Defining technological resources
-Answers by Raul Jimenez based on Educational Technology text
How many types of resources are there?
There are primarily two types of Resources:
-Resources by design and resources by utilization.
The former are the ones specifically focused on learning purposes called instructional materials such as
tools, devices, settings, illustrations, digital and analog multimedia, books, just to name a few. The latter
are materials that can be used for the same purpose, also called real-world resources that include anything
available to help the student be able to obtain knowledge.
How are resources appropriately used?
The correct use of resources can be encompassed as having two primordial distinctions:
The first one being meeting the copyright laws and other Legals protections of property intellectual rights,
and the second one can be the correct selection of materials and equipment taking in consideration some
criteria like: political, social, and cultural expectations just to name some, to emphasize the diversity of
today's society.
How has the evolution of resources and emerging technologies affected the educational field?
The fact that technology has evolved so quickly in such a brief period of time has had a significant impact
on education, primarily due to the huge amount of information now available in the palms of our hands.
Compared to the early 1900s when only a limited number of educational centers had their first contact
with instructional media like hand drawn illustrations followed by the first instances of slides projections
illuminated by oil lamps to later make way for the first silent films and sound recordings around the 1910s.
From then on technology has only evolved faster from the TV around the 1950s up until the first personal
computers around the 1960s.
How digital tools have changed the landscape of educational technology?
Since the invention of computers and the internet new challenges and ways for education have emerged.
From having web-based distance education to the use of software that helps the learning processes. The
use of new internet features that promote the exchange of knowledge worldwide, like now being able to
have virtual field trips without having to spend a single cent. Thanks to this wide spread of technology, we
have now educational technology specialists to give maintenance to webservers specialized in technical
support.
What ethical issues are to be considered in the use of resources?
Some ethical issues derive from the excessive cost, and lack of equity for people to have access to
educational technology as technology becomes the main source of knowledge. This disparity in accessing
knowledge through the use of technological devices promotes a digital divide. This means that the gap
between the poor and richer communities has increased when it comes to having access to the cutting-
edge information recently obtained. Aside from that matter we must also look at universal design for
people with disabilities for them to be able to have access to the newest educational technology.
What assumptions mentioned by the author have changed after the pandemic?
Even though it was thought that we had already mastered the use of technology for education, it was
clear that there was a lack of technology management from academic centers that had to evolve to really
adapt to new reality. Educators and students had to go through a re-learning process to be able to take
the use of technology even further. This process of adaptation and getting used to the new reality brought
up lots of different issues like the lack of technology specialists.
What aspects do you disagree with?
The author mentioned that we are likely to continue to see slower, more incremental, and evolutionary
changes as new technologies emerge when in fact during the pandemic, we had to go completely virtual,
and it was demonstrated that we were capable of doing this in a brief period of time
REFERENCES
Karl Betrus, Anthony, Routledge 2nd Edition (2007) Educational technology.
