The Educational Technology Handbook: A Comprehensive Guide : Process and Products for Learning

Rating:
Summary: Successful guide for integrating technology into classroom
Review: Hackbarth, S. (1996). The educational technology handbook: Acomprehensive guide: Process and products for learning. EnglewoodCliffs, NJ: Educational Technology Publications.

This excellent handbook by Steven Hackbarth strives to help pre-service and in-service K-12 teachers improve the quality of their instructional efforts by initiating applied research on instructional strategies and media in their own classrooms. It is a timely, vigorous, and convincing attempt to integrate educational technology with classroom practice. The Handbook truly is a comprehensive guide, as its title allows. Each chapter contains a thorough list of resources: references, source materials (free and otherwise), home study courses, an annotated bibliography. Hackbarth also includes illustrative examples, such as a helpful letter from an Eastman Kodak representative responding to a request by the author for further information comparing two types of cameras. Further, study items and suggested activities pay off the content matter of each chapter. The Handbook offers a 24-page source list for supplementary books, media publishing houses, and other media, with popular software titles and with addresses, phone numbers, and Internet/Web addresses when applicable. It even includes a "start-up checklist" of suggestions and resources for becoming an active educational technologist.

The Handbook also provides a strong background on instructional design and learning theory. As the notes and references concluding each chapter attest, the author has a scholarly and well-balanced perspective which he conveys in clearly understood terms. For example, in a discussion of integrated learning systems (ILSs), Hackbarth notes that one condition of success (according to ILS research) is that the educational process be simulated accurately. He wonders whether any complex social system can be simulated accurately, and follows this musing with a paragraph on how differently theorists in the fields of education and psychology view the learning process. For those readers who appreciate his arguments and want to know more, an annotated note at the end of the chapter gives an even more in-depth look at the issue, proffering excellent quotes from leading, contemporary theorists and references for those who wish to consult the primary source. I found myself deliberately seeking out Hackbarth's chapter notes as a section in themselves, for he couples theory with much useful, practical information on finding, understanding, and evaluating the wealth of products that can enhance the learning process.

The Handbook is divided into two sections: the first examines instruction as a systematic process, while the second looks at products to support learning. Each "product" chapter offers practical guidelines for development, use, and evaluation of media. Advice is offered for integrating those media into the larger universe of computer-based learning, interactive learning environments, and the Internet. In a recent article in Educom Review, Lewis Perelman, author of School's Out (1993), asserted that the marketplace is calling for people who can manage work environments "where knowledge represents the key factor of success." Hackbarth's chapter on the Internet recognizes the power of the Internet as a classroom tool for knowledge management, earning him extra credit in my book. Teachers need to understand that to be able to search for relevant, useful information efficiently and effectively is to possess a marketable commodity. Hackbarth discusses how the Internet can open up the world to students, not just because they can become sophisticated procurers of information, but also because they can explore and learn about so many content areas. Hackbarth also describes the benefits and dangers of Internet travel, with respect to the problematic tasks and decisions school technologists must face. Further, he gives his opinion on the issues of freedom "to cruise," and again wins my respect and extra credit:

"Why shouldn't we encourage our students to have as much fun on the Net as we do? Let them cruise in a spirit of high adventure, and chat with the expectation of (supervised) meetings. And let them err, as Neil Postman has suggested... and err again, just like the rest of us, including the best of historians, theologians, philosophers, and scientists throughout history (p. 265)."

I would almost think such an admonition to teachers unnecessary. Of course students should be allowed to cruise the Net, making mistakes and learning as they go! But my own son's school experiences, fueled by teacher inexperience and fear of memory errors, system crashes, and viruses, have suggested to me that there are probably many practitioners who need to hear Hackbarth's advice.

Delightful captions for chapter illustrations are just one example of the pleasing voice the author uses to complement his thorough treatment of the subject. I found myself wanting to meet the man who can so reassuringly reveal the confusions of a novice. On first entering an America On-line chat room, the author had signed on with the ID 'HackbarthS':

"During my first evening of interacting 'live' with diverse people across the country I found myself among the few with a recognizable 'handle.' As the exchanges about current news events and issues heated up, my support for a Clinton Administration peace overture was greeted with 'Let's hope so Barth.' I began regretting my naivete- me, a global village idiot!" (p. 257)

In the writing and editing process, Hackbarth asked for and received plenty of feedback on his manuscript from researchers, faculty, teachers, and other practitioners in the field. Benefiting from the many voices who contributed their thoughts and experience to this book as well as from his own impressive range of experience, the author has provided us with a well-rounded perspective (and a well-grounded research base) into the processes involved in utilizing technologies to support and enhance learning and teaching, and the products that help practitioners achieve those ends. If even half of all teachers read and used this book, our field of educational technology would truly be a part of the educational system, and the system an integral part of us.

Jeannette S. Berkley ([e-mail])
Instructional Designer
Doctoral Student, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA