he just gives his own take on a topic related to IT.

http://www.elearnspace.org/blog/


Feel free to leave a comment about any topics that you would like for me to cover in future blog posts. If you have any questions or comments about this post, then definitely leave those as well.