The Development And Reflection Of Educational Technology In China

Although great achievements have been gained in educational technology in China, there are still many difficulties and quandaries during its development. It's urgent to strengthen the research of disciplines and specialties construction. At present, there have been some domestic explorations on it, but they either depend too much on the west, or have not enough sum-up of native experience.By reviewing the development process of Educational Technology in China, and based on systematic research and reflection of the concerned theory researches and comprehensive summary of the practical experience in China, this paper aims to bring forward a theoretic framework of Educational Technology as reference for constructing Educational Technology with Chinese characteristics.The ideas and methods of this research: based on the inspection of the development process of the Educational Technology in China, after sorting out and reflecting its research themes, the essay puts forward the theoretical framework of educational technology. There are three parts: the first, outlining the development of educational technology and sorting out its research fields; the second, analyzing and reflecting its themes by chapter; the third, constructing its theoretical framework. In the thesis, literature method, historical method and induction are mainly used, supplemented by questionnaire method and interview method. The literature searches mostly rely on "Periodical Whole-length Thesis Access and Excellent Degree Thesis of Doctors' and masters' Access in China National Knowledge Infrastructure" and "Superstar Library" and the traditional papery literatures are used as supplement. SPSS, as universal data analysis software, is used for data processing in this research.As a concept, "E-education" and "Educational Technology" have different connotations; as a discipline, "Educational Technology" comes from "E-education", they belong to the same discipline. Therefore, they can be interchanged except emphasizing especially their differences.Through systematic researches, the following conclusions have been obtained.I. The development of Educational Technology can be divided into five stages according to the independence symbol of discipline.Traditionally, the development process of educational technology (e-education) is divided into different stages according to its development level or the alteration ofthe social ideology. Here, it is divided into five stages with a new criteria------thedevelopment level of the discipline or independence symbol of the discipline. The first stage is "the sprouting of E-Education". The second is "the start of E-Education". The third is "the elementary formation of the E-Education discipline system with Chinese characteristics". The fourth is "the pluralism of Educational Technology". The last one is "the nationalization and indigenization of Educational Technology".Compared with the traditional approach, this new dividing method underscores makes the traits of the discipline's development, providing important reference for the construction of Educational Technology with Chinese characteristics. II. The relation between e-education and education is "sort" and "category", and that between educational technology and education is "part" and "whole".From the perspective of logic and systematology, e-education is a subordinate concept of education, and their relation is "sort" and "category". As one of the subsystems of education, e-education has every attribute of education. The relation between educational technology and technology is the same. Educational technology is one component of education and their relation is "part" and "whole". Educational technology, as one component of education, generally speaking, doesn't have all the attributes-of education. Consequently, "e-education" and "educational technology" are two completely different concepts. It's unsuitable and unnecessary to alter the name of "e-education" to "educational technology".This method, which is used to analyze the attributes and definitions of conceptsfrom the perspective of logic and systematology, can make concepts more clearly and accurately defined.III. The research object of Educational Technology is "issues in modern educational technology"In terms of the research object of Educational Technology, there is a long-term controversy between the generalized and narrow view of educational technology. Educational technology was born in America. From the name itself, the generalized view of educational technology complies more with its original meaning and the actual conditions in America. However, it doesn't accord with the history and' actual conditions of Education and Educational Technology in China. On the contrary, the narrow one is more compliant with our practice. In fact, the argument between "generalized" and "narrow" views is a kind of reflection of the "system tropism" of discipline construction in identifying the research object. When we combine "system tropism" with "problem tropism" and take into consideration China's actual conditions, we can identify its research object as "issues in modern educational technology". Thus, Educational Technology differs clearly from disciplines like "curriculum and pedagogy" and so on, and it can't be substituted by any other disciplines either.This research object, identified when combining "system tropism" with "problem tropism" and taking into consideration China's actual conditions, can lay a solid foundation for the discipline construction.IV. It is an indispensable job to "look for applications for the existing technologies" in the development of disciplines.Some people criticize that e-education is "looking for problems for the existing technologies" or "looking for applications for the existing technologies", and that's against the usual research procedure. But the author thinks we should have a better understanding of the values of the two different kinds of research modes. The aim of educational technology is to solve educational and instructional problems, and thus the research of "looking for methods according to problems" is very important. But the research of "looking for applications for the existing technologies" is equally important, because some researchers of educational technology do it for the purpose of technical innovation and promotion, and for searching the best model of technical applications.In this paper the research value of "looking for applications for the existing technologies" is well recognized, as it helps to find application fields of new technologies, drive the progress of technologies, and promote the development of disciplines.V. Educational technology is positioned with "technology" at the core, and Educational Technology belongs to Education."Technology" is the keyword of "educational technology". And by saying educational technology is positioned with "technology" at the core, we emphasize that "educational technology" is only one component of education, and it solves the problem of "how to do". But as to the identity issue, Educational Technology still belongs to education science because it focuses on educational issues with educational research methods for the purpose of solving educational and instructional problems.This approach of discussing the positioning issue by differentiating education technology from Educational Technology, can not only ensure the Education qualities of Educational Technology, but avoid the rhetoric fallacy that ever occurred to when positioning "education technology" with "education" at the core (The keyword of education technology is technology , how can it be positioned with education at the core?)VI. The logical beginning of E-Education is "e-education", and that of Educational Technology is "education technology".Based on the premises of "the logical beginnings and the research objects should ordain each other" and "e-education belongs to education but educational technology belongs to technology", we can conclude that E-Education and Educational Technology should have different logical beginnings. "The logical beginning isn't research beginning or object, but the narrative beginning of a discipline. It is not a kind of relation or contravention, but a category and a 'point'." According to these prescriptions, we can conclude that the logical beginning of E-Education is "modern media education" or "e-education" and that of Educational Technology is "educational technology".This view of logical beginning can bear its prescriptive test and accords with the actual conditions of the current discipline theoretical system, offering a clear starting category for the constructions of theoretical system.VII. The theoretical framework of Educational Technology consists of "Five theories".According to nationality, openness, system and other principles, "five theories" framework of educational technology theories has be constructed. They are ontology, foundation theory, principle theory, and methodology and evaluation theory. "Ontology" expatiates on what educational technology and Educational Technology are, what they can do, and their appearance and development and so on. "Foundation theory" expounds its theoretic foundation. "Principle theory" enucleates its essential theories. "Methodology" interprets the methods of analyzing and resolving problems in educational technology, and it answers the question of "how to do" on the basis of "Principle theory". "Evaluation theory" elucidates how to get the best effect at the least cost by using the educational evaluation principles and performance technology.With the research and application of the modern educational media as its core, and guided by the systemic methods and modern educational theories, this theoretic framework is clear and highly logical. It draws on the foreign advanced theories and embodies the Chinese characteristics.