Deliberate Dumbing Down of America Public Education

Appendix VIII

Excerpts from “The Field of Educational Technology”

“The Field of Educational Technology: A Statement of Definition,” by Donald P. Ely, Ed. Published in Audiovisual Instruction (Association of Educational Computing and Technology: Washington, D.C.), October 1972 (pp. 36 ff). There is no single author of this statement since the definition process involved several hundred people over the period of one year. Kenneth Silber spent more time than any other person and provided continuity through several drafts. Other writers included Kenneth Norberg, Geoffrey Squires, and Gerald Torkelson. Significant contributions were made by Robert Heinich, Charles F. Hoban, Jr., Wesley Meierhenry, and Robert Wagner through discussion papers prepared early in the process. Reactions from related fields were helpful—Desmond Cook (Educational Psychology), Keith Mielke (Telecommunications), and Robert Taylor (Library and Information Science). Each reviewed an earlier draft of the manuscript and met to discuss it. Finally, credit should go to the more than 100 members of the Association of Educational Computing and Technology [AECT, spin-off of the NEA, ed.] who participated at the open hearings held during the Minneapolis convention. And now, the process must go on with each reader. May I have your reactions? Signed by Donald P. Ely, Editor, Chairman, Definition and Terminology Committee, AECT, Branch of the National Education Association.… When scientific and experimental methods are applied in an orderly and comprehensive way to the planning of instructional tasks, or to entire programs, this process is sometimes known as “systems design,” or the “systems approach to instructional development.” Implicit in the systems approach is the use of clearly stated objectives, experimentally derived, data to evaluate the results of the system, and feedback loops which allow the system to improve itself based on evaluation. A systematic approach usually involves: needs assessment (to determine what the problem really is); solution selection (to meet the needs); development of instructional objectives (if an instructional solution is indeed needed); analysis of tasks and content needed to meet the objectives; selection of instructional strategies; sequencing of instructional events; selection of media; developing or locating the necessary resources;

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