Activity 2 | Reflect on reading
The first eight chapters of Martin Weller’s book “25 Years of Ed Tech” have been eye-opening. It’s amazing that instructional technology has a longer history than I had previously thought. I’m curious about what developments in educational technology were taking place at the time that few people were aware of, given that the first fully online undergraduate course was already being constructed in 1998. Weller provides an insightful look at how online learning has grown from its modest beginnings to become the vast ecosystem it is now. Weller’s portrayal of online learning’s rediscovery over the years emphasizes how it is continually evolving. Similiar to a living language, it evolves and changes with time. He notes that the evolution is not random, but in fact it is being pushed by pedagogical innovations and technological advancements.
Weller’s depiction of how education is flexible and accepting of technological change is essential to staying current. It forces one to think about how without resources like computer-mediated communication or online message boards, online education as we know it would have been significantly less flexible and responsive than what it is today. As a learning and development professional in the corporate space, Weller’s observations about how technology might occasionally impede educational processes resonated with me. While we acclaim the potential of technology to improve education, it’s important to understand where it may also become a barrier. Weller’s description of the time-consuming nature of tasks like metadata entry in Learning Objects serves as a reminder that quality cannot be sacrificed for the sake of efficiency. It brings forward the significance of over-engineering in new technologies as well since there’s such a fine line between personalized learning and being too complex or cumbersome to engage with. Regardless, these core concepts are helping advance automation, which in turn is providing professionals with opportunities to put more emphasis on the application of their skills rather than the technical details of their tools.
Reference
Weller, M. (2020, February). 25 Years of Ed Tech. AU Press—Digital Publications.
https://read.aupress.ca/projects/25-years-of-ed-tech