When initially thinking of people in the learning and technology field, my first thought was Dr. Tony Bates. When I started working at a Learning Technologist in January 2019 , Tony was one of the authors given to me in a reading list regarding educational technologies. I was happy to see some of his writing pop up in our first MALAT course and again in LRNT523 as additional readings. Although we’ve highlighted his latest writing, Dr. Tony Bates has been focused on distance/online education as early as his first book published in 1977. With 11 books published and numerous publications, presentations and resources, the longevity of personal experience has allowed Dr. Tony Bates to capture the thoughts, processes and innovations of the time they were written. As someone born in the 1990’s, it’s so valuable to hear the perspective and stories from those who experienced past innovations and ideas. We may dismiss the use of radio or television broadcast in education now, but not long ago it was seen a huge potential in distance education. As discussed in Weller’s book, 25 Years of Ed Tech, there hasn’t been a great success or effort in recording the history, successes, failures in Ed Tech, but Tony’s publications and posts are a strong example helping prevent that.
Dr. Tony Bates is actively involved with the Learning and Technology field through his website and twitter. His blog alone contains over two thousand posts :
Online Learning and Distance Education Resources Website
Both sites are consistently getting updates regarding a broach range of subjects tied into distance/online education. His latest book Teaching in a Digital Age (2019) is also being updated to help capture the rapid changes in online learning that occurred through the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Tony Bates is gathering information and feedback with hopes of releasing the Teaching in a Digital Age Third Addition by April 2022. Through these history capturing publications and continual discussion in the Ed Tech community, we will continue to see a focus, refinement and progression in online/distance learning.
Hi, Zac! Just wanted to thank you for choosing Tony B to showcase for this assignment. He’s a legend in online learning and distance ed! I stumbled upon his blog while researching DLEs in LRNT521 and have been following him on social media ever since. I found his free and downloadable book Teaching in a Digital Age very informative. Cheers!
Agreed Ashley, Tony is absolutely a legend! I remember him being introduced to me with such enthusiasm and it is well deserved!