J. Michael Spector’s: Foundations of educational technology: integrative approaches and interdisciplinary perspectives

J. M. Spector’s book, Foundations of Educational Technology: Integrative Approaches and Interdisciplinary Perspectives, alleviates the fear that teaching novices the basics in the field of educational technology must be reduced to simplified models and procedures. This textbook manages to embrace the breadth and depth of educational technology while providing understandable definitions, examples and exercises. The book is organized into four parts addressing the essential foundations of the field for a broad spectrum of users, contexts and settings. Part one provides an introduction and overview of educational technology, part two describes the theoretical perspectives with example applications, part three illustrates practical perspectives with example applications and part four focuses on the application of the foundations in different contexts. Each chapter is organized with an identified definition and description of a topic, at least one or more test your understanding sections where the learner reviews and tests themselves on the topic, an example of the topic in practice, learning activities, references and links, and resources for additional information. Once Spector introduces a topic or definition, i.e., automaticity, systems perspective, and zone of proximal development to name a few, he does not leave it in that chapter, rather provides a consistent use of these new terms throughout the rest of the book, building the learners overall foundational understanding of educational technology. Part 1 begins with a definition of technology. Spector introduces an excellent example of refrigeration to help define technology, to illustrate its key aspect change, and to state that technology is neither good nor bad but effects society. He provides the root words of technology, and then includes a test for understanding before moving forward to define education, which he addresses in equal amount of detail. This example lays the foundation of the field and also illustrates the organization and detail of the entire book. In the second chapter, Spector tackles a topic head on usually placed obscurely in the back of a book: values, along with foundations and a framework. When addressing values and ethical principles, Spector states, ‘‘Do not create disadvantage for one population while creating advantage for another population. This is a difficult ethical principle to uphold, but it is our obligation to do so’’ (p. 15). Here he is forcing the reader upfront to think about the