The 3 Dimensions of Educational Technology

Attempts to further provide fuller description of educational technology has led to the emergence of three dimensions of educational technology (Davids, 1975 and Plump and Pals (1989).

Educational Technology I (ET I)

This dimension of educational technology focuses more on physical media that are designed and developed to improve the quality of teaching-learning process.

This refers to the use of instructional materials of all categories to facilitate learning (Afolabi, 2008). It can also be called the hardware approach to teaching and learning. In short, ET(I) is synonymous to the meaning we gave to Technology in Education earlier in this unit.

Educational Technology II (ET II)

The meaning of this dimension of educational technology is closely related to the one we earlier provided in the discussion of Technology of Education. Indeed, the major difference between the two concepts is that of nomenclature (names). ET (II), therefore refers to all strategies, techniques and means through which instructions are designed, planned, implemented and evaluated. It does not exclude integration of laws and rules especially in the field of education for proper integration and utilisation of media for better results.

Dimensions of Educational Technology: Educational Technology III

This is an amalgam of Educational Technologies I and II that seeks to produce desirable effect.

This aspect of educational technology is usually attributed to philosophical and holistic orientation based on the concept of problem analysis and goal achievement. Simply put, Educational Technology III has its roots on the systems theories and applications. This aspect attempts at putting man and machine efforts together to improve of instruction. It has led to a popular concept known as “Systems Approach”. Learn more about this concept in the subsequent units.