What Are The Kinds Of Technology?

When considering the kinds of technology available in the modern world, there are a number of ways in which you can address the categories. Kinds of technology could refer to individual technological equipment, e.g. A car or a computer, or it could refer to technologies in a broader sense of the term.

Five of the main types of technology, although this is not necessarily the only five, include; assistive technology, instructional technology, medical technology, technology productive tools and information technology.

• Assistive Technology
This employs the use of a variety of types of services and tools in order to help people with disabilities function within the environment. These aids can be mechanical, electronic, microprocessor based or neither. They are used to help people with disabilities in their learning, to make the environment more accessible, to enhance their independence and to improve their quality of life.

• Instructional Technology
Typically defined as a systematic way to design, carry out and evaluate to process of learning and teaching in terms of specific objectives. The technology is based on research into human learning and communication. Instructional technology may come in the form of video tapes, computer software or more complex systems.

• Medical Technology
There are constantly advancements being made within medical technology, all with the aim of discovering more about the human body and how to keep it in good health. There are many who are completely dependent on medical technology to stay alive.

• Technology Productive Tools
These tools are often computer software, hardware and other tools that help people work more efficiently and effectively. An important example of technology productive tools are databases. These are used to help retrieve and edit data in a far quicker way than by hand.

• Information Technology
Probably the best known of all five, information technology gives us the access to a wide range of knowledge and resources that we never had before. Most prominent within internet technology is the internet. 

These are just a few of the categories that could be considered as kinds of technologies.

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1. Instructional technology

2. Assistive technology

3. Medical technology

4. Technology productive tools

5. Information technology

1. Instructional technology: Instructional technology is a systematic way of designing, carrying out, and evaluating the total process of learning and teaching in terms of specific objectives, based on research in human learning and communication, and employing a combination of human and nonhuman resources to bring about more effective instruction.

2. Assistive technology: Assistive technology employs the use of various types of services and devices designed to help people with disabilities function within the environment. Assistive technologies include mechanical, electronic, and microprocessor-based equipment, non-mechanical and non-electronic aids, specialized instructional materials, services, and strategies that people with disabilities can use either to (a) assist them in learning, (b) make the environment more accessible, (c) enable them to compete in the workplace, (d) enhance their independence, or (e) otherwise improve their quality of life.

Assistive technologies may include commercially available or "home made" devices that are specially designed to meet the idiosyncratic needs of a particular individual (Blackhurst & Lahm, 2000). Examples include eyeglasses, communication aids, alternative computer keyboards, adaptive switches, and services such as those that might be provided by speech/language pathologists.

3. Medical technology: The field of medicine continues to amaze us with the advances constantly being made in medical technology. In addition to seemingly miraculous surgical procedures that are technology-based, many individuals are dependent upon medical technology to stay alive or otherwise enable people to function outside of hospitals and other medical settings. It is not uncommon to see people in their home and community settings who use medical technology.

For example, artifical limbs and hip and knee implants can help people function in the environment. Cochlear implants can often improve the hearing of people with auditory nerve damage. Some devices provide respiratory assistance through oxygen supplementation and mechanical ventilation. Others, such as cardiorespiratory monitors and pulse oximeters are used as surveillance devices that alert an attendant to a potential vitality problem. Nutritive assistive devices can assist in tube feeding or elimination through ostomies. Intravenous therapy can be provided through medication infusion and kidney function can be assumed by kidney dialysis machines (Batshaw & Perret, 1992). In addition to keeping people alive, technologies such as these can enable people to fully participate in school, community, and work activities.

4. Technology productive tools: As the name implies, technology productivity tools are computer software, hardware, and related systems that enable us to work more effectively and efficiently. For example, computer software such as database programs can be used to store and rapidly retrieve information; word processing programs can be used to easily edit text material; FAX machines can facilitate the transmission of written documents over long distances; expert system computer programs can aid in decision making, such as weather forecasting; and video conferencing facilities can reduce the need for travel.

5. Information technology: Information technologies provide access to knowledge and resources on a wide range of topics. The Internet, and its World Wide Web component, is the most prominent example of information technology. The Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) is another example. The ERIC system enables people to search and locate much of the world's educational literature on a given topic. More information about the ERIC System is available elsewhere on this Web site.