2. Chapter-1: Defining Education
Educational Technology : Meanings
What is Educational Technology?
How do you perceive the following terms?
Education
Science
Technology
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3. Cont’d…
Everyday we hear about the names of various technologies
in the present scientific and technological age, such as—
sugar technology, paper technology, cloth technology
glass technology etc. In educational field too, the term
'Educational Technology' is being used with great interest.
Scholars believe that with the proper use of science and
technology in the field of education, desirable results can
be achieved in teaching, learning and testing spheres as
tremendous progress is taking place in the various fields
of agriculture, health and industry.
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4. Cont’d…
To understand the meaning of Educational Technology, we
need to define the following terms separately.
Education,
Science and
Technology
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5. Meaning and Nature of Education
1.1. Etymological Meaning of Education
The Latin word 'Educatum' means to train. 'E' means from
inside and 'Duco' means to draw out, to lead out or to
bring up. By combining the two education comes to mean
to draw from within.
Education is a process which draws from within. Each
child is born with some innate tendencies, capacities arid
inherent powers.
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6. Cont’d…
Education draws these powers out and develop them to the
full. Latin words 'Educare' and 'Educere' mean to bring up,
to lead out and to develop etc. In this way the word
education means to develop the inborn qualities of a child
to the full.
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1.2.Narrower Meaning of Education
In its narrow sense, school instruction is called education.
In this process, the elders of society strive to attain
predetermined aims during a specified time by providing
pre-structured piece of knowledge to children through set
methods of teaching.
The purpose is to achieve mental development of children
entering school. In the process, the teacher is the most
important factor and the child is assigned a subsidiary
role. The teacher is expected to instill ready made dozes of
knowledge in the child's mind.
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Such knowledge strangles the natural development of the
child and hence is of no use to him for his actual future
life. In spite of this, school education has merits of its
own.
In the words of John Stuart Mill, "The culture which each
generation purposefully gives to those who are to be its
successors, in order to qualify them for at least keeping
up, and if possible for raising the level of improvement
which has been attained.“
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9. Cont’d…
Following opinions of some educationists represent the
narrow meaning of education.
"In narrow sense, education may be taken to mean any
consciously directed effort to develop and cultivate our
powers."—S.S. Mackenzi
"Education is a process in which and by which knowledge,
character and behaviour of the young are shaped and molded."
Prof. Drever
"The influence of the environment on the individual with a
view to producing a permanent change in his habits of
behaviour of thought and attitude."G.H. Thompson
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1.3. Analytical Meaning of Education
1. Not Limited to Knowledge Imparted in Schools.
Education cannot be confined to the processes of giving
knowledge to children in schools. Its programme goes
on from birth till death. Everyone learns something or
the other throughout life by various experiences and
activities. All this is education.
2. Education as the Development of Child's innate
Power.
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11. Cont’d…
Education is developing the native endowments of a child
rather than something forced into the mind from outside.
"Education, when it works upon noble mind, draws out to view
every latent virtue and perfection which without such help are
never able to make their appearance.“
3. Education as a Dynamic Process. Education is not a static but a
dynamic process which develops the child according to changing
situation and times. It is a purposive activity always pursuing some aim
of life to which an individual devotes himself fully.
4.Education as a Bipolar Process. In his book Evolution of
Educational Theory Adams has interpreted education as a bipolar
process. He analyzed education as under—
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12. Cont’d…
I. "It (Education) is a bipolar process in which one
personality acts upon another in order to modify the
development of the other.“
II. "The process is not only a conscious one but a
deliberate one. The educator has the clearly realized
intention of modifying the development of the
educand.“
III. "The means by which the development of the educand
is to be modified are two folds:
(a) The direct application of the educator's personality to the
personality of the educand, and
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13. Cont’d…
(b) The use of knowledge in its various forms." According
to Adams, the bipolar education has two poles. At one end
is the teacher and at the other is the child. Both are equally
important in education. If the teacher instruct, the child
follows. If the teacher gives, the child receives. Thus, in
the process of education there is interaction between the
teacher and the child.
The teacher tries to mould and modify the behaviour of
the child so that the latter develops his personality to the
full. With the active cooperation of the teacher and the
child, the process of education goes on smoothly and
efficiently.
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14. Cont’d…
5. Education as a Tripolar Process. Like Adams, John. Dewey
also regards education as a process of development. But while
accepting the psychological view, Adams emphasizes the
importance of teacher and the child, John Dewey emphasizes the
sociological view point. Hence, according to John Dewey,
education has two aspects—(1) Psychological, and (2)
Sociological. He accepts the contention that education of the
child should be according to his native endowment
He further asserts that the development of a child does not take
place in a vacuum. It takes place in and through the society in
which the teacher and the child both live. It is the society which
will determine the aims, contents and methods of teaching.
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15. Cont’d…
In this way, the process of education contains three poles,
namely—(1) the teacher, (2) the child, (3) the society.
These three factors actively co-operate in the efficient and
successful working of the educational process.
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1.4. Broader True Meaning of Education
In its true meaning, there is dynamic coordination between
narrow and wider meaning of education. It is because the
education in narrow meaning is limited to its conservative
nature. This meaning considers education as keeping the pupil
in controlled environment and forcibly imposed education to
lead a particular life style. This suppresses his interest, attitude,
capacities, abilities and needs.
In broader meaning, education is liberal. According to this
broader meaning, natural development of the pupil is
emphasized by keeping him in uncontrolled environment. If the
broader meaning of education is accepted, the social and
spiritual development of the pupil is necessarily difficult, if not
impossible.
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17. Cont’d…
In such condition, both narrow and broader meanings of
education are not correct. Both need coordination. After
coordination in both the meanings, education is presented
as that dynamic process which brings the changes in the
behaviour of the pupil and develops him intellectually,
socially, culturally and spiritually in such a way by
allowing reasonable independence and keeping in view,
consciously or unconsciously the personal interests,
attitudes, capabilities, abilities, social ideals and needs of
the pupil so that both the individual and the society may
touch the peaks of the progress
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T. Raymont, a well known educationist, has similar idea
that, "Education is the process of development which
consists the passage of human being from infancy to
maturity, the process whereby he adapts himself gradually
in various ways to his physical, social and spiritual
environment.“ Thus, education is a process of
development, to understand its nature and rate of progress,
one must know the data of education.
Data of Education
The data of education consists of the following four
factors—
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(1). The Child.
The foremost data of education is the child. Each child has
certain innate powers. His natural development is possible only
according to these native endowments. As such, the child's
nature should be known to those who provide for his
development.
(2). Heredity.
Hereditarians believe that education of a child is
predetermined by heredity. According to them, hereditary
impressions influence a child from his infancy before any
formal education begins. As the impressions are often indelible,
therefore education has to follow the lines laid down by these
impressions generated and formed by parents and other related
elders of society.
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These innate tendencies and qualities are the firm foundations
for his education. These also delimit and define the highest
achievements to be achieved by him. Without hereditary traits
and impressions of a musician, a child can never be developed
into a noted musician of repute by education or any other
process. Thus, to be hereditarians, education is development
according to lines pre-determined and pre-laid by the heredity
of a child.
(3) Environment.
Another factor of education is environment. Every child is born
in a family at a particular place and time. His upbringing also
takes place in a specific environment. This environment is
either controlled or uncontrolled. Both types of environments
exert their influence upon the growing child in different ways.
Controlled environment leads to controlled growth and
uncontrolled environment promotes uncontrolled growth.
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21. Cont’d…
According to environmentalists, heredity factor is only a myth.
They assert that if the environment is not desirable, no amount
of heredity will be able to develop the child according to
desirable lines and standards of growth. According to them,
environment is a powerful factor which influences the
development of child consciously or both. One cannot escape
its influence at any cost.
The environmentalists hold that as the child gradually comes
into contact with the physical and social environments, his
innate tendencies flower out and his behaviour begins to
change. In this sense, it is the environment and not the heredity
which makes a child a musician or an artist. Thus, according to
environmentalists, education is a process based on and
conditioned by the environment in which the child is brought
up.
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(4) Time.
During the process of development, specific activities are
indulged by the child at specific times. To understand this
process of development, one must have a clear
understanding of the various stages of development. As
different and specific tendencies sprout out of these
various stages, education must correspond its plans and
programmes to these budding capacities. Then only, the
development of the child will be normal and natural.
Hence, education should correspond and suit the mental
level of the child, otherwise it will create complexes and
mar the development.
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23. Cont’d…
Both the hereditarians and the environmentalists assert
one side of the truth. The two factors are not contradictory.
They are mutually complementary and supplementary.
Both work together to develop the child smoothly and in a
balanced way. Both are essential for the proper
development of a child.
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24. Cont’d…
1.5. Western Concept of Education
Educational thinking, like every other branch of knowledge,
started in the philosophical deliberation of the ancient Greek
philosophers. Thus, the meaning of education in west is
initially available in the works of Plato. It is interesting to note
that thousands of years ago, Plato gave a meaning to education
which is even now followed in the West with slight changes
here and there.
Plato defined education as a life-long process starting, "from
the first years of childhood and lasting to the very end of the
life". He used the term education in a very wide sense, "which
makes a man eagerly pursue the ideal perfection of citizenship
and teaches him how rightly to rule and how to obey."
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25. Cont’d…
Education not only provides knowledge and skills but also
inculcates values, training of instincts, fostering right
attitude and habits. In Republic, Plato points out that "true
education, whatever that may be, will have the greatest
tendency to civilise and humanise them in their relation to
one another and to those who arc under their protection.“
This humanist definition of education propounded by
Plato is still the most widely accepted meaning of
education in the West. Education everywhere has been
taken as a process of inculcating values. As Plato said,
"Now I mean by education that training which is given by
suitable habits to the first instincts of virtue in children."
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26. Cont’d…
These views of Plato have been universally accepted in
West as well as in the East. Education has been defined
differently by the idealists, the pragmatists, the naturalists
and the realist philosophers. However, its meaning has
been generally idealistic. Without some sort of idealism
there can be no education worth the name.
In the words of Robert R. Rusk, "We may accept the aim
of education is the enhancement or enrichment of
personality, differentiating feature of which is the
embodiment of universal values". The Western
educational philosophers have generally agreed that the
growth of the human child is the essence of education.
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27. Cont’d…
In the words of A.G. Hughes, "The essence of discipline is,
thus, not forced subordination to the will of the hated tyrants,
but submission to the example of admired superiors." In the
middle ages Comenius declared education to be a process an
individual developed qualities relating to religion, knowledge
and morality, and thereby established his claim to be called a
human being.
According to Froebel, "instruction and teaching should be
passive and protective not directive and interfering.“
The principle of liberty has found most powerful expression in
the definition of education given by Rousseau when he said,
"Let us obey the call of Nature. We shall see that Her yoke is
easy and that when we give heed to Her voice we find the joy
in the answer of a good conscience."
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28. Cont’d…
Others have laid emphasis upon the social meaning of
education whereby it aims at making an individual fit in
the society. It was in this sense that Aldous Huxley said,
"A perfect education is one which trains up every human
being to fit into the place he or she is to occupy in the
social hierarchy, but without, in the process, destroying his
or her individuality.“
All the foregoing definitions have stated that education is
the process of development. It, therefore, becomes
necessary to discover what is implied in this development.
Although the ability to learn depends upon development,
but development is not synonymous with education.
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29. Cont’d…
Development means the gradual and continuous progress of
mind and body. Through this development the child acquires
the following elements:
1. Knowledge of the environment by which he is surrounded.
2. The necessary motor control to fulfill his individual needs.
3. Linguistic abilities to enable him to converse.
4. Some knowledge of individual and collective relationship.
5. The development of all these elements begins at home itself.
The educator's task is to continue this process and to
encourage it while the child is at school.
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30. Cont’d…
In fact, this process of development continues right
through an individual's life-time Consequently, it is
accepted that education in its general sense continues
throughout a man's natural span of life.
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31. Cont’d…
1.6. Modern Concept of Education
To understand the modern concept of education, one has to
make a comparative study of the old and modern concepts.
Following are the differences between the old and the new
concepts:
(1) Meaning of Education.
Education is derived from the Latin word 'Educatum' which
means to draw out, to foster growth and to develop. Hence, the
modern concept of education seeks to develop the inherent
capacities of a child in the social environment. In the old
concept, education was taken to mean as a process to thrust
ready made tidbits of knowledge into the mind of a child as if it
was an empty vessel.
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32. Cont’d…
The old concept has exploded under the weight of
psychological researches and democratic values. The mind is a
dynamic self-adjusting and self-learning force needing proper
guidance for wholesome growth and development. Modern
education seeks to develop the mind according to its own
inherent capacities in a social environment.
(2) Aims of Education.
Ancient education emphasized scholarship and mental
development. It kept an indifferent attitude towards other
aspects of personality. Acquiring more and more knowledge
was regarded as the prime aim. On the contrary, modem
educationists lay equal stress upon other aspects of
development viz. physical, mental, emotional an social. Thus,
the aim of modern education is to develop individuality to the
full and attain social efficiency and dynamism.
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33. Cont’d…
(3) Curriculum.
In the old curriculum, only subjects promoting mental
development were included and emphasized. Thus, old
curriculum got rigid and stratified. It was confined mostly
to classroom activities and experiences. Modern
curriculum is flexible, varied and progressive in the sense
that it tries to meet the needs of the developing child as
well as the Demands of ever-changing modern society.
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34. Cont’d…
(4) Methods of Teaching.
As the methods emphasized cramming and stimulated
rote memorization education was lifeless, dull and drab
process. Modern methods condemn rote memorization and
promote the adoption of lively and effective methods life
Play way, Learning by doing, Learning by experience etc.
These methods stimulate motivation, interest and
attention.
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35. Cont’d…
(5) Discipline.
Old concept of discipline emphasized the use of rode and
punishment to enforce obedience and discipline in children.
This concept of enforced discipline through repression has now
been given up. The modern concept is self discipline leading to
natural obedience.
(6) Examination.
the old method of essay type examination encouraged
cramming and rote memorization. Modern techniques evaluate
as well as examine These include objective tests, progress
reports, cumulative records, interviews and practical
performances.
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36. Cont’d…
(7) Agencies of Education.
According to old beliefs, school was the only agency for
the education of children. According to modern views, all
formal and informal agencies are harnessed to the task of
education.
(8) Teacher.
Old education put the teacher at the top of the educational
process. In modern times, a teacher is considered as a
friend, philosopher and guide.
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37. Cont’d…
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(9) Child.
According to old concept, the child was a mere passive recipient of
whatever the teacher instructed. Modern education is child-centered.
The entire educational process is to cater to his needs and develop
him according to his nature. He is to interact actively with the
teacher and his class-mates to achieve effective learning promoting
his own and the development of the society of which he is an integral
part.
(10) School.
According to old concept, school served as a shop for selling
knowledge. Everything was pre-planned in advance. Teachers were
concerned with the input and bothered little about output. Modern
concept of education regards school as miniature of society laying
emphasis more on output in comparison with input.
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(11) Education as a Discipline.
In ancient times, education meant only training of
something for some aim. Modern education is a separate
discipline of deep study, investigation and research. It is a
very important process of human development in all fields
of human activities. It has its own distinct special feature
and factors to promote it as a vital formative process.