Jeff Ochs

EDTECH 501
Elements of Educational Technology

After reading the entire article, I went back to the beginning to examine the specific definition of
the educational technology concept: Educational technology is the study and ethical practice of
facilitating learning and improving performance by creating, using, and managing appropriate
technological processes and resources. I have always looked at technology as a tool to
accomplish a task. Two of the elements in this article stood out to me as an administrator who
must provide learning tools for students and staff. Those were Facilitating and Appropriate.
Facilitating
The use of tools in any situation serve to facilitate accomplishment of the task. In the area of
technology, the article claims that technology can facilitate learning rather than cause or control
learning. In an actual school environment, facilitation of technology tools is multi-layered and is
dependent on a variety of factors. What tools are necessary for the task, how might they work
in the learning environment and what resources are available to provide these tools?
Facilitation of these learning tools is just as important as the are in facilitation of learning for
students.
Appropriate
Again referring to technology as a learning tool, appropriateness of the technology is paramount
when facilitating learning. What might be appropriate in a secondary classroom may not be in
an elementary classroom and vice-versa. However, in many cases, it is the use of the tool and
it appropriateness of the learning situation that determines the effectiveness. This appropriate
use of technology can fluctuate across classrooms within a school. Even if all classrooms have
similar technology tools (interactive whiteboards, small desktop lab, etc), it may not be
appropriate for that room and the tools could be utilized in other areas and not wasted just to
have all classrooms be similar. Specialized technologies may be necessary for particular
subject areas or student needs and would only be appropriate in those situations. It is important
to consider all of the factors when providing tools for learning.
It has regularly been a challenge to facilitate the appropriate technological tools utilizing the
resources available to us in the schools. Sometimes the challenge is the limitations with
budget, infrastructure, time, and availability. And other times, its challenging because you are
required to do it in a particular manner that isnt appropriate or practical for the school.