Abstract: Articulation of the concepts trend, issue and fad helps to better understand how technological innovations and current research findings affect the field of educational technology. Clear descriptions of these terms are difficult to find, though understanding the difference among issues, trends and fads helps determine what we teach in our educational technology courses, the support instructional designers provide to educators, and the research studies we pursue. This presentation will be a discussion of how we have conceptualized the terms trend, issue, and fad based on our writing an “issues and trends” chapter for the annual, Educational Media and Technology Yearbook, and producing a bi-weekly podcast on the topic. The discussion will focus on how the articulation of these concepts can help us better understand how technological innovations and current research findings affect the field of educational technology.