Etymology Influences IT Things Non-IT Things Main

While Rome BurnsRome Burns

The field of Instructional Technology is focused in part on ensuring a definition of the field itself and determining what is and what isn't Instructional Technology. Arguments are raging in lengthy texts and conference presentations about what Instructional Technology means, whether Instructional Technology and Educational Technology are the same or different, and whether Instructional Technology is truly a distinct field. One senses that the field threatens traditional instruction and is forced to seek validation through definition. All the while, students are learning from computers, with computers, and using and applying computer technologies in everyday life that weren't even imaginable when the debate began. Interactive text messaging over cell phones allows students to undermine the instructor standing in front of the classroom or giving a test even as the same instructor is defending his or her methodology from the assault of Instructional Technologists. Who has the answer to question number twelve?

Instructional Technology is something about computers, something about design, something about teaching, something about learning, and something about the process as a whole.