Educational technologist

An educational technologist is someone trained in the field of educational technology. Educational technologists try to analyze, design, develop, implement and evaluate processes and tools to make learning easier. The term does not necessarily, or even mainly, refer to hardware. The most significant ideas came from applied psychology and programmed learning.
There are various other terms which are alternatives, most obviously 'instructional technologist'. There have been various names for institutions specialising in the activity. The description used originally at the UK Open University was 'Applied Educational Sciences', changed later to 'Institute of Educational Technology'. To produce the landmark program "Sesame Street", the Childrens' Television Workshop employed applied psychologists to pre-test all programs. This was a typical activity for educational technologists even if they were not called by that name.