Educational Media and Technology Yearbook (Volume 27)

Citation

Marcella, R. (2003), "Educational Media and Technology Yearbook (Volume 27)", Journal of Documentation, Vol. 59 No. 4, pp. 478-479. https://doi.org/10.1108/00220410310485730

This is the 2002 edition of a title that appears annually. Its aim is to “explore current developments in instructional technology as of early 2002” (p. ix) and includes sections dealing with observable trends such as the international surge towards online education or e‐learning, for both on‐campus and distance students, and the continuing emphasis on collaboration and integration in programme delivery.

The volume contains a mix of contributions in the form of research studies, descriptive reports and conceptual essays and, as a collection of individual papers, it can, inevitably, only present a snapshot of a sample of interesting work in the field. As one might expect in an American publication, almost all of the authors are academics and practitioners associated with North American institutions, with only one contribution from Europe. However, given the significance for the rest of us of developments in the USA, the collection remains relevant and meaningful for those of us working elsewhere, even if it does not reflect any sense of the educational contexts in other parts of the world.

Papers are arranged into themed sections including: issues and trends; ERIC digests; technology centres and institutes for learning; school and library media; and leadership profiles. The work also contains a very useful “mediagraphy” of the year's publications in the field, arranged in subject sections, and a directory of relevant North American graduate programmes, justifying the volume's annually updated reference role.

As with any multiple authored collection, the collection of papers is variable, both in subject content, degree of focus and specialism, the extent to which primary research is involved and the quality and originality of the ideas expressed. They are on the whole rather short and opinion rather than research based. It is a collection that repays occasional dipping into in a selective manner, rather than extended reading as there is little thematic connection between the discrete papers. It would be impossible to appraise each paper individually within the scope of this review and so comments on a handful of these that were of particular interest to the reviewer must suffice to give a flavour of the whole.

In possibly the most significant individual paper, Molenda and Sullivan review issues and trends in the field of educational technology, in a concise, comprehensible and sensible manner. They argue that we are reaching a plateau in the seemingly inexorable upward curve of computer based technology adoption in education, noting the negative impact of the dot.com bubble bursting and the decreased telecomm market, with the only area of growth appearing to be increasing emphasis on wireless communication. This is a thorough, thoughtful and realistic appraisal of the technologies that will affect the educational sector in the immediate future. Interestingly, the authors report that most universities and colleges are still losing money on their online learning courses.

Moore, Lockee and Burton report on the development and delivery of an online Masters programme in instructional technology. However, the paper is a rather simplistic description of a process with which many of us will already be familiar. Liu reports on a research project, the findings of which support the hypothesis that increased frequency and duration of CMC messaging help network users to achieve more developed relationships with their network partners. It is gratifying to find that Lowe is still reporting the “expanding role of and endless opportunities for the library media specialist in an increasingly complex and technologically challenging world” (p. 87), in a discussion of the role of the school librarian. She identifies four guiding principles such as “school libraries don't have walls” (p. 88), much in the style of Ranganathan, arguing the need for a highly proactive and integrated approach to service. Russell also describes the extent to which the relationship between librarians and teachers has (or should have) become a collaborative one.

These are just an indicative sample of the papers included in the volume but they illustrate the scope of the whole. This is a book that performs a very useful reference function for those involved in managing educational technologies or applying educational technologies in course delivery. However, many of the contributions are not particularly challenging or thought provoking or of enormous research significance. It would be a valuable addition to the reference stock of academic libraries, but is not a volume that I would recommend to the individual reader, unless he or she is running an educational technology centre or institute of learning, where use of it might be made by a number of staff.