The Concept of Educational Technology and Its Stages of Development
Education technology has emerged due to the continuous changes and rapid successive developments, and the growing and amazing scientific and technical revolution, which led to changing the concept of modern education, and sought to develop education by relying on educational technology with its ability to provide a strong and flexible educational environment, and the means it offers to communicate information.
And due to the emergence of many new concepts that need to define their meanings and implications, and among these concepts, of course, is the concept of educational technology, which is still tainted with a lot of confusion and ambiguity until now. There is an urgent need to define the meaning and content of this concept, and to define the relationship between it and other concepts that some may think are synonymous with it.
Meaning of the word technology in educational technology:
Believes that it is proven that the word technology is a Greek word of Greek origin, and it consists of two syllables, the first “Techno”, which is a prefix meaning craft or workmanship, and the second “Logy”, which is a suffix meaning science, and the word With its two sections, it refers to the science of craft or workmanship.
1. The first syllable is derived from the word Technique, which is an English word meaning technology or applied performance .
And if we bear in mind the second passage, the word technology in this case refers to the science of application, which is the science that is concerned with the craft or craft of applying the theories and research results that we reach in the various fields of science and how they are organized and arranged in a way that allows benefit from them to develop performance in practical situations and increase the effectiveness the efficiency of these positions.
There are many definitions of technology, including:
2. Technology is a comprehensive process; It is based on the application of a structure of science and organized knowledge and the use of human and non-human resources in the manner of systems / systems to achieve purposes of practical value in society (Abdul Latif Al-Jazzar, 112, 1998).
3. Technology: It is a series of human interactions and activities that include knowledge and skills that lead to a productive process and a solution to human problems and to achieve his requirements and satisfy his needs.
It is noticeable that there is confusion between the concept of technology and its achievements and products in educational technology. The meaning of technology has been mistakenly associated with some devices and tools that appeared in the twentieth century, and therefore the meaning of technology for them focuses on modern tools, from the smallest personal and household tools to the largest construction equipment. Mineral exploration and examples only.
The error here lies in the narrow view of technology so that its meaning is limited to devices while ignoring the knowledge that can be benefited from and how to apply it.
This is one of the indicators and symptoms of the difficulties of the translation process. Therefore, techniques refer to methods and techniques of application, and technology refers to knowledge, whether it is theories or research results in various fields of science (Ali Mohamed Abdel Moneim, 2000-41).
And (Mandour Abd al-Salam, on the authority of Right 1994), also quoted his identification of three wrong visions of the concept of technology among many people, namely:
*. What is meant by technology is computers, robots, or any other invention, that is, they realize that technology is only inventions, but this misunderstanding may result in many problems, including the formation of other misconceptions, such as that technology will lead to air and water pollution.
*. Technology refers to the production systems in a particular society.
*. It means the amount of information and skills of an individual to accomplish a specific job.
These erroneous visions of the concept of technology were also reflected in the educational field, as (Abdul-Hafiz Muhammad Salama, 1992, 12) believes that although the concept of technology has been associated with industries for more than a century and a half before the concept entered the world of education, and as soon as technology entered The field of education until it was associated with the concept of using machines and tools in education.
Here we see that the concept is limited to devices and machines only, while ignoring the important part of the concept of technology, which is its reliance on the application of theories and research results that are reached in other fields, including special education, for example, and benefiting from them in the educational field.
In light of the above, technology can be defined as:
“A systematic method that is concerned with applying the theories and research results that are reached in various fields and trying to benefit from them in order to achieve human goals and requirements, according to the systems approach.”
The roots of the concept of educational technology and its historical development:
The concept of educational technology is like other scientific concepts that went through many stages in its development. Among the stages that this concept went through:
Visual Instruction Stage
(Najeh Mohammed Hassan, 1997) confirms that the first term used in this field was about education based on the sense of sight, Visual Instruction.
Also, (Zahir Ahmed, 1996 on Finn, 1967) reports that the beginning of the twenties of the last century witnessed the beginning of educational technology, appearances, and physical form was related to visual education, as its concept was the use of visual objects in education until the concepts that the individual learns are transformed from mere abstract symbols to Concrete tangible things.
The visual aid is among the components of educational technology, and it is any picture, model, real object, or devices that provide the learner with realistic visual experiences for the purpose of:
*.Definition, composition, enrichment and clarification of abstract concepts.
*. Create desired directions.
*. Stimulate other activities for the learner.
One of the weaknesses of this stage is that it focused on materials alone without focusing on design, production, development, evaluation, and materials management, as well as that visual materials were viewed as aids for the reader rather than providing him with educational patterns by themselves (Mustafa Hassan, 1991, 53-54).
Audio-visual instruction stage in educational technology
The discovery of the sound recording process and the emergence of speaking animated images led to the emergence of this stage in the development of educational technology, as the field of visual education was replaced by the field of audiovisual education, and that was in the forties of the twentieth century, especially in the field of special education (Mustafa Hassan, 1991, 53-54) .
The introduction of sound as an essential element in the educational process added some progress to the educational process, as it preserved the continuity of learning by touch and sense, as well as learning by symbol (Zaher Ahmed, 1996, 28).
The concept of audiovisual education gave great attention to the materials more than the process of developing the materials and began to view the audiovisual materials as teaching aids for the teacher (Mustafa Hassan, 1991,54).
There are many terms that appeared at this stage, including: aids to perception – perceptual education – perceptual aids (Hindawy Muhammad Hafez, 1981).
Communication Concept Stage
The introduction of the concept of communication in the field of educational technology had a major role in highlighting and clarifying the theoretical concept of educational technology, as the focus became on the process of transferring information from the source (source) the teacher or any other means to the future (receiver) the learner, and the communication models that discovered the credit for identifying the elements The connection and relationship between these elements.
While we find many communication models that have emerged, the model that was defined by Berlo in 1960 is the simplest and most common and used in the field of educational technology. The message – the channel of communication – the future
Behavioral Science Stage
Perhaps the most important and first contributions of behavioral sciences or psychology in the field of educational technology is what is called programmed education, as the programmed education movement that appeared in the sixties of the last century contributed greatly to the emergence of the concept of educational technology, and it is known that this movement appeared as a result of the interest of the famous psychologist Skinner in applying the results His research in the field of human education.
The relationship between the idea of programmed education and the field of educational technology can be clarified in “The theoretical framework of audio-visual communication in the field of educational technology strongly emphasizes the message or stimuli transmitted to the learner, and there is the fact that the learner response is matched by a reaction to the teacher, and the idea adopted by Skinner reflects This concept, as the behavior of the learner and the promotion of this behavior are considered the cornerstone of the educational process (Zaher Ahmed, 1996, 29).
Despite the clear link between the programmed education movement and the concept of educational technology, a large number of workers in the educational field believed that the field of educational technology narrowed down to educational means, including electronic and non-electronic audio-visual devices in the education process during the implementation of daily lessons in Classrooms (Ali Mohamed Abdel Moneim, 2000, 42).
Systematic Approach Stage
With the development of systemic thought and the development of the principles of programmed education as a result of the emergence of behavioral thought, the process of preparing educational programs and materials was named Instruction Design, and from here appeared those who say that education technology is more extensive and comprehensive than the field of teaching aids, including devices and equipment, because education technology deals with the field of Instructional design in its broadest sense.
This field is considered the main axis of the field of educational technology, and the educational design process is characterized by several activities such as: determining the entry level for learners, formulating educational goals, analyzing content and determining methods of presentation, and other activities (Ali Mohamed Abdel Moneim, 1984, 16).
The concept of systems in educational technology refers to two main meanings:
*. An organized and interrelated group of things or a group of interconnected things that together form an integrated unit. Or is everything composed of a group of parts arranged in a specific system.
*. A set of principles…etc. Or it is a method or a plan. C. Tuijnman (1996 Albert).
Systematic thought helped change the perception of educational technology and its field, and educators began to use the term educational system, which refers to the integrated view and the mutual influence of the components of the educational process, including objectives, content, methods, materials, management, and evaluation methods.
Education technology was considered as a systematic method based mainly on the application of knowledge based on scientific foundations in the various fields of knowledge to plan, design, produce, implement, evaluate and fully control the educational process in the light of specific goals.
This is what educational technology has reached in developed countries, and this thought has helped them to continuously develop their educational systems with everything new in the various fields of education and what results from research results not in the field of education but in other related fields (Ali Mohamed Abdel Moneim, 1984, 16-17). ).
Definition of educational technology:
Arab and foreign educational literature mentioned many definitions of the Instructional Technology Concept, as educational bodies as well as specialized individuals paid attention to the concept of educational technology and its definitions from the beginning.
We can say that educational technology appeared as a field of study and a professional trend in the early sixties, and as a result, audiovisual education appeared and began to be applied in the field of education. Audiovisual means are no longer only for entertainment, but they also helped provide information and achieve communication.
Another result related to educational technology is the emergence of programmatic education, which led to the application of scientific behaviors and concepts in educational designs, and there became a solid ground for the concepts of educational materials, individual education, and the systems approach, and these concepts were integrated into one educational development process (Albert C.Tuijnman/ 1996/1882).
The literature abounds with many definitions of the concept of educational technology, which were formulated by committees or individuals specialized in the field. Some of them can be reviewed as follows:
*. It is a method of action and a method of thinking within an integrated system to achieve the goals of education in the best possible way. 1994, 218).
*. It is defined as the theory and practice of designing, developing, using, managing, and evaluating processes and resources for learning (Barbara Sales, Rita Ritchie, 1998, 37-51).
*. It is a complex and integrated branch of educational technology that includes individuals, procedures, planning, implementation, ideas, devices, organization, problem analysis, evaluation, and management of solutions to these problems, and these solutions take the form of components of the education system. These components are defined and determined by the means, people, materials, devices, rules, and technical processes (Abdul Tawab Sharaf Al-Din, 1990, 23).
*. Or it is a complex, integrated process that includes people, methods, ideas, machines, and educational institutions for the purpose of analyzing educational problems, applying solutions, and evaluating solutions in every and any field related to human learning (Zaher Ahmed, 1996, 33).
*. Or it is the application of knowledge through technology for the purpose of raising the level of education or the use of technological means in the educational process (Abdul Hafez Salama, 1992, 9-10) quoted from Chadwick.
*. It is also a systematic approach or a systematic method of planning and complete evaluation of the educational process in the light of specific objectives (Abdul Hafez Salama, 1992, 9-10), citing Anwar al-Abed.
Modern definition of educational technology
(Ali Abdel Moneim, 2000, 20) believes that educational technology can be viewed through three aspects: the first: educational technology as a field, the second: educational technology as a process, and the third: educational technology as a profession. The field includes (devices – educational materials – human resources – strategies educational – evaluation – theory and research – design – production).
And the process means the systematic and thoughtful use of the aforementioned eight components and benefiting from it and using it rationally so that it results in a valid educational environment that brings about a change in the educational system. , and a specific process to carry out these activities.
It can be said that by analyzing the aforementioned definitions of educational technology, and other definitions, we find that they emanate from multiple entrances. One definition may include more than one entrance, while another definition may be limited to only one entrance. These entrances are:
*. Connection.
*. systems.
*. Use of teaching materials and devices (teaching aids).
*. Application of theories and research in the field of education.
*. The field directed towards achieving a specific goal.
Based on the analysis of previous definitions, educational technology can be defined as: a systematic method based on the application of research results and theories in teaching and learning processes, a field that includes design, production, human resources, educational devices and materials, use and evaluation, and managing these components according to the systems approach in order to develop education. .