Main Body
CHAPTER 5: Technologies for Blended Learning
Introduction
As you begin to plan out the educational technologies you will use to create your own blended learning course or program, it is important to keep in mind a very broad definition of technology that includes not only the physical equipment but also the software, services, and media options available to you.
In this chapter, we will first consider this expanded definition of technology in education and why it is important to see beyond the hardware, followed by an outline of some of the main categories of educational technologies, including their potential applications and issues.
Technology in Education: An Expanded Definition
Educational technologies are often initially defined in terms of hardware: the computers or mobile devices our students will use and the networks — wired and wireless — that connect them. The physical equipment will of course be a major and essential component of any technology plan and has to be considered carefully in terms of both available resources and learner accessibility, whether your blended model includes an in-school computer lab or a bring-your-own-device flipped classroom. We have discussed and provided guidance for some of these structural issues around technology choice in earlier sections of this guidebook, including Chapter 3 on “Successful Blended Learning.”
However, one of the key themes of this guidebook is that simply introducing new technological equipment into the classroom is not sufficient for creating a blended learning environment. To understand the contributions technology can make to learning, we need a broader definition of educational technologies.
Technology is a tool or system used to solve problems. In education, that means “things or tools used to support teaching and learning” (Bates, 2015). Under this definition, educational technologies — as tools — can include software (such as word processors), systems (such as learning management systems), services (such as YouTube or Google Docs), and environments (such as virtual worlds), as well as the hardware and networks on which these all depend. It can also include traditional “technologies” such as blackboards and textbooks, though we will focus here on their online or digital counterparts.
The other component of the definition is equally important: technologies solve problems. A tool becomes a technology when it is applied with some intention to meet some human need; the definition of an educational technology will include its teaching or learning purpose. In many cases, this will mean delivering learning content as various forms of media (e.g., text, video, games), but it can also include social or collaborative activities (such as discussion boards or videoconferencing) or the creation of artifacts by learners (assessment activities or e-portfolios). The purposes we identify and the problems our technologies are meant to solve reflect our values and priorities as educators;