Educational Technology and Curriculum
The unit tests the meaning and classification of educational technology, programmed learning formats, microteaching, Bloom's taxonomy and curriculum basics.
Educational technology
The application of scientific principles and technological tools to improve teaching and learning. Categories: hardware (radio, television, projectors, computers), software (programmed instruction, teaching modules, computer-assisted instruction), and the systems approach (the whole teaching-learning system). Dale's cone of experience runs from direct purposeful experience at the base to verbal symbols at the apex.
Programmed learning
Skinner's linear programme: small steps, active response, immediate feedback, self-pacing. Crowder's branching programme: larger frames, multiple-choice responses, remedial branches. Teaching machines and CAI derive from these.
Microteaching
Scaled-down teaching: 5-10 minutes, 5-6 pupils, one skill, supervised and recorded, feedback, then re-teach. Core skills: set induction, explanation, questioning, reinforcement, stimulus variation, closure, blackboard work.
Bloom's taxonomy
Original (1956), cognitive domain: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, evaluation. Revised (Anderson and Krathwohl, 2001): remember, understand, apply, analyse, evaluate, create.
Curriculum
All planned learning experiences the school provides, including co-curricular activities and the hidden curriculum. Principles: child-centredness, relevance, flexibility, integration, continuity. Tyler's four questions (objectives, learning experiences, organisation, evaluation); Taba's grassroots model. NCF 2005 stressed constructivism and "learning without burden"; NEP 2020 sets the 5+3+3+4 structure.
Worked example
A teacher shows a documentary and then runs a classroom debate. Reasoning: the projector and film are hardware; the planned debate and discussion sequence is software and system design. Both are educational technology, so the answer is "hardware plus software", not hardware alone.
Traps that cost marks
Limiting educational technology to gadgets; confusing linear with branching programmes; placing "create" among Bloom's original categories.