My thoughts on Weller’s “25 Years of Ed Tech” – Part 1
I found Martin Weller’s book “25 Years of Ed Tech” to be quite captivating. He chronicles the evolution of educational technology by focusing each chapter on technology or idea that has been the most significant innovation of that year, making it a very engaging read.
Weller starts the history of Ed-Tech with the year 1994, which is a few years after Sir Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web (Weller, 2020). As a result of the widespread adoption of distance learning brought about by the proliferation of the internet, it seems appropriate to start the historical review with the year 1994. According to Weller, “…the mid-1990s witnessed the shift to the Internet being the dominant technology shaping ed tech” (p. 4). The web allowed for a new level of communication and collaboration between people worldwide, which profoundly impacted the field of education. Reflecting on this time, in 1994, I was a high school student. I was fascinated by the idea of being able to connect with people from all over the world. I remember countless hours exploring the few websites on Netscape browser that were available at the time. I also vividly recall the dial-up modem’s clunky attempts to establish a connection to the internet. This was the beginning of my journey with internet and computers. I was fascinated by this new technology and the possibilities it offered.
I was surprised to learn that E-Learning courses developed in the late 1990’s did not substantially reduce the cost of higher education (Weller, 2020, p. 47). I assumed that E-Learning would be less expensive than face-to-face instruction, but as Weller explains, there are variable costs such as tutors and the need for ongoing support and maintenance that increase with the number of students. I’m interested in finding out if the E-Learning costs decreased in the later decades with the adoption of newer technology and resources.
Overall, I found this book to be very informative and thought-provoking. This book is essential for anyone interested in understanding how we got to where we are today in Ed-Tech.
Reference:
Weller, M. (2020). 25 years of ed tech. Athabasca University Press. https://doi.org/10.15215/aupress/9781771993050.01
Hello Shazia,
I also found the book interesting. Thank you for sharing your thoughts. The issue that e-learning has not reduced cost does not surprise me as I have been involved in higher ed for a few years and see the resources that go into creating courses. However, I think openness and sharing have the potential to reduce costs. Do you think that e-courses should cost less than face-to-face options? If so, how might e-course costs be reduced or funded differently?
Hi Shazia,
I bet many people were surprised at the time when they realized that curating online courses cost as much if not more than face-to-face. As Weller mentioned, sustainability of things like MOOCS became problematic because not only of cost, but also low completion rates, and that most learners in MOOCS were already well-educated. I wonder how this ties in to analytics? As Clow (2013) summarized, “What is the ethical thing to do when your predictive algorithm says there’s very little chance that a would-be student will pass your course? Is it right to take their time, effort and money, when it will almost certainly come to very little? But on the other hand, is it right to block them from study? (Weller, 2020 as cited in Clow, 2013) but does this apply to MOOCs? Thoughts?