The Association
for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) is an international
group of professionals who share the common interest of helping individuals
by utilizing media and technology to improve learning. Beginning in 1923,
it is the oldest association of its kind and serves to promote high standards
for its members, in addition to providing the most widely accepted definition
and terminology for the field (AECT, 2001a). In 1994, after three years
of deliberation by the Association’s Definition and Terminology
Committee, a newly updated definition based on research, theory and practice
was published by two of its members, Barbara Seels and Rita Richey.
The official definition
of Instructional Technology (IT), as endorsed by the AECT (2001a), is
“the theory and practice of design, development, utilization, management
and evaluation of processes and resources for learning.". This definition
recognizes the established traditions and trends within the field and
is based upon several assumptions:
- The terms “Instructional Technology” and “Educational Technology” are considered synonymous within the field.
- Instructional Technology is a profession with an established knowledge base, which involves both practice and the pursuit of academic study.
- All research and practices conform to the profession’s established ethical norms.
- Practices must yield effective, efficient and economical results.
- Principal areas of concern to scholars and practitioners, in regards to a knowledge base and performed functions, comprise the domains of the field (design, development, utilization, management, evaluation).
- Focus on both process and product is necessitated by the field.
- Elements of the definition which are not recognized or plainly understood by IT professionals should be removed (Seels & Richey, 1994).
The discipline
of Instructional Technology is devoted to employing techniques with a
broad theoretical base rooted in learning theories, instructional theories,
general systems theory and communication theories from the fields of psychology,
engineering, communication, computer science, business and education.
The five domains within the field, as shown in Figure
1, are the synergistic embodiment of the interrelation between theory
and practice with each consisting of a unique knowledge base (Seels &
Richey, 1994; AECT, 2001a).
For more information
regarding the History of the Field, click here
(AECT, 2001b).
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