The many changes in educational technologies have been well documented in both the professional and popular literature. What is less well documented is the changing nature of programs that prepare individuals for careers in the broad multi-disciplinary field of educational technology. This article is a first attempt to look at how educational…

Despite the rhetoric around technology as a transformative force in education, transformation is in the hands of teachers not technology. Yet, teachers cannot capitalize on technology's transformative potentials when teacher education is focused on the technology itself or even on the goal of technology integration. Teachers today are challenged…

Currently mobile learning is making headlines in the educational press as a possible path for transforming education, just like it has significantly changed communication in business and society generally. Technology in American schools has a decades-long history of failure compared with its use outside schooling. Until the structure and political…

Personal, Internet-connected technologies are becoming ubiquitous in the lives of students, and ubiquitous computing initiatives are already expanding in educational contexts. Historically in the field of education, the terms one-to-one (1:1) computing and ubiquitous computing have been interpreted in a number of ways and have at times been used…

This article describes how a textbook has traced 30 years of evolution in instructional technology. One of the book's key continuing features is the ASSURE Model. To connect technology to learning, the Classroom Link was developed. As standards were formulated for teachers and students, they were included in the textbook. Other evolutionary…

One of the most explosive areas of growth in the field of higher education is currently in emerging international markets. In developing nations, lack of access to high-quality teachers and educational materials is often the key obstacle preventing students from gaining the skills and knowledge they need to pursue new opportunities and advance in…

Stavros Demetriadis is currently an Assistant Professor with the Department of Informatics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTh) in Greece. He also earned his Bachelor's degree in Physics and a Master Diploma in Electronic Physics from AUTh. He became interested in information and communications technologies when he was a high school…

Web 2.0 tools have emerged as conducive for innovative pedagogy and transformative learning opportunities for youth. Currently,Web 2.0 is often adopted into teachers' practice to simply replace or amplify traditional instructional approaches rather than to promote or facilitate transformative educational change. Current models of innovation…

The authors describe progress at King Khalid University (KKU) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in developing and implementing a user-centered road map for teaching and learning, with pervasive e-learning as a core element. They named the approach "Invisible" e-learning. As part of it, they are investigating ways to capture and share…

Avatars are gaining popularity as an emerging technology to facilitate learning and instruction. Avatars can be used as agents of e-learning applications or as part of immersive learning environments such as Second Life. Research indicates that avatar use has numerous potential benefits, including increased student engagement and opportunities for…

China is a huge country with a large population. Providing equitable and quality "e-education" or use of ICT (information and communications technologies) for teaching and learning in elementary and secondary schools across the country is a national priority. This article briefly sketches the context in China and the challenges relating…

This article provides personal reflections about aspects of the draft "National Educational Technology Plan 2010". Its focus is on ideas in the Plan that could be foundational for transforming our industrial-era schooling system. In sharing these thoughts, the author is speaking only for himself: they do not necessarily reflect the discussions or…

This is the fourth and final installment in a series of articles presenting a new outlook on the methods of instructional design. These articles examine the nature of the process of instructional design and are meant to stimulate discussion about the roles of designers in the fields of instructional design, the learning sciences, and interaction…

Contemporary changes in pedagogy point to the need for a higher level of video production value in most classroom video, replacing the default video protocol of an unattended camera in the back of the classroom. The rich and complex environment of today's classroom can be captured more fully using the higher level, but still easily manageable,…

Educational technology integration in higher education consumes enormous resources but with little evidence of efficacy, due in large measure to lack of vision and a cohesive strategy. Instructors perceive formidable technical skills in undergraduate students, untapped in an instructional role, but this may be unfounded. This article proposes a…