Page 35 - Educational Technology A Primer for the 21st Century

22 1 Introduction to Educational Technology
Hartley and colleagues (2010) conducted a three-year study aimed at developing
a curriculum for advanced learning technology. Among the dimensions of practice
and scholarship relevant to the field, they cited the following:

• Computer and software architecture and engineering
• Design research
• Human–computer interaction
• Learning psychology
• Program evaluation
• Project management
• Social interactions
• System thinking.

Another way of conceptualizing the dimensions of this complex and
multi-disciplinary discipline is in terms of the activities, processes, and things with
which educational technologists are commonly involved, as in the following brief
overview.

1.3.1 Communication/Coordination

When conducting the research to establish competencies for professionals involved
in various aspects of educational technology, the International Board of Standards
for Training, Performance and Instruction (ibstpi) found that the most critical skill
area was communication (see the various standards located at http://ibstpi.org/).
Communication competency includes oral, written, and aural skills as well as the
ability to make an effective use of various communication modalities and repre-
sentation forms. Along with effective communication skills are associated coordi-
nation skills (e.g., collaborating, compromising, managing, leading). Unfortunately,
very little effort is placed on developing communication and coordination skills in
many academic programs where the emphasis tends to be on mastering the subject
matter. We consider it a myth that people are born with a golden tongue or gift of
gab or leadership skills. Those skills can be trained and developed and are among
the competences recommended by Hartley et al. (2010) for those being trained as
advanced learning technologists.

1.3.2 Content/Resources

With the advent of the Internet, the resources that educational technologists and
content experts can access for inclusion in a learning environment are enormous.
One way to capture the complexity of this dimension is in terms of a hierarchy that
begins with information resources at the base of a pyramid (see Fig. 1.3). Infor-
mation that has been determined to be reliable and accurate can be considered
knowledge and a candidate for inclusion among learning resources. When that