Technology Selection

• 18 Things to consider when choosing technology
  From The World Campus at Penn State, this list of 18 practical considerations is from the Penn State 'Faculty Development 101 Course, Lesson 6, 'Choosing a Technology Mix'. Included is the Media Selection Matrix to see how various instructional strategies can be supported by different technologies. For example, Tip #8 is: "Be sure the technology selection fits your instructional goals."
• Choose Technologies for Your Distance Learning Course
  From The Catalyst Web site, this guide describes different technology options available to distance educators at the University of Washington. It offers Action Plans and Planning Considerations for a number of delivery methods and tools.
• Choosing and Using the Right Technology [ppt]
  Christine Lustik, Director of Distance Education at Western Wyoming Community College, developed this set of slides. Included is a set of bullet points: "10 Steps to Making the Right Technology Choice". See also a presention at the 2006 WCET Conference: The Right Tool for the Job: Technology Selection & Integration.
• Criteria for Selecting Educational Delivery Methods: Samples from the Literature
  From The Center for Instructional Technology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, this survey of the literature covers a variety of instructional methods. Included are references to case studies comparing teaching strategies, reports of experiments that attempt to evaluate and assess the superiority of one method over another, historical reviews, comments on current issues, and predictions of trends in educational delivery methodologies.
• Delivery Options
  The Office of Extended Education and Outreach of the University of Nebraska Lincoln has identified and defined about a dozen distance education delivery modes, including videoconferencing, Internet, CD Rom, etc. The site advises: "In selecting the medium of communication faculty must take into consideration the technology available to distance education students being served."
• Distance Education Technologies
  The University of Missouri - St. Louis has assembled a "Roadmap to Effective Distance Education Instructional Design" which is divided into several 'destinations'. Information on how to select technology for distance education courses, is descussed in Destination 6: "Distance Education Technologies." It includes a section on the considerations in selecting technologies.
• Overview of Distance Learning Technologies
  From "A Teacher's Guide to Distance Learning" this overview chapter states that the various technologies used in distance learning can be roughly divided into four categories: print, audio (voice), computer (data), and video. The Teacher's Guide was written by Dr. Ann Barron, Florida Center for Instructional Technology College of Education, University of South Florida.
• Technology
  The Global Distance Education Network is a set of information management tools designed to provide information about distance education and training from around the world. Their section on Technology and Media provides articles and discussion on various technology options used worldwide for training. Links to additional sources are provided with most delivery method descriptions.
• Which Technology?
  The M-learning.org site has created a list of about a half dozen mobile technologies describing "some of the issues you need to consider before you decide which will work for you."
• Which Technology is Best?
  From the series from Engineering Outreach, University of Idaho, "Distance Education at a Glance" by Dr. Barry Willis, this question is asked in the 'Overview' section. The answer includes looking at the needs of the learner.