In some cases, "ed-tech" is shorthand for some very cool tech,. In some cases, "education" is just shorthand for a category within a larger app market. Sometimes all this talk about a definition of "ed-tech" prompts a great conversation about what we mean by learning in a mobile, networked world. And sometimes when we talk about "ed-tech," we're still talking about crappy tech and crappy education and crappy pedagogy and crappy outcomes.And at times – particularly lately it seems – when we talk about ed-tech, we are full of an utterly uncritical "OMG WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" as though someone just now figured out that education plus technology could equal the awesome.
via Audrey Watters, What Is "Ed-Tech"?.
I've struggled with definitions of educational technology and eLearning as well. On the one hand, the technology side is amazing because it holds the potential to empower and extend etc... On the other hand, focusing on the shiny distracts from the stuff that really matters.