The two realms of Ed Tech - part 1

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There are many reasons technology has not enjoyed wide-spread visible success in public and private education. Lack of support, scarce resources, and no school-wide technology vision often exist in a muddled, hazy, disorganized triumvirate. Schools don’t have enough money, and when they do buy technology, they usually don’t know how to use it to increase student learning.

There is some recent research which suggests technology in education could be done better. Research reports notwithstanding, my observations as an instructional technologist over the last seven years support the idea that schools don’t really “get” IT.

Technology in education can be thought of as two interrelated spheres. One realm is administrativia, the other is pedagogical. Administrativia is concerned with making the life of a teacher easier; making the normal administrative tasks easier, more efficient and more effective. Pedagogical use of technology concerns itself with the very essence of teaching - learning. Using technology for administrative tasks is much different than using technology to teach and learn. Sadly, this is an area schools confuse; and as a result, screw up the effective use of technology.

Both realms require a different approach in support, training, and use.