Research trend in Modern world for the field of eduction.

THE EVOLUTION OF RESEARCH IN EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY 

The field of educational technology found its origins in the discovery made
by researchers and practitioners of the fact that the instruction can be planned,
projected, evaluated and revised before being applied on students. In other words it
can be treated as an object on which a set of procedures i.e. technologies) can be
applied. 
Educational technology is, according to the definition of the Association
for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT), “...the theory and
practice of design, development, utilization, management and evaluation of
processes and resources for learning” (Seels & Richey, 1994, p. 231). Another
definition is the one offered by Reisser (1987), who states that educational
technology is the systematic way of designing, utilization and evaluation of the
teaching/learning process, in terms of specific objectives, based on research in
human learning and communication fields and on combining  human and technical
resources.
The research made in the educational technology field, according to Winn
(2002) has moved through four  stages or “ages”, each being built on the previous
one and each of them being characterized by a specific focus, specific theoretical
assumptions and practical implications.
In what follows, we will review the „ages” of educational technology
research, discussing the key theoretical issues, the research directions and the
weakness associated with each of these stages. 

1. The age of instructional design - a focus on content 
2. The age of the message design - a focus on format
3. The age of simulation - a focus on interactions
 
To be continue ........




Sources : www.cognitrom.ro