When reading about technology in education it’s quite easy to fall down many rabbit holes as the field has grown quickly and definitely not in one direction. To say that growth is new is false in that technology has always been in education but just in different forms. Sanders (2001) discusses that the teaching of the industrial arts has always been technology focused and refers to this new “technology education” as a proper naming of the industrial arts that are far from new.

This rebranding seems to fit with many of the different elements of technology in education. Gamification is not a new theory or a new way of teaching. This teaching has been used for centuries and the different is that we’re including screens and rather than survival it’s being successful in math and numerous other subjects that were previously not thought of as “fun” (with fun being totally subjective and not a definitive term).

The root of some of the technological elements in education is also an interesting place to look. The military in the United States has done a fair bit of work with the PLATO (Programmed Logic for Automatic Teaching Operations) which has allowed the research to be done and to be funded further. Their work out of San Diego on their training application work has allowed for some great research into these fields.

Understanding also how different countries and their policies around education has meant capitalism has a large impact on the education field and how technology is implemented. Finance has meant that there have been changes in academic labour which in turn has meant technology is being implemented with funding in mind.

Alderman, D., Appel, L., & Murphy, R. (1978). PLATO and TICCIT: An Evaluation of CAI in the Community College. Educational Technology, 18(4), 40-45. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/44419177

Gilbert, J., & Boulter, C. J. (2000). Developing models in science education. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic.

Goodman, P. S. (2002). Technology enhanced learning: Opportunities for change. Mahwah, NJ: L. Erlbaum.

Hurlock, R. E., & Slough, D. A. (1976). Experimental Evaluation of PLATO IV Technology: Final Report. Ft. Belvoir: Defense Technical Information Center.

Sanders, M. (2001). New Paradigm or Old Wine? The Status of Technology Education Practice in the United States. Journal of Technology education, 12(2), 35-55.

Slaughter, S., & Leslie, L. L. (1999). Academic capitalism: Politics, policies, and the entrepreneurial university. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.