What is instructional Technology? Benefits of Instructional Technology

Instructional design refers to the practice of designing, creating, and delivering digital and physical instructional experiences and products for those who need it.

•The technology part of instructional design and technology often refers to the use of technology to design, develop, and implement the instruction.

Ways in Which Technology can be Used to Support Instructional Design

1. Improvement in Teaching Learning Process

•It helps in improving the teaching learning process and makes it more purposive.

•It helps in discussing the concept of teaching, analysis of teaching process, variables of teaching, phases and levels of teaching, principles of teaching, maxims of teaching and relationship between teaching and learning

2. Development of Teaching Learning Material

•Learning materials are an important component in the teaching and learning process.

•Technology provides a wide array of resources that could be used for learning purposed. It is important to note that technological resources are not confined to information communications ones.

•Use of microscopes, calculators, rain gauges, globes etc all constitute instructional technologies.

3. Development of Teaching Learning Strategies

•Use of technology helps the teacher develop teaching and learning strategies that aim at enhancing learning.

•Such strategies include project based learning inquiry based learning and collaboration

Influence of Instructional Technologies in Learning

•Instructional technology is meant to use technology to mediate meaningful learning experiences and to focus on supporting the learner and the process of learning.

•Learners are viewed as active agents who bring their knowledge, past experiences, and ideas into the learning process, which impacts how they learn new information.

•As learners engage in the learning process, they construct and negotiate new meaning individually and with others.

•The goal of learning is to gain new understanding, broaden perspective, and applies knowledge in practice rather than to reproduce a specific set of facts.

•The instructor facilitates the interactions among peers to promote deeper understanding and acts as a guide and a mentor rather than “a sage on the stage.

Incorporating Technology in Instructional Designs

Two key ideas will guide you in making wise technology choices in your design work. These include:

• Aligning Technology with Pedagogy

Recognizing that technology is a strategic tool encourages designers to deliberately align technology with underlying pedagogical strategies.

•   Identify what learners will do with the Technology

While planning to use technology, the emphasis should be on how the learner utilizes the technology rather than what the teacher does with the technology.  

Designers still consider how to use technology to replace, amplify, and transform the learning; but in addition, designers consider what the student is doing as part of the activity; whether the student’s learning is passive, active, or creative.