After reading the first 1/3 of Weller’s book, 25 Years of Ed Tech, I realized I have taken education technology for granted without knowing a lot of history about it. Reflecting on my education and work, Ed Tech has always been a part of learning since I started elementary school more than 25 years ago. For example, I learned shapes and colours through some memory games in a computer, and I played running race game using two keys in the keyboard. According to Alcanja (n.d.), the definition of Ed Tech is “when computer hardware and/or software are integrated into the educational sector to facilitate learning”. Thus, if I were to write a similar book, I would start in the 1980s because Ed Tech has already started before the internet was born.
In chapter one, Bulletin Board Systems, Mason & Kaye’s (1989) finding of 60-70% of students who used BBS called CoSy system did not find online communication more effective for in-person meeting, socializing, and time and travel cost savings was surprising to me. This assumption is seeminglythe opposite of today’s perception of online communication, which provides benefits such as flexibility, cost-effectiveness, easy-connectivity, and increase in efficiency and productivity (Asis, 2022). It was especially prevalent during and post pandemic (Munro, 2020).
Weller stated, “when the barriers to the use of a particular technology become low enough…that its use can be generalized, then it gains broad acceptance across disciplines” (p. 22). From this recurring theme of Ed Tech, I could understand why some of the students did not share the same enthusiasm for the benefits of the technology with the educators like the example above, given the adoption for personal computing did not permeate as vast as today.
As a MALAT student reading through the lens of learning and technology, the first 8 chapters is a great sampler of understanding the history and relationships between technology and education.
References
Alcanja, D. (n.d.). What Is EdTech? 5 Tech Trends That Will Transform Education – Trio. Retrieved September 4, 2022, from https://www.trio.dev/blog/what-is-edtech
Asis, L. (2022, February 19). What are the main benefits of online communication? https://outragemag.com/what-are-the-main-benefits-of-online-communication/
Munro, M. (2020, April 5). The benefits of online communication. The Oxford Student. https://www.oxfordstudent.com/2020/04/05/the-benefits-of-online-communication/
Weller, M. (2020). 25 years of ed tech. Athabasca University Press. https://doi.org/10.15215/aupress/9781771993050.01