A lot of what I'm going to be writing about in this blog will be centered around my studies and a very formalized discussion about education. I'm in an Instructional Design and Educational Technology (IDET) program at the University of Utah. While this sounds very technical, it relates very easily to general good teaching practices and considerations.

For example, the term Instructional Design refers to the concept of breaking down the instructional process into its most basic and functional form and creating an organized system to represent all of the different processes involved in good instruction. Everything from analysis and design to implementation and revision is a part of this system.

If you have ever taught, you would realize that these are things that a teacher does every day.

The reason to study this is fairly obvious, I think. A teacher does these things every day, but there is interesting evidence to suggest that good teachers take the time to do these things better. There is definite value in studying the system and attempting to master the various aspects of Instructional Design.

On the topic of Educational Technology, it is interesting to note how we are using the two words. To many people, including educators, the word technology can only ever be used in one context: computers. When people discuss spending money on technology, it is always to upgrade computers, or purchase ultra-compact PCs, or to put a disc player of various types in every classroom. There is nothing wrong with any of those things, if done correctly, they can streamline a lot of the educational process. However, the word "technology" encompasses so much more.

Technology is nothing but the usage of tools of varying types to serve varying purposes. These tools can be anything from advanced smartphones to the discovery of the wheel. I think it could easily be argued that something like existentialism or communism could be considered technologies. If this is the case, then certainly critical thinking is one of the most important technologies ever developed.

Educational technology is, then, tools of varying types to implement education-specific goals. This could be anything from a pencil or a pencil sharpener to applications like Microsoft Word or cloud based online storage for easy document retrieval. New ideas about education, such as evidence and methodologies that suggest collaborative work in school is one of the better ways to teach, or any development in educational psychology, could also be considered educational technology.

My focus with educational technology is going to be smart, informed use and development. As with any development of technology, there are always unintended consequences with its use. The unintended consequences are what make many teachers afraid to embrace new ideas and many new ideas themselves fail.

I'm sure it will be an interesting journey.