I really enjoyed reading the first 8 chapters of this book. The content introduced me to a chronological journey of the evolution of educational technology (Ed Tech) from 1994 to 2001.
I was fascinated about the discussion of each technology or concept discussed and how some were interconnected. For example, the first chapter discussed the rise of Bulletin Board Systems (BBS) and how they led to other technologies such as computer mediated communications (CMA) and learning management systems (LMS).
I greatly appreciated the overall brief descriptions of some of the computer technical terms or technologies that I was not as familiar with. For instance the discussion of learning objects (LO) in chapter 7 gave me an overall understanding of them and while they did not catch on, some LO concepts link to open education resources, (OER). I also enjoyed the flow of the writing as each chapter lead to the next.
As someone who is historically minded, I would enjoy learning as much about Ed Tech as possible, even going further back than the author’s start date of 1994. I do however agree with the author in their introduction that since there has been a lack of historical documentation about the Ed Tech field, choosing the 25 years from 1994-2018 is a good place to start. I look forward to reading more of this book as well as the work of ones that build on this history to add more background to the developing field of Ed Tech.
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