TECHNOLOGY: Terminology Confusion
A few weeks ago (June 28th, to be exact) I was involved in an #edchat where the topic was: What does a flipped classroom look like and is it a sustainable model for teaching and learning? One of the strands of discussion that took place inevitably centered around the use of technology, where Tom Whitby reminded us that:
Being a certified technology (the subject) teacher, I replied to both Tom and the person who re-tweeted his statement. I couldn’t find a screenshot of my exact statement, but I know it was something like “Ed tech isn’t a subject, but technology (former industrial arts) is. Let’s not confuse them.”
Certainly I could’ve been more eloquent in 140 characters… perhaps sending a follow-up tweet explaining why the different uses of the term were personal to me. It didn’t hit me until afterwards that some people might live in states/countries/provinces where there isn’t a mandatory “technology” class in their school. This post was meant to educate people about the different uses of the term so that you understand where I’m coming from.
Confusion: Technology Education
No longer called “shop” or “industrial arts”, New York State (and many others) revised their standards and renamed the program to “Technology” in the mid-1980s. Wood shop, metal shop, plastics, transportation, electronics, drafting, principles of engineering, problem solving, and even some farming courses in the rural districts fell beneath this umbrella. One year of technology is required in New York State by the time a student finishes the 8th grade. Most schools offer the course .5 year in 7th and .5 year in 8th grade, most often splitting the year with either Art or Family & Consumer Science (formerly known as home economics).
In a technology education course there aren’t any rules forcing the use of instructional technologies at all. I could teach (and did, years ago) a complete semester of technology never as much as touching a computer. Technology (in New York) is based on seven key ideas:
- Engineering Design
- Management of Technology
- Impacts of Technology
- History of Technology
- Tools, Resources, and Processes of Technology
- Computer Technology
- Technological Systems
The term “technology” in this sense is defined as “anything human-made that extends our ability to do something.” Hammers are technology, as are computers, ipods, doorbells, cow bells, underwear, and dynamite. Technology is very much a course here in NY, and it has little to do with what we think of as technology in everyday vernacular.
To make things a bit fuzzier, NY doesn’t currently have any standards for Ed Tech. Unlike most other states who have adopted the ISTE NETS standards, the only time many of us in NY hear the word “technology” is when referring to the course. My district has adopted the NETS standards, but I’m going to guess fewer than five percent of the staff are even aware of this. It isn’t state-tested, our teaching certificates don’t depend on it, it isn’t part of the observation process… and the implementation of educational technologies in the classroom doesn’t seem to be a priority for most administrators. I’d love to discuss the ed tech support system in place but it’s pretty complex. Suffice it to say many districts don’t have a single instructional technologist on staff and they contract all of their PD out to regional BOCES systems – which is good in some ways, but really limits teachers to the amount of support they have when they’re in the middle of class and something technical “just isn’t working”.
Local source of confusion: International Baccalaureate (IB) Technology
Our district is an IB district. Not just one building or two, but all of our middle school students are part of the program and any high school student who wishes to pursue their diploma is free to do so regardless of the building they are in. I’m not going to talk much about IB itself here – there are plenty of resources online – but I did want to point out how they refer to technology. IB Technology includes any subject or lesson based around their 5-step design cycle (Investigate, Plan, Design, Create, Evaluate). In my district this includes business courses, technology courses, f/c sciences, and middle school health. Even though the state of NY tenures us in our individual areas, IB puts us all under the same umbrella. This just adds one more level of confusion to the word – especially since all of these classes are referred to as “technology” when we’re discussing schedules with our students.
Global source of confusion: Instructional / Educational Technology
This, of course, needs no explanation. Generally referring to modern computer/media-based educational tools, this is what most of the people who read this post will think of when they think of technology. In some districts and states there are people referred to as “technology integrators” – they aren’t going to show you how to use a bandsaw as part of your unit on 18th century capitalism, but they are going to help with setting up a blog or showing how Twitter can be an amazing source of information.
Another source of confusion: Information Technology (IT)
I can’t tell you how many times a friend or colleague has called me excitedly about a job opening they found. ”Corning Incorporated is looking for a few IT people! You should apply!” Since I loved computer programming and networking, I’d actually be able to pull off one of these jobs if I had to. However, IT is much more of a technical subject than Ed Tech, IB Tech, or Tech Ed. <–and yes, I just differentiated between strands of technology by using the term “technical”.
IT is based more in the innerworkings of communication devices and systems. An IT person can probably program a router, diagnose dropped packets on a VoIP network, or set up a DMZ area to keep hackers out of your important data. They are the ones who deal with security, connectivity, and usability for the end-users.
Conclusion
I’m an IB technology teacher of technology education who has a degree in (and an affinity for) educational technology and who has a bit of experience in the information technology world. Does that win me an iPad?
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