*** NOTICE ***

 

The ERIC Clearinghouse on Information & Technology
web site is no longer in operation.

 

The United States Department of Education continues to offer the

 

ERIC Database

at

https://www.eric.ed.gov

 

All ERIC Clearinghouses plus AskERIC will be closed permanently as of December 31, 2003.

 

In January 2004, the Department of Education will implement a reengineering plan for ERIC. The new ERIC mission continues the core function of providing a centralized bibliographic database of journal articles and other published and unpublished education materials. It enhances the database by adding free full text and electronic links to commercial sources and by making it easy to use and up to date.

 

From January 2004 until the new ERIC model for acquiring education literature is developed later in 2004, no new materials will be received and accepted for the database. However, the ERIC database will continue to grow, as thousands of documents selected by the ERIC clearinghouses throughout 2003 will be added. When the new model is ready later in 2004, the new ERIC contractor will communicate with publishers, education organizations, and other database contributors to add publications and materials released from January 2004 forward.

 

Please use:

www.eric.ed.gov to

 

?         Search the ERIC database.

?         Search the ERIC Calendar of Education-Related Conferences.

?         Link to the ERIC Document Reproduction Service (EDRS) to purchase ERIC full-text documents.

?         Link to the ERIC Processing and Reference Facility to purchase ERIC tapes and tools.

?         Stay up-to-date about the ERIC transition to a new contractor and model.

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Archived version of the site:

March 2000 EDO-IR-2000-01 The Field of Educational Technology: Update 2000 A Dozen Frequently Asked Questions by: Donald P. Ely Educational technology is a term widely used in the field of education (and other areas), but it is often used with different meanings. The word technology is used by some to mean hardware-the devices that deliver information and serve as tools to accomplish a task-but those working in the field use technology to refer to a systematic process of solving problems by scientific means. Hence, educational technology properly refers to a particular approach to achieving the ends of education. Instructional technology refers to the use of such technological processes specifically for teaching and learning. Other terms, such as instructional development or educational media, which refer to particular parts of the field, are also used by some to refer to the field as a whole. The purpose of this digest is to provide background information and sources that help one to understand the concept of educational technology. This digest should serve as a "pathfinder" to relevant and timely publications that view the field from a variety of perspectives. What is educational technology? The most recent definition of the field (which uses the term, instructional technology) has been published by the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT): Instructional Technology is the theory and practice of design, development, utilization, management, and evaluation of processes and resources for learning. The complete definition, with its rationale, is presented in the AECT publication: * Seels, B.B. & Richey, R.C. (1994). Instructional technology: The definition and domains of the field. Washington, DC: Association for Educational Communicati