Redefining Educational Technology: A Critical Framework for Entangled Human-Technological Systems
By
Asino, Tutaleni Iita
An everything bagel for the brain. Substantive, layered, well-seasoned.
Summary
This academic research paper argues that the field of educational technology lacks a settled definition and proposes a new, evolving "living definition." Through a critical historical review spanning over a century, the authors identify three key insufficiencies in current frameworks: (1) the persistence of an instrumental-facilitative paradigm treating technology as a mere resource; (2) the failure to absorb the theoretical dissolution of the pedagogy-technology dichotomy; and (3) the near-total silence on generative and agentic AI systems that function as active co-participants. The proposed definition reframes educational technology as the study of entangled human-technological systems across analog, digital, organizational, social, and agentic dimensions, with a core commitment to ethical grounding, critical reflexivity, equity, and distribution of agency.
Key quotes
· 5 pulledEducational technologists have not settled on a fixed definition of the field and likely never will.
The field's task is not to settle on a definition, but to keep it constantly evolving.
We propose a new definition: Educational technology, as a field of inquiry and practice, encompasses the research, understanding, design, orchestration, and evaluation of entangled human-technological systems.
The field holds as a core commitment that its theory, research and practice should be ethically grounded and critically reflexive.
This definition is offered not as a resolution but as a basis for ongoing discussion, as it is best understood as a living definition.
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