ABSTRACT
THE PURPOSE OF THIS chapter is to provide a historical context for the current definition of educational technology. We will do this in several stages. First, we will review the primary purposes and considerations for defining educational technology. Then, we will review each of the four previous definitions, paying particular attention to the primary concepts included in each definition. We will examine the context and rationales for decisions made regarding each of these primary concepts. We will also present some of the historical criticisms of the definitions which provided the impetus for changing the definitions.
