Education and Technology: An Encyclopedia

Education and Technology: An Encyclopedia
"It has never been easy to define educational technology or the scope of the profession." The editors of this encyclopedia use the introduction to try and define the phrase as well as discuss the broad aspects of it. The aim is "to provide an opportunity for those who have had little or no formal introduction to the field of educational technology to learn about its numerous applications and to recognize the relevance of educational technology to many endeavors."

More than 200 alphabetically arranged entries are the work of more than 120 contributors and fall into seven broad categories, as outlined in the topical contents list: "Foundations" ( Cognitive psychology, Human-computer interaction); "Implementation" ( Knowledge management, Rapid prototyping, Webcast); "Issues" ( Assistive technology, Copyright, Digital divide); "Leaders"; "Professional Associations"; "Projects" ( Apple Classroom of Tomorrow Project, JSTOR); and "Research and Theory" ( Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning [CSCL], Visual literacy). Average entry length is five pages. Each selection includes a see also note and references. A glossary, an index, and a list of contributors are all included in volume 2.

Despite its stated aim, this work seems best suited to students majoring in education and professionals in the education field. Those who have no background in either education or technology might find these volumes difficult to use.