Weller (2014) illustrated the recent history of educational technology by listing the different educational technology, theory, or concept for each year between 1998 through 2018. What’s telling is that Weller did not include e-learning content authoring tools. Despite the grand expectations about their potential, the omission seams to be indicative of a failure, to consider the fundamental affordances of computers.
Reiser (2001a) had demonstrated that the expectation for the transformative potential for numerous technologies were often greatly overstated at the outset. However, Reiser (2001a) also noted that, despite also evolving more slowly than anticipated, computers and the Internet would eventually exercise a more profound impact than previous innovations. Both these predictions were confirmed by Weller’s list. Several innovations were introduced with much fanfare, but eventually fizzled in disappointment.
One long-lasting innovation, Watters (2018) notes, was the advent of the learning management system (LMS). However, as Watters remarked:
There’s that word “management” in there that sort of gives it away for us in the US at least: that this software that purports to address questions about teaching and learning but that really works to “manage” and administer, in turn often circumscribing pedagogical possibilities (n.p.).
Effectively, LMS are merely platforms that facilitate traditional forms of education. The teacher-student is the same, except that now learning materials are digital, and can be accessed remotely through the LMS. Therefore, the LMS does not represent a fundamental transformation of how learning is conducted.
It’s important to distinguish that when we refer to the impact of digital technology on education, we are referring to two separate technologies. While requiring a computer, it is the Internet that has made it possible to access learning material remotely. But the essential affordances presented by the computer is its ability to run software, and it is that capability which represents a truly unique potential. Until recently, learning material has been restricted to clay tablets, pictorial presentations, books, and eventually radio, film and even television. However, all these media were forms of one-way communication. The novelty the computer presents is to provide the opportunity to create learning materials that are interactive. And this is the essential point missed in Weller’s list, and why, it would appear, that an important innovation of authoring tools were neglected. The omission doesn’t seem to be unique to Weller. A search on Google scholar for e-learning authoring tools didn’t reveal any article dedicated specifically to the subject.
For my timeline, I have chosen to present the history of Adobe Captivate. It’s particular fascinating because it demonstrates how rudimentary software like RoboDemo evolved over time, far beyond its initial expectations, into a robust elearning tool. The product had started out as a merely a screen recording utility known as Flashcam (Nexus Concepts 2002), but evolved into an e-learning authoring tool after it was acquired by eHelp Corporation and released as RoboDemo. Eventually, Macromedia acquired eHelp to gain RoboDemo. Shortly before the company was bought by Adobe System, Macromedia changed the name of the product to Captivate. It is especially interesting to see how the product was evolved over time to adapt to the evolution of education technology, particularly with regards to important innovations like SCORM, and from platforms like Flash to HTML5 to make it more widely adaptable.
Timeline – History of Adobe Captivate
References
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), 53–64.
Watters, A. (2014). Un-fathomable: The Hidden History of Ed-Tech, Chapter 2. In The monsters of education technology. Licensed under the Creative Commons CC BY-SA.
Weller, M. (2018). Twenty Years of EdTech. EDUCAUSE Review, 53(4), 34–48.