Currently, I’m reading 25 Years of Ed Tech by Martin Weller. Within its contents thus far—specifically the first eight chapters—it’s interesting to stop and seriously reflect on the years between 1994 and 2001, recalling my thoughts and feelings about educational technology during that time.
In 1994, I was in high school, a period of our lives that most remember well. It was even more significant for me, as it was the year of my graduation. When I think of educational technology, often dubbed Ed-Tech, my first thoughts are of a chemistry class two years earlier, that I had signed up for, which ended up being full. Since there were no other instructors available to create another class, they drew names from a hat and I was one of the “lucky” ones selected for a special introductory offer of—you guessed it—computer-assisted distance education. My school-provided guidance counsellor made great efforts to sell me on how great an opportunity this would be, using over-glorified terms like so “Cutting Edge” and so “Wizzy.”
It was a wreck from the start, not only for myself but also for many of the other “Lucky Lotto Winners” in the group. In my particular case, and based on what I now know about my own learning style, and digital learning methods, I never really had much of a chance in this early “year one” environment. At the time, I assumed it was mostly my fault, as others were managing to stay afloat, and I thought I was the issue in not being able to complete the class without a present teacher. In retrospect, I see that it wasn’t just me, but the class itself started off flawed, in its early conception, it was pedagogically void in many of its aspects, but hey, it was very Wizzy and Cutting Edge.
As I read through this very thought-provoking book, it seems to me that regardless of the era, Martin Weller has helped me to recognize a trend. In educational technology, in some instances we may be more excited, to quickly deliver Ed-Tech’s affordances claiming “We did it first!” and “Look how cool it is!”, than it seems we are to take the time to review how these new Ed-Tech evolutions, fit pedagogically; or at least it seemed so, and that was all in the past of educational technology, right? ?haha
Great reflection! It’s fascinating how your personal experience with early Ed-Tech mirrors Weller’s critique of the rushed adoption of technology without proper pedagogical grounding. Your story really underscores the importance of aligning tech with effective teaching methods rather than just chasing the latest “cutting-edge” trends. Thanks for sharing this insight!
Alex
Darren I completely empathize with your first “wizzy” online experience. One of the earlier iterations of the MALAT program circa 1998 not only was delivered fully online but also used the “new fangled pedagogical approach” of constructivism – the interpretation of which at the time was to put all the content and learning out there in WebCT devoid of any structure for flow and let folks navigate their way through it. Well, you can imagine how that went 😉
There has been much research done over the years examining the phenomenon of using tech for tech’s sake and the myth that entails and yet is still a trap that many fall into – we are seeing that play out with Ai at the moment. While to many it may seem simplistic, the need for human centred approaches to designing learning environments is critical to fostering learning over time, something you will explore further in LRNT 524.
Thanks so much for your reflection and I look forward to hearing more about your thoughts on Weller’s work as we continue.
Ciao,
Elizabeth
Thank you for sharing this, Darren! I am surprised that at such a foundational level, they would use “guinea pigs” in a K-12 setting. If it didn’t work out, as it appears to have been, you are not set up for success in any follow-up courses in chemistry. Do you feel doors were closed that you wanted to pursue because of this?
Now that you are in your second bout in an online learning education space, some thirty years later, do you see any persistent issues today that you experienced back then?