guided r um o rs ..." Wh e n tru th i s b u i l t o n unchecked sources,it can becomean even more lluid conceptthan it us uallyis , an d th e p e rc e p ti o no f re a l i tyc a n qui ckl ycarry t he weightan d i m p o rto f l e g i ti ma c y . Meanwhile,the academyagonizesover its role as the arbiter of accuracy.How can academicscarry the flame forward and pass it to their young charges when the students,armedwith handhelddevices,can bringtheirown alternative truthswith them intothe classroom?

LookingAhead LookingBack DenisHlynka

Denouement It is easy to see why many collegeprofessorsfeel that handhelddevicessymbolizethe barbarianat the gate, and why they are convincedthat their role is to stand guard at that gate.But all wars end the same way-with the passage of time-and so will this one.The forcesthat representthe old ways will sit down at the table with those of the new. Along the way, there will be compromisesand truces grudginglymade.Civilization will not be the same as it was, but then it neveris. For many educators,it will be a long time-if ever-until they accept these new technologicalarrivals as friends, invitethem into theiracademichomes,and make them part of their family of teachingstrategies.In the meantime,in c ollege c lass ro o m sa ro u n d th e w o rl d , e very ri ngtone representsan invaderin the classroom;the arrivalof every textmessagesignalsan enemyin the camp. rl

References Carter, D. (2009, Jan. 22). Report details upcomingedtech trends. eSchoolNews; http://www.eschoolnews.com/ . news/top-news/?i=56860 Clydesdale,T. (2009,Jan. 23). Wake up and smell the new epistemology. The Chronicle.com;http://chronicle.com/ free/v55/i20/20b00701.htm . Drezener,D. (2008, Nov. 14). Public intellectual2.0. The Chronicle.com; http://chronicle.com/temp/reprint.php?id= n77vpc09f12gqgzxhO1 2w79mmtf4tdrh. Gonick,L. (2009,Feb.4). The wiki way and universityleadership. Ihe Chronicle.com:http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus /a rticle/3594/lev-gonick-the -wiki-way-and-university-Ieaders hip. Johnson, 1., Levine,A., & Smith, R. (2009). The 2009 Horizon Report. .Ausfrn,Texas: New Media Consortium; http://ruww.nmc.org/pdf/2009-Horizon-Report.pdf . Read, B. (2009, Feb. 20). What does Wikipediamean for the future of expertise? Chronicle.com; http://chronicle. c o m/w i red c a mp u s/ a rti c l e/3 62 8/w h at-d o e s-wi kip e d i a mean-for-the-future-of-expertise .

EducationalTechnology and Wikipedia In manyof the more relaxedcivilizations on the Outer EasternRim of the Galaxy,the Hitchhiker'sGurdehas alreadysupplantedthe great EncyclopediaGalactica as the standardrepositoryof all knowledgeand wisdom, for thoughit has many omissionsand contains muchthat is apocryphal,or at leastwildlyinaccurate, it scoresoverthe older,more pedestrianwork in two importantrespects.First, it is slightlycheaper;and secondlyit has the words Don'f Panic inscribedin largefriendlyletterson its cover. DouglasAdams, Hitchhikels Guide to the Galaxy The idea of a compendiumof all knowledgereached its zenith, not in 'l979 with Douglas Adams, but some 228 years earl i er, i n 1751, w hen l eaders of t he Fr ench Enlightenmentcompiled, under the leadershipof Denis Diderotand Jean le Rond d'Alembert,what they calledthe Encyclopaediae.lt celebratedihe progress of science and technologyover superstitionand ignorance,which helped lead to the modern world.Today,over 250 years later, the Encyclopediais being replacedby Wikipedia.lt is written no . l onger by the experts of the E nl i ghtenm ent but by everyone. Wikipediahas its detractors.lts strengthsare its weaknesses.lt is an experimentin "sharedknowledge." Anyone can make a Wikipediaentry,and anybodyelse can correct i t.The entryw i l l changeand grow .D ebatescan ensue,and sometimesthe "editors"of Wikipediawill find rt necessary to step in to lock down particularlyvociferousdiscussions. K now l edgei s vol ati l e. Y et,w hen al l i s sai d and done,the i nfo r m at ionis t her e, on Wikipediaas a window on the world. But what if the informationprovidedon Wikipediais misleading,or even w rong? The answ er i s supposedto be: Then change it . That' s w hat col l aborati onmeans. B ut what if nobodv changesit? What if nobodycares? So, what does Wikipedia say about the field of educa-

Rogers, E. (2003). The diffusion of innovations (Sth ed.). NewYork:The FreePress. Young,J. (2009,May 4). Researcherscall for nationalstrategy to adapt social neWvorksto public good. Chronicle.com: http://chronicle.com/daily/2009/05/17280n.htm .

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Denis Hlynka is a professor of educationaltechnologyat the University of Manitoba in Canada and a ContributingEditor to this magazine (e-mail:dhlynka@cc. umanitoba.ca).

EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOCY/September-October 2009

tional technologfl Four Wikipediaentries are examined: Educational technology, instructional technology, information and communications technology in education, and instructional designJ Wikipedia does not measure up.z and are mis{ocused. These entriescontainmisinformation, fhe Wikioediaentriesabout the field of educationaltechn o l ogyget it wr ong :fi rs t i n d e fi n i ti o ns, e c o n di n s i g ni fi cant scholars,third in countriesthat use and supporttechnology in education,fourthin criticaljournals,and fifth in listingthe technologiesthat matter.

Definitions The ET entry delines the field with the 2008 AECT definition: "the study and ethical practice of facilitating learning and improving performance by creating, using, and managing appropriate technologicalprocesses and resources."So far, so good. However,the definition is so ur c edinc or r ec t l yre , fe re n c i n gn o t th e p ri m a rysource,3 but rather a secondary source found in Tech Trends. Th e n,t he ent r y c on tra d i c tsi ts e l f,s ta ti n gth a t " e d u cati onal te chnologyis m os t s i m p l y a n d c o m fo rta b l yd e f i ned as a n a r r ay of t ools . "On l y fi v e s u c h to o l s a re menti oned e xp l ic it lyov : er headp ro j e c to rsl,a p to pc o mp u te rsc, al cul ato rs , s m ar t phones,a n d g a m e s .T h e fi rs t th re e a re i denti fi e d as " m oder n t o o l s ,"w h i l e th e l a tte r tw o a re cal l ed "n e wert ools . "T he e n try th e n re v e rs e si ts e l f o n c e agai n, l c h n o l o g ym a y b e e x tendedto sta tingt hat " educ a ti o n ate i n cludet he t ec hniq u e so f th e e d u c a to rs ." In o th e r w ords, th e e nt r y s t ar t s wit h a s y s te msd e fi n i ti o n s, w i tc hesto a to o ls def init ion,t he n s l i d e s i n to a p e d a g o g i cd e fi ni ti on. Wh i c h is it ? The lT entry also begins with a definition,this time d ra w ingon t he o/ de rA EC Td e fi n i ti o no f Se e l sa n d Ri tchey. lT is "fhe theory and practice of design, development, utilization,management,and evaluationof processes and resourcesfor learning."Again, the primary source is not re fe r enc ed;ins t ead ,th e e n try q u o te s fro m a s e c ondary (lt happensto be source.No date is givenfor this definition. 1 9 94. )Nor is t her e a n y e x p l a n a ti o n th a t AE C T re v i sedi ts d e finit ionin 2008, b u t i n s o d o i n g c h a n g e dth e te r m from instructional technology to educational technology. One mightinferfrom these entriesthat AECT in 1994 really wanted to define instructionaltechnology,and in 2008 wantedto define educationaltechnology.lt is compiicated but not quite right.A totallyunreferenced statementcredits R a zav i ( 2005) 4with a tte m p ti n gto d i s ti n g u i s hb etw een e d uc at ional and ins tru c ti o n atel c h n o l o g yw, h e n i n f act that i ssu ehas been dis c u s s e dfo r d e c a d e s ! The third enIry,ICT in Education, is the shortestof the th re e.T he def init io np ro v i d e di s c o m p l e te l yc i rc ul arand thereforeuseless:"lCT in educationdeals with the use of informationand communicationstechnoloqieswithin educational technoIogy."

psychol ogi sts. Indi vi dual sw ho have actual l ysh aped t he field of educational technology over the decades are conspicuousby their absence.There is no mention whatof i ndi vi dualssuch soeverof the si gni fi cantcontri buti ons as B el a B anathy,John B el l and,Les B ri ggs,D ick Clar k, E dgar D al e, l vor D avi es,A nne D eV aney,D on E ly, Rober t Gagne,K entGustafson,R obertH ei ni ch,Law renceLipsit z, , ob Mufol etto, B i chardS chw i er,R i taRit chey, D aveMerri l l B B arbaraS eel s,A . J. R omi szow skiA, l l i sonR oss et t ,Der ek Rowntree,Wittichand Schuller,Brown,Lewis,Harcleroad,s B rent W i l son, A ndrew Y eaman,and many oth er s, f r om varied perspectives,of course.All are missing!Only two i ndi vi dualare s namedi n the l T arti cl e:" Mooreand Razavi, " The IC T entry names no scholar sat w i th no expl anati on. al l i denti fi edw i th the fi el d.

Gountries Represented The ET entry impliesthat educationaltechnologyis a field that exists in the UnitedStatesof America.However, there i s an expl i ci treferenceto a si ngl e proj ect in t he provinceof Alberta,Canada!The seeminglyextensivelist of 28 references,20 "furtherreading"entries,and 13 journals expands the representati oni nto A ustral i a,B rit ain, and el sew here,but w i thoutexpl anati on. The lT entry, on the other hand, identifiesthe field compl etel yw i th the U S A . N o othercountryi s named. ln the lCf enty, severalcountriesare explicitlynamed: U K , P hi l i ppi nes,A ustral i a,N orw ay,Indi a, and one cit y (B angkok). Thereseemsto be no IC T i n C anada ,t he US, or any othercountry. l roni cal l y,there may be a new w ay to define t hese compl exterms: /C f i s a E uropeanand A si an const r uct ; instructionaltechnologyis purelyan Americanterm; while yet oddly educationaltechnologyis the most international, focusedon A meri caand A l berta!

Technology as Tools The "thingsof learning,"accordingto the ET entry, are an d gam es. smartphones, overheads,l aptops,cal cul ators, four pages l ater,the en t r y adds A nd, as an afterthought, The lT computers,W ebsi tes,and w i rel essmi crophon es. and IC T entri esdo not i denti fyany speci fi c" tools. "

SignificantJournals The l i stof jour nals The l T and IC T entri esl i stno j ournal s. academic in the ET entry includesa varietyof international, j ournal sand popul arnew sl etters, but omi tscomplet elyt he flagshipjournalsof AECT namely Educational Technology Research and Development and Tech Trends Also missing is the 49-year-old Educational Technology, w hi ch has conti nuedas a trai l bl azeri n the fi eld f or f ive decadesl

For the fourth entry,lD, see below.

History of the Field TheoristsWho Shapedthe Field The ET entryincludesnames of some 15 individualsas th e o r is t s ,r es ear c h e rse, x p e rts ,a n d b l o g g e rs (!). Unfortun a tely t, hes ear e eith e rma v e ri c ke d u c a ti o n ate l c h nol ogi sts o r p opular wr it er s a b o u t te c h n o l o g y o r e d u c ati onal

The ET entrylocuses only brieflyon history,notingthat laptop computers and interactivewhite boards as technologieshave been around"for severaldecades." The lT enfry suggeststhat the historyof the field goes The ent r y backei therto the earl y 1900sor to the 1600s(!).

EDUCATIONAT TECHNOTOCY/September-October 2009

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suggeststhat the 100-year-oldhistoryis basedon the idea of technologyas sensory devices,while the 3OO-year-old history is based on the idea of technologyas systems. Actually,the oppositeis probablythe case.In addition,this statementis made: The use of audioand visualinstruction was boostedas a to theproblems militaryresponse of a laborshortfall during WWllin theUnitedStates. Therewasa definitive needto fill withskilledlabor. thetactories This is a total misconceptronof the significantwork of t he US m ili ta ryi n th e u s e o f " a u d i o v i s ualai ds" duri ng World War ll. The need was to train soldiersquicklyand The purposewas NOT to 'Tillthe factorieswith efficiently. skilledlabor." The ITC entry identifiesno history.

Otherlssues The ET entry is the most extensiveof the three noted above but extensivenessis not to be confused with thoroughness.Bloom's Taxonomymerits a paragraph,but t hen is im m e d i a te l yd i s m i s s e da s " Bl o o m ' sw ork does not deal with educationaltechnology."Psychologicaltheories are given more space than warranted,even those dealing " wit hanim a ll e a rn i n ge x p e ri m e n ts C ."u ri o u sl y,si x benefi ts of educational technologyare noted.Then,the entrydegeneratesinto weak rhetoricin the sectionon "Technoloovin the classroom"with the statement: (sic)workthen Whatbetterway to displayyourstudent's justfor yourclass.In (sic)to createa Webpagedesigned children knowhowto usethecomputer currentdaysociety, theirwaythrougha Website, and navigate so whynotgive themonewheretheycanbe a published author. F inallya, t e c h n o l o g i c aslo l u ti o ni s p ro v i d edi f you havea nois yc las s r o o mU : s e a w i re l e s smi c ro p h onel

Instructional Design(lD) Lest the readerthink that this entirecolumnis Wikipedia bas hing,we tu rn n o w to th e e n tryo n " i n s tructi onal desi gn," or lD. T his o n e p a s s e s mu s te r.F i rs t,i t a v oi dshyperbol e. Second,it attemptsto be appropriately encyclopedic withoui f oc us ing un d u l y o n s o me s m a l l , e s o te ri c di mensi on. M em ber sof A EC T w i l l re c o g n i z eth e b a s i cs:The A D D IE m odelas a sta rti n gp o i n t,fo l l o w e db y th e Di ck and C arey model,with a nod to some others. S om e m a j o r c o n c e p ts a re n o te d , i n c l udi ngcogni ti ve . l l ,th e entryi s mi ssi ng loadt heor ya n d ra p i dp ro to ty p i n gSti c r it ic alnam e sa n d i s s u e s .Y o uw i l l fi n d n o referenceto l vor Davies'sextensivework in the seventies,nor will you find any referenceto the Gustafson and Branch work that s y nt hes iz edm a j o r i n s tru c ti o n adl e s i g n model s.The l D l pr ogr amof th e N a ti o n a lSp e c i a lM e d i a In sti tutes,i mportant historically, meritsno mentionwhatsoever.

Wherels Educational TechnologyHeaded? It is a strange siate of affairs. O n the one hand, t ec hnologyi n e d u c a ti o ns e e m s to b e h e a lthi erthan ever.

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N o l onger a margi nal i zedi ssue, technologyint egr at ion has reached the mainstream.While AECT continues its significant research base, and Educational Teehnology (thisjournat)providesan outletfor thoughtfuland serious analysis,the rest ol the educationalworld is out spending on everythingfrom smartboardsto cellphones,while at the same time attempting to remove every trace of blackboardsto books,and literallyignoringeverythingthat our fi el d has l earnedoverthe decades. What is going on? And what can we do about it? Once, we would have been leaders in exploringthe pedagogic possibilitiesof innovationssuch as Wikipedia.Now it seems,we don't even read it. And if we do read it, we really don't have time to put it right. There is more to the issue than whether Wikipediahas got it rightor not. lt goes to the very natureof the strengths and weaknessesof social media.The Horizon Beport ol 20090identifiesas the key trend "the notion oJ collective i ntel l i gence"(p. 5). Thi s report states posit ivelyt hat "Collectiveintelligencemay give rise to multipleanswers, all equallycorrect." Of course, the opposite is also true: Collectiveintelligencemay gi veri seto mul ti pl eansw ers,a ll equallywr ong. The reportfurthernotesthat "the notionsof collectiveintelligence and mass amateurizationare redefiningscholarshi p."The i ssuei s si gni fi canti ndeed. Educationaltechnologyas a vibrantand significantfield of study and practiceis misrepresentedin Wikipedia.We have not been watchful.We have allowedothers to speak for us.There is, of course,still time to get it right. al

Notes I ln what follows Wikipediaarticleswill be abbreviatedfor ease of referencingas ET, lT, lCT, and lD. Readers may wish to go lo Wikipedia.comand look up each of these terms in order to betterfollowthe arguments. z I have deliberatelynof attemptedto identifythe contributors to these various entries.These are supposedto be so let it be just anonymousand col l aborati ve contri buti ons, that. 3 Januszew skiA, ., & Mol enda,M. (E ds.) .( 2008) .Educational technology:A definitionwith commenlarlzNew York: LawrenceErlbaumAssociates. + A Google search is not helpful. No definitivetrace of "Razavi(2005)"can be found via Google. s This is not a typo. The names Wittich and Schullerare deliberatelygrouped together,as are Brown, Lewis, and Harcleroad,becausethese are the authorsof two original educationaltechnologytextbooksnow long obsolete. a The Horizon Report, 2009 edition. A collaboration betw eenthe N ew Medi a C onsorti um,and EDUCAUSE; http ://wp.nmc.o rg/ho rizon2009 .

ED UCATIO NAL TECHNOLOGY/September-October 2009