From Plato to PLATO – Justice Remains in the Republic
Well, isn’t that a strange title for a blog about the history of educational technology? I’ll make you a promise – it will all make sense once you finish reading this blog. Hopefully.
So, in the history of educational technology what’s the story? When asked to understand something, quite often I will seek the etymology of the words. I took Latin as my second language in university. I know, I’m a little weird that way. The word education is from Latin and is broken down into two parts – the preposition ‘ex’ (from) and the verb ‘ducere’ (to lead). The word technology is from Greek and is broken down into two parts as well – techne (art or craft) and ology (the study of). So, in my mind, it roughly translates to ‘leading from the study of the craft’. Or something.
My next step in the discovery phase to understand this concept, I went to YouTube to see if I can get a rough idea of what it means through an audio-visual medium. There are many videos detailing the history. So I watched five. Most start by noting that all historical tools that assisted in leading others (teaching) are part of educational technology. This begins with the drawings of cave-men and continues with examples of recording and transferring knowledge. The timeline consists of major developments such as the writing utensils, printing press, and computers. There seems to be an acceleration in the speed of knowledge transfer. Especially in the twentieth century.
Thinking about historical events reminded me of taking a philosophy class about twenty years ago on Plato’s book Republic. In it, Socrates debates about what a just society is and that education was an element to such a just society. I could not quite remember so I dug around a little on google scholar to see if I could get the connection. Lee (1994) stated in succinctly as, “Plato regards education as a means to achieve justice, both individual and social justice”. Ah! That makes sense.
Okay, so since I am in google scholar I will search around here for a bit. Reiser is cited quite a bit, therefore I should investigate what is said. Reiser (2001) gives a definition on page 53 as
“The field of instructional design and technology encompasses the analysis of learning and performance problems, and the design, development, implementation, evaluation and management of instructional and non-instructional processes and resources intended to improve learning and performance in a variety of settings, particularly educational institutions and the workplace.”
It seems pretty much on par with the direction we were already heading to. I can understand and agree on what Reiser defines educational technology as. He also posits that historically there is a division between teacher, textbook, and chalkboard, and new forms of media (p. 55). It seems that he is suggesting that although cavemen drawings can be included as educational technology one should almost create a division between pre-industrialization and post-industrialization. To simplify, the turn of the twentieth century is a decent landmark for this division.
As a psychology major, I found an article involving B.F. Skinner called “Review Lecture: The Technology of Teaching” (Skinner, 1965) to pop out in the google scholar search. I ended up reading the paper. Personally, I found it quite interesting to see how he uses only portions of operant conditioning (rewards and punishments to shape behaviour) to explain educational technology. In operant conditioning, there are four methods – positive reinforcement (giving something appealing to repeat behaviour), negative reinforcement (removing something unappealing to repeat behaviour), negative punishment (removing something appealing to reduce behaviour) and positive punishment (giving something negative to reduce behaviour). The effectiveness is generally considered in that order as well. Give a sticker to repeat, and down to spanking to stop. What I found very interesting is that Skinner in this lecture discusses only positive reinforcement as a method to use educational technology. It made me wonder if modern education is based on the tenet of only positive reinforcement. With the “no child left behind” principle it kind of applies. It is just based on degrees of positive reinforcement. This does not apply to all institutions as failing in university is still a reality. Will that change, I wonder.
What about the rest of the world. Is the historical account the same? I thought about Turkey as it a major country that is centralized in the modern world and is considered a bridge between Europe and the east. In “Educational technology in Turkey: Past, present, and future”, Akkoyunlu (2002) asserts that Turkey’s instructional technology begins with the industrial revolution. Interesting! This is similar to what I was understanding from Reiser.
At this point, I felt that I could go down an academic rabbit hole if I kept going. I figured it may be better to go back to youtube and search for phases of educational technology. I found one (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ir4-EFVhzI) that depicts three distinct phases.
1) Dynamic interaction
2) Textbooks are replaced with computers and online sources
3) Content consists of communication, collaboration, and creation
The video talks about modern educational technology is how students: become producers rather than receptors of knowledge, publishers of their creation, act as an audience from their peers, and therefore the piece becomes peer-reviewed. This sounds a lot like how Royal Roads is designed, and this class is a perfect example of this.
Okay. I think I have a basic understanding of it (maybe?) but PLATO is a new concept. What an amazing piece of technology this is. It is a computer system that revolutionized interactive learning. It really blew me away that I had not heard of it before and was such a major development. I thought it was interesting that Wikipedia states –
“Before the 1944 G.I Bill that provided free college education to World War 2 veterans, higher education was limited to a minority of the US population, though only 9% of the population was in the military. The trend towards greater enrollment was notable by the early 1950s, and the problem of providing instruction for the many new students was a serious concern to university administrators. To wit, if computerized automation increased factory production, it could do the same for academic instruction”
It seems that PLATO was a pinnacle piece in making the common man become more involved in gaining knowledge. The public was becoming empowered through education to create a just society. This brings us back to Plato’s Republic.
*breathes*
Phew! That was a long road to circle around, eh?
Anyways, if you are still reading this. Thank you! My interest in educational technology resides in virtual reality, augmented reality, and forms of learning that are based on heavy user interaction. From practicing surgeries for medical teams to interactive learning. For example, in Victoria BC there is a company called LlamaZoo and they have created a veterinarian tool for understanding canine anatomy. If you are interested here is a video demonstrating this form of learning –
Have a great day!
References
Akkoyunlu, B. (2002). Educational technology in Turkey: Past, present and future. Educational Media International, 39(2), 165-174. Retrieved from: https://www-tandfonline-com.ezproxy.royalroads.ca/action/doSearch?AllField=educational+technology+in+turkey%3A+past%2C+present+and+future
Lee, M. (1994). Plato’s philosophy of education: Its implication for current education. Retrieved from: https://philpapers.org/rec/LEEPPO
PLATO information from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PLATO_(computer_system)
Reiser, R. A. (2001). A history of instructional design and technology: Part I: A history of instructional media. Educational technology research and development, 49(1), 53. Retrieved from: https://docdrop.org/static/drop-pdf/A-history-of-instructional-design-and-technology-1-8nOHG.pdf
Skinner, B. (1965). Review Lecture: The Technology of Teaching. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences, 162(989), 427-443. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.royalroads.ca/stable/75554