8 Indiana Libraries, Vol. 30, Number 1

t is confession time. When I

developed an interest in instructional

technology, I did not understand

how deep and involved the profession is. I

had never heard of the eld “instructional

design” and thought it was just a fancy term

for “how you teach a class.” I cannot speak for

all librarians, but while working on my library

technologists skill set is now useful for

practicing librarians. Interestingly, both

professions have an amusing similarity: the

average person probably does not understand

what these professionals actually do. Trust me

on this! Over the past three years, without fail,

I have had the following conversation many

times:

Acquaintance: “So Ryan, what do you do?”

Me: “I’m the Instructional Technology/

Acquaintance: “Haha! Nope! Sorry about that.

Do you just help people nd electronic books

or something? Do you do tech support?”

Me: “No worries; this happens all the time. Do

you have a few minutes? Let me explain.”

This is a nice icebreaker when I meet new

people. But it has taught me that not only

is librarian a mysterious profession to some

folks, but also when you add in instructional

technology/technologist you are entering

a realm that is even more unfamiliar. My

experience, incidentally, is that this is not just

a few individuals – it is most people that I

encounter.

Librarian: “So Ryan, what do you do?”

Me: “I’m the Instructional Technology/

Information Literacy Librarian at California

University of Pennsylvania.”

Librarian: “Oh, very cool. I do a lot of that

stuff, too. You know how it goes; we all wear

so many hats.”

Me: “I know, all too well! Working on anything

cool right now?”

Librarian: “Well, I’m working on . . .”

using?”

Librarian: “I’m just . . . ya know . . . doing

what I always do. There’s a model?”

Me: (pass out)

My air for the dramatic aside, this is just one

have participated.

Indiana Libraries, Vol. 30, Number 1 9

but do I really need to know some model in

order to do my job properly? Do I really need

some sort of special training in order to make

better use of instructional technology in my

career?” The short answer is: it depends.

The long answer is: the rest of this article!

The following thought piece will dene and

discuss instructional technology/design (and

by extension, the instructional technologist),

in the context of librarianship, as well as

professionals. We select, organize, and manage

information sources so that we can then help

others to nd the knowledge that they seek.

We are also, of course, generalists – we need

to know a little about “everything” so that

we can better help our broad population of

patrons. Some of us may pick up a subject

specialty in one specic area, but that does not

diminish the need for an assortment of skills

and knowledge in a wide variety of areas. It

with aspects of other elds and that is affecting

what we do and how we do it. And some of

these items fall within the eld of instructional

technology.

The notion that librarianship and instructional

technology/design are converging is not new.

Steven Bell and John Shank even coined

the term for this convergence as “Blended

Librarianship” in 2004 (Bell & Shank, 2006).

Over 6 years later, I meet many librarians that

place? Are librarians full-on instructional

use of some of these skills? I will save these

answers for the end. First, we have to get a

handle on what “instructional technology” is if

we are going to discuss it. Therefore, we will

talk about this next.

Dening the Instructional Technologist

Friends and colleagues tend to have their own

concept of what instructional technology might

right?” I usually respond with “well, projectors

and you will be a bit closer.” We will start here

what this all actually means.

Instructional Technology or Educational

Technology?

The technical denition for instructional

technology, as stated by the Association for

Educational Communications and Technology

(AECT) Denitions and Terminology Committee

(2001) is:

the denition mean a discipline devoted

to techniques or ways to make learning

more efcient based on theory but

theory in its broadest sense, not just

scientic theory (4).

This is one denition; however, not everyone

uses this phrase to discuss the eld. The

term “instructional technology” is often used

interchangeably with “educational technology,”

which is sometimes replaced with “learning

recently redened by AECT. Again, this causes

10 Indiana Libraries, Vol. 30, Number 1

Uses and denitions for these phrases have

changed throughout their existence (and I

have met just as many people that insist they

are one in the same as those that insist they

are different). However, as with any type of

label or naming convention, some people

attach their own connotations to the terms

used (Lowenthal & Wilson, 2010). This creates

a problem when trying to discuss “instructional

technology” in the context of librarians. One

librarian that is quite good at the design and

it as a librarian that feels comfortable using a

quite problematic.

Common terminology is a challenge in this

eld. So, I will use the terms “instructional

technology” or “instructional technologists”

throughout this article to encompass all of the

phrases mentioned above. Otherwise, things

would get quite confusing! However, I am in

the camp that views “instructional technology”

and “educational technology” as being different

– e.g., Technical Services Librarians and Public

Services Librarians are able to interact with

one another based on a common background

and way of viewing their profession.

Finally, I should mention that people often

confuse this term with an “information

technologist.” Though a librarian or

instructional technologist might be comfortable

with information technology, this is a separate

eld. All three professions share some aspects

different hats depending on what they like to

may also depend on the level of education

they have completed and/or the coursework

they elected to pursue. Others, however,

may be given the job title “instructional

technologist” without any real training or

experience in that arena – but they may have

practical or tangential experience that qualies

them for the profession. The following are

examples of the types of careers Instructional

Technologists/Designers may pursue. Though

or she may wish to become an independent

pharmaceutical companies to develop training

on how to complete certain task-specic

processes (such as chemical safety). Others

may work for a corporation, like Dick’s Sporting

Goods, as part of an internal Instructional

Design/Training department that develops

instruction on the proper use of Point of Sale

software. Each of these examples would entail

the Instructional Designer working with a

Subject Matter Expert and Stakeholders to

Technologists may gravitate towards working

with the military. The armed forces have a

history of hiring Instructional Technologists/

Designers to design, develop, and assess face-

to-face training, online modules, manuals,

and simulations for various needs. As above,

Subject Matter Experts and Stakeholders would

be involved with the process. Depending on

with whom you discuss this topic, you may

hear that this is the most difcult arena to

enter . . . as well as the most protable.

of employees that provide assistance

development, media production, and provide

Indiana Libraries, Vol. 30, Number 1 11

and maintenance of a Course Management

System. On a smaller college and university

scale, they may serve as a Learning Media

Producer or Instructional Designer. Finally, in

primary and secondary education, they may

work as a Technology Integration Facilitator or

District Project Manager.

OK. What Type of Training and Education

Does This Person Need?

the following is not meant to be exhaustive,

on the program, and its focus (instructional

instructional media, etc) the coursework may

be more thorough in one aspect over another.

Further, some programs emphasize theory over

practical skill sets.

Instructional design and development

(or instructional systems design): This

area specializes in designing and developing

effective, pedagogically sound, instruction. This

concept was developed by the military in the

solution, this component also calls for some

form of assessment (more on that in a bit!)

Pedagogy (and/or educational

psychology): No surprise: it is difcult to

design and develop pedagogically sound

instruction or if you do not know anything

about pedagogy or educational psychology.

These individuals have expertise in how the

mind processes instruction, as well as how

to leverage these mental processes for the

on people, and how audiovisual communication

began to look at the educational value of

in this area may be limited to selection and

utilization of media for teaching and learning,

but may also include production (video, audio,

scriptwriting, etc) of original media content.

Technology planning and/or integration

or project management: Other terms may

be used here, but once you have created

your pedagogically sound instruction (which

may or may not utilize advanced technology,

it, assess it, and then decide how to proceed.

Technology: Convergence

Earlier, I promised to address the following

statements: how much convergence has

taken place? Are librarians full-on instructional

technologists? Or do we just occasionally make

use of some of these skills? Based on skill

sets and education alone – librarianship and

instructional technology have a long way to go

before they are truly converged. Nonetheless,

librarianship has a lot to gain from instructional

technology. Consider the following:

to nd a particular piece of information? You

had better brush up on your media production,

pedagogy, and instructional design skills. Are

you building a new, robust information literacy

program at your college or university? Better

yet, is some of your instruction going to be

done online? Are you going to be assessing it

to see if it was successful? Gee, you had better

be studying up on all of these topics!

Common Misconceptions

beginning of this article, I have met individuals

instructional technology as well as over-

12 Indiana Libraries, Vol. 30, Number 1

those individuals.

The following statements are meant for fun.

They are examples of some misconceptions

that I had about instructional technology when

I started my career in librarianship. If you have

made any of these declarations, your secret is

safe with me. Additionally, I am including some

things to consider in relation to each topic.

Enjoy!

was wrong. Not all great teachers are great

seems counter-intuitive. But consider this:

quite engaging but lacked substance in his or

her coursework? Likewise, did you ever have a

“lousy teacher” that clearly laid out the subject

matter but lacked charisma and left you feeling

unengaged? My guess is that you did.

Next time you are ready to teach, consider

the following: did you do a thorough analysis

of your learners? Do you know their entry

behaviors (the skills and abilities with which

is what the students need to know? Do you

actually understand pedagogy, or do you just

think that you do?

I do not need special training or equipment to

produce instructional media because modern

technology is so easy to use. Once again,

I was wrong. But there is some truth here,

depending on the individual and/or situation. It

is true that the technologies needed to produce

media in 2010 are quite different from those

video camera, you could probably even just

then edit it together with free software like

talent for this or if your goal is to just produce

“something” then the above statement is true.

The statement becomes false if you want

to produce something of decent quality and

are not innately gifted at media production.

Others, for better or worse, need to develop

that skill. Consider a “B” movie with low

production value versus a Hollywood

blockbuster with a high production value. What

media may turn off the learner. And they, in

perhaps an online tutorial, consider the

following: do you need to storyboard your

production? Why or why not? Will you be using

voiceover? Have you completed a script? Will

you be using professional voiceover talent?

(Hint: always get a professional to do the

voiceover or go take vocal training lessons).

Do you need background music or SFX? Are

you using graphics, images, or video? Who will

produce them? How long will your production

too slowly or too quickly? If something changes

in 6 months, will it be easy to go back and

correct your assets, or will you need to start

over?

I am a librarian that knows how to use

technology in my daily job duties, including

teaching – I am basically an instructional

technologist. / I am an instructional

technologist that knows how to use technology

to nd information – I can basically do

elds is not one sided. Though we did not

skill sets from librarianship, one example would

Indiana Libraries, Vol. 30, Number 1 13

be reference interviewing and research skills.

When tasked with designing instruction, a good

instructional designer needs to ask the right

questions – and do great research – to design

and develop the best instruction possible.

elds are still quite independent, despite their

growing convergence, and more will need to

be done if these elds are to ever completely

integrate.

So, are you an instructional technologist?

Consider the following: how many instructional

design models do you know? When would

it be appropriate to use one over another?

Are there differences between them, or are

they all basically the same? When would it be

production? What preproduction issues

do you need to consider before you begin

creating instructional media? What is your

plan for integrating new technologies into your

services? Do you need these new technologies?

How will you manage them? How can they

best be utilized? Will they increase learner

comprehension? Will they increase learner

performance?

Conclusion

topic of convergence with other librarians, and

I am always surprised at the responses that

I receive. Some believe, as I once did, that

they are already essentially an instructional

technologist. Others indicate that they know

little about the eld (even if they are utilizing

skills from it on a regular basis).

I hope that you consider exploring the “how”

aspect of instructional technology. It is a fun

eld and learning to develop, and implement,

these skills is rewarding. As the professions

continue to converge, just a little education

and/or training in these topics can go a

page.

14 Indiana Libraries, Vol. 30, Number 1

AECT Association for Educational Communica-