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<\/p>\nIn looking at the history of educational technology, and learning in general. I have come to the conclusion that history seems to repeat itself, and we have not managed to learn from the past. I hope as I read more on this, I will be proven wrong.<\/p>\n
The Reiser (2001), articles were a good overview of the history \u00a0surrounding educational technology (ed. tech), but I found the Watters keynote addresses far more interesting in terms of shedding light on the lost opportunities, and the continued failure of \u00a0professional learning institutions to properly embrace ed. tech and utlise it to its fullest potential in shaping learning.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In general, Reiser’s claims, in the first chapter particularly, that various new instructional media and instructional techniques heralded as the new way forward were often times misguided, is accurate. The focus on new instructional media like radio, and television in the classroom focussed on the medium rather than the outcome. This is because there was not a shift in learning pedagogy to go along with the new technology. Old methods were coupled with new technology, and the result was a new way to receive educational content, but no guarantee that it was an improvement on existing pedagogy.<\/p>\n
I feel the notion that if it is new tech it is good for learning because it is cutting edge is false. Here is a graphic to reinforce my views:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
This image was used in a presentation by a colleague once in New Zealand, and it has stuck with me (we were in the middle of a several year gradual shift to BYOD and intensive PD on how to effectively manage this). The idea is that a new technology comes forward promising to revolutionise teaching and learning, and there is much buzz and excitement, but in my experience the necessary PD and pedagogical refocusing does not come along with the initiative. The tech does not deliver as promised, and collectively we wallow in the “trough of sorrow”, as we inevitably try to make the media behave as it was promised, ultimately feeling useless and inept, when we are unable to realise the lofty expectations that we had. Eventually the PD catches up and you regain some of the initial enthusiasm, but by the time you theoretically regain the initial high expectations, a new trend has come along.<\/p>\n
In my context, I will use the example of SMART boards. Every class in my first school had one, and there were a lot of bells and whistles, but the training on how this new instructional medium was going to change teaching and learning was sparse. For me, my SMART board became a conveneient way for me to “chalk and talk” \u00a0through a PowerPoint and save valueable footsteps from walking to my desk and mouse-clicking on a hyperlink imbedded within the PowerPoint. I also no longer needed my clicker to advance slides as I could just physically touch the board. Many fun hours of students wanting to write answers on a digital screen also ensued, but I would argue, at the expense of actual learning.\u00a0My failure to effectively utlise this new medium of instruction was in part due to the reality of life as a first year teacher trying to keep afloat, and fresh from a post secondary educational system that had also not mastered a way to prepare teachers for the instructional technology of tomorrow.<\/p>\n
Bates (2014), outlines a variety of educational technologies and the initial resistance to them going back to the time of Socrates. I think this is still the norm, and not specific to ed.tech, but new ideas in education in general: student-centred learning and flipped classrooms come to mind. Until we are able to effectively break down this very strong resistence movement, we will not ever be able to realise the potential of educational technology changing the way we learn. The only hope, I think, is to have solid evidence and practical application strategies at the ready before implementation<\/p>\n
Bates, T. (2014).\u00a0A short history of educational technology<\/a>.<\/p>\n Oh, J. (2015). Tech startups can minimize their time in the trough of sorrow with a zoom in pivot.\u00a0Reddal.\u00a0<\/i>Retrieved from:\u00a0http:\/\/www.reddal.com\/insights\/minimizing-time-in-the-trough-of-sorrow-with-a-zoom-in-pivot\/<\/p>\n Reiser, R. A. (2001).\u00a0A history of instructional design and technology: Part I: A history of instructional media<\/a>.\u00a0Educational Technology Research and Development<\/i>,\u00a049<\/i>(1), 53-64.<\/p>\n Reiser, R. A. (2001).\u00a0A history of instructional design and technology: Part II: A history of instructional design<\/a>.\u00a0Educational Technology Research and Development<\/i>,\u00a049<\/i>(2), 57-67.<\/p>\n Watters, A. (2014). The History of the Future of Ed-Tech, Chapter 1. In\u00a0The monsters of education technology<\/a><\/i>. Licensed under the Creative Commons CC BY-SA.<\/p>\n Watters, A. (2014). Un-fathomable: The Hidden History of Ed-Tech, Chapter 2. In\u00a0The monsters of education technology<\/a><\/i>. Licensed under the Creative Commons CC BY-SA.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In looking at the history of educational technology, and learning in general. I have come to the conclusion that history seems to repeat itself, and we have not managed to learn from the past. I hope as I read more on this, I will be proven wrong. The Reiser (2001), articles were a good overview … Continue reading The Changing Face of Educational Technology<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":52,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[19],"class_list":["post-458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lrnt523","tag-rrumalat"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/52"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=458"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":459,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458\/revisions\/459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}