Booklist Review

Produced in England but including terms from both Britain and the U.S. as well as other English-speaking countries, this welcome dictionary is a glossary of theories, philosophies, and jargon of instructional technology that includes teaching as well as audiovisual media, statistics, film and television production, photography, reprography, computing, and information technology. The compilers are professors in British institutions of higher education. The book aims to be comprehensive, and its more than 2,800 terms are defined clearly and concisely though the definitions sometimes fall victim to the very jargon and arcane vocabulary they attempt to explain. In dictionary arrangement, the entries are short and precise. U.S. spellings are bracketed within the definitions, and there are cross-references. In addition, certain key words and phrases within definitions are printed in italics, meaning that they appear elsewhere under their own headings. There are numerous illustrations of great value: a diagram indicating the depth of focus of a camera, a series of photographs illustrating different camera angles, a drawing of Dale's cone of experience, an example of pixel pattern distortion, and even a picture of the qwerty typewriter keyboard. Each has a figure number that is referred to in the appropriate definition. Notable absences: no entry for Piaget, and, although Bloom's Taxonomy is mentioned under cognitive domain (to which one is referred from taxonomy), there is no entry for Bloom, and the taxonomy is merely defined rather than actually given. This book should prove an invaluable quick reference for educators and instructional technologists who have forgotten (or never knew) terms discussed in professional literature, as well as new practitioners who need to have a key to terminology. It is a needed addition to libraries of teachers' colleges, vocational schools teaching technology, school libraries at all levels, and special and public libraries where users may need to review or learn anew the vocabulary of instructional technology.