Author: Dianne Johnson-Wojnicki;xNLx;Date: February 3, 2012;xNLx;EDTECH 501
Audiovisual communications is the branch of educational theory and practice concerned with the design and use of messages which control the learning process. (Ely, 1963, pp. 18-19).
The field could be defined in 2 ways: 1) In its more familiar sense it means the media born of the communications revolution which can be used for instructional purposes alongside of the teacher, textbook, and blackboard... the pieces that make up instructional technology: television, films, overhead projectors, computers and other items of "hardware" and "software"... and/or ... 2) A systematic way of designing, carrying out, and evaluating the total process of learning and teaching in terms of specific objectives, based on research in human learning and communication and employing a combination of human and nonhuman resources to bring about more effective instruction (Commission on Instructional Technology, 1970, p. 21).
Educational technology is a field involved in the facilitation of human learning through the systematic identification, development, organization and utilization of a full range of learning resources and through the management of these processes (AECT, 1972, p. 36).
Educational technology is a complex, integrated process involving people, procedures, ideas, devices, and organization for analyzing problems and devising, implementing, evaluating and managing solutions to those problems involved in all aspects of human learning (AECT, 1977, p. 1).
Instructional technology is the theory and practice of the design, development, utilization, management, and evaluation of processes and resources for learning (Seels & Richey, 1994, p. 1).
Educational technology is the study and ethical practice of facilitating learning and improving performance by creating, using, and managing appropriate technological processes and resources (Januszewski & Molenda, 2008, p. 1).
