What is Instructional Technology?

What is Instructional Technology?

Describing Instructional Technology (IT) is a lot like herding cats – it can probably be done but it won’t be easy. It has been a difficult question for educational researchers and technologists to answer. Few other fields have such a difficulty in self-definition. Everyone can readily define such fields as psychology and biology, but the IT field is so new that no one has a definite answer. The term instructional technology is further confused because it is often used interchangeably with the terms educational technology and instructional design.

The Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) (1994) defines IT as "the theory and practice of design, development, utilization management and evaluation of processes and resources for learning."

Silber (1970) describes IT as "the development . . . of instructional systems components (messages, people, materials, devices, techniques, settings) and the management of the development . . . in a systematic manner with the goal of solving educational problems."

According to Tickton (1970), "instructional technology is a way of designing, carrying out, and evaluating the total process of learning and teaching in terms of specific objectives, based on research in human learning and communication and employing a combination of human and non-human resources to bring about more effective instruction."

The U.S. Commission on Instructional Technology (1970) defines IT as ". . . the media born of the communications revolution which can be used for instructional purposes along side the teacher, textbook, and blackboard. . . . a systematic way of designing, implementing and evaluating the total process of learning and teaching in...

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Commission on Instructional Technology. (1970). To improve learning. A report to the President and the Congress of the United States. Washington, D.C: U.S. Government Printing Office.

Jones, B.W. (1999). A Differentiating Definition of Instructional Technology and Educational Technology. Available online: http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Campus/7941/trmpprh.html

Seels, B.B. and Richey, R.C. (1994). Instructional technology: The definition and domains of the field. Washington, D.C: AECT.

Silber, K.H. (1970). What field are we in, anyhow? Audiovisual Instruction, (15(5), pp. 21-24.

Tickton, S.G. (1970). To improve learning: An evaluation of instructional technology. New York: R.R. Bowker Company.

Webster’s Dictionary (1989). Edited by Patterson, R.F. and Litt, D. Miami, FL, P.S.I. & Associates, Inc.