The first thing I noticed when I entered the search terms ‘education, technology, history’ is that most of the websites provided information and timelines regarding software and hardware that have been developed over the years. Bates (2014) provides an overview of the history of how we moved through the basic levels of educational technologies:
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Oral communication as the earliest form of sharing knowledge
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Written communication where early correspondence education started in the 1840’s in England
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Broadcasting and video education that started with the BBC in the 1920’s
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Computer based learning that began with B.F. Skinner experimenting with teaching machines in the 1950’s
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Computer networking where higher education institutions began using networks to assist in learning in the 1980’s
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Online learning environments (LMS’s such as Moodle) that began in the 1990’s providing comprehensive spaces for teaching and learning
What I found interesting is that much of the focus on educational technology is on the hardware and software and not the pedagogy and theory of using educational technologies properly in order to effectively integrate them into the classroom. Once I added ‘pedagogy’ to my search terms several articles did appear that related more to more of the theory behind applying technology to education. One early framework for the integration of technology is the TPCK theoretical model where attention is paid not only to the technology itself, but also to the pedagogy, content, and knowledge (Koehler, Mishra, Yahya, 2007, pp. 741-743).
What I have found in my experience as a teacher using technology and a faculty mentor in integrating technology is that people get distracted by the technology itself and tend to focus on the ‘cool, new tech toys’. More focus on how to make a plan to apply technology in the classroom is needed in order to enhance learning, not just supplement it.
References
Bates, T. (2014). A short history of educational technology. In Online learning and distance education Resources. Retrieved from https://www.tonybates.ca/2014/12/10/a-short-history-of-educational-technology/
Koehler, M.J., Mishra, P., Yahya, K. (2007). Tracing the development of teacher knowledge in a design seminar: Integrating content, pedagogy and technology. Computers and Education. (49). 740-762. Retrieved from https://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/31313419/KoehlerMishraYahya2007.pdf?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAIWOWYYGZ2Y53UL3A&Expires=1504882412&Signature=EKBIIMw3FGgwNn%2BEwR2BpJEyB3k%3D&response-content-disposition=inline%3B%20filename%3DTracing_the_development_of_teacher_knowl.pdf
I agree with my classmate Krista…I wish I would have watched the video’s from RRU library’s regarding writing 
As you can see in the image above someone named alex_corbitt had 24 connections in this map.
. I was really impressed by the depth to which the presenters took their material and how passionate they were about their topics. The readings made one thing very clear to me, I need to prepare my students for the real world and part of that preparation is to teach them to be professional, effective and responsible contributors to the online community. As Ryberg and Georgsen (2010) point out, a big problem with ensuring that todays youth are digitally literate is that their instructors may not be, so I should be leading by example. My overall goals are to build my web presence in a professional and meaningful manner, and to use that web presence to be an effective contributor to the educational community at large.