Education informatics

Education informatics is an emerging sub-discipline of education and informatics that "incorporate[s] new technologies and learning strategies to enhance the capture, organization, and utilization of information within the field of education." While this sub-discipline typically covers K-12 and higher education, it is easily expanded to business- and enterprise-level education.

Education informatics encompasses:

• logistics and administration;
• systems development (e.g. teaching/learning platforms and assessment tools);
• meta-systems development (e.g. curriculum maps and outcome frameworks);
• content and knowledge management; and
• standards development.

Note that "education informatics" is distinct from "informatics education," a term that relates more to the practice of teaching and/or learning about informatics, rather than the use of information science and technology in the support of teaching and learning.

History

The term "education informatics" first appeared in 1980, though it wasn't used much until around the mid-2000s. In 2003 and 2004, Nigel Ford and his research team at the Department of Information Studies at the University of Sheffield began researching and publishing information about the scope and learning models of education informatics. "Educational informatics research," the team said, "is concerned with the relationships between people, information, [information and communication technologies], learning and professional practice at the level of individual and social action, and in diverse organizational and institutional settings."

As of 2014, events like the International Symposium on Education Informatics and iConference have brought the discussion on education informatics to a much larger international audience.