The Definition of Educational Technology

Abstract

Continuing the tradition of the 1963, 1977, and 1994 AECT projects to define the ever-changing contours of the field, the Definition and Terminology Committee completed the most recent definitional effort with the publication of Educational Technology: A Definition with Commentary in 2007. The main purpose of the 384-page book is to frame the issues confronting educational technology in the context of todays world of education and training. What is new, and frankly, controversial, about this latest definition is its insistence that values are integral to the very meaning of educational technology. The first chapter begins with the one-sentence definition of educational technology developed by the committee and approved by the AECT board of directors, and proceeds with a rationale for each of the major terms in the definition.