In his book, Weller presents an informative history and timeline of significant developments in educational technology. Weller concedes that his choice to present the timeline by introducing one technology per year may result in some limitations and perhaps some personal bias based on his own experiences (2020). Focusing on the year that the technology provided significant contribution rather than the creation date of the technology provides a strong overview of how each technology shaped the field and further explains the impact of the technology for that period of time.
Weller chose to go back to 1994 to provide insight into the evolution of educational technology. I appreciate Weller’s suggestion that “Indeed, an alternative title for this book might be Educational Technology: The Internet Years” (Weller, 2020, p.5) as the focus of the book is the past 25 years which marks the beginnings of the mainstream adoption of the web in the field of education; not the beginnings of educational technology. If Weller was discussing the broader field of educational technology for all time, he would have had to have gone much further back in history to capture the earliest forms of educational technology. An interesting example of an earlier educational technology can be found looking back at this 1960’s era corporate training video.
After reading the first chapters in Weller’s book, I feel differently about the pressure to act on every technology trend in my role developing corporate training. Weller acknowledges the persistent narrative in educational technology that pushes a sense of urgency on us that if we do not hurry up and keep up with the technology of the day that we will be left behind (2020). Weller responds to criticism that universities will not keep up with modern students as the technology advances by stating that, “Such accounts both underestimate the degree to which universities have changed and are capable of change while also overestimating the digital natives-type account that all students want a university to be the equivalent of Instagram” (p.3). The same notions can be applied in corporate training where we should not assume that the learners (employees) need, expect, or want the latest technology trends driving their training experience.
Weller’s perspective serves as a reminder to stay grounded in sound educational theory and practices and use the technologies available to support the needs of students. In doing so, not allowing the technologies to command or hasten choices when designing educational experiences.
References
Weller, M. (2020). 25 Years of Ed Tech. Athabasca University Press.
September 6, 2021 at 11:19 am
Hi Melissa,
It was fun to be taken back to another time in the 60s era training video you shared in your post! Also, to consider the type of training (and tone) delivered back then vs. today. Thanks for sharing it!
Your observation/advice about not feeling pressured to adopt every new tool that comes on the market is a sage one. When I first began teaching digital journalism I tried to incorporate every new trend and tool but quickly found it was exhausting to try to keep up with and for my students who wanted the chance to get to know a tool over a longer period than a week before jumping onto something new. While it can be interesting to experiment, taking a moment to assess the value of what’s ultimately being taught, and how it ties to learning outcomes beyond simply trying the shiny new toy is a valuable lesson I’ve learned over the years.
September 6, 2021 at 11:42 am
That’s right! And I appreciate that Weller pointed out that we shouldn’t be assuming that students want or need their learning experiences to replicate the newest social media sites they use either. We have a good selection of educational technology tools available to us so we have the opportunity to tune into the student experience and focus on using the tech to effectively support our outcomes; not just using the newest tech for the sake of using it.