Assalamualaikum all. Today was the first ETL5023 class and we learned about what educational technology is and how it began. However, in this entry, I'm just going to focus on how educational technology began and the different eras of the educational technology. Technology was initially not for other purposes than educational, but it was slowly integrated into it. There are 4 eras of educational technology, which are pre-microcomputer (1950s - late 1970s), microcomputer (late 1970s - 1990s), the Internet (1993-1998) and mobile technologies (2005 - now).
I will start with the first era, the pre-microcomputer era (1950s - late 1970s). Technology was initially used for instructions. The ERA 1101 was one of the first commercially produced computers and it was used by the US Navy (Computer History Museum, n.d.). MIT pilots were also trained by using computerized flight simulators. It turned out that technology was used in education ever since in the late 1950s via IBM 650, which is way earlier than I had expected. By early 1970s, computer-assisted instruction (CAI), which is a series of instructions presented on a computer, was introduced to students. In the late 1970s, computer literacy was so important to students that Andrew R. Molnar, a pioneer in computer assisted education, stated that those who were non-computer literate would be at a disadvantage. The importance of using computers were even stressed during the first era, so can you imagine the impact of technology in education in the next eras? It would probably be greater.
In the second era, the Microcomputer era (late 1970s - 1990s), we could see that schools incorporated microcomputers in 1977 when personal computers were mass produced. They were much less expensive than mainframe computers, thus making them available for schools to purchase and use (Gregersen, n.d.). Integrated Learning Systems, or ILS was also introduced as a solution to deliver curriculum materials to individual learners and is capable of providing comprehensive feedback to the learner and the teacher (Fitzgerald et. al., 2002), with being cost-effective as one of the benefits. There was also a movement of using central servers with connected machines rather than stand-alone systems in the mid 1980s - 1990s.
Then came the third era, the Internet era (1993 - 1998). World Wide Web, or WWW as we know it, was invented by Sir Tim Berners-Lee in 1989. It was originally developed to to meet the demand for automated information-sharing between scientists in universities and institutes around the world (CERN, 2021). It was in 1991 that people outside of CERN were able to use the web. In 1993, the underlying codes (HTML, URI, HTTP) which are the foundation of the web were made royalty-free for everyone, thus sparked innovation and creativity globally (World Wide Web Foundation, n.d.). Due to the massive outbreak of the internet, it increased the number of virtual or online learning in the USA in 1994 as seen through CALCampus (Computer Assisted Learning Center), which they offered the first online-only curriculum with real-time instruction and participation (Tom, 2019). In 1995, the first sight of a virtual school emerged through the CyberSchool project in in Oregon, USA, in which it offered supplemental online high-school courses by nine district teachers. After that, virtual schools were booming in the USA, such as WebSchool in Florida; providing online courses to local students, and many more (Greenway, 2020). In 1998, International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) created standards to guide technology skills for learners and teachers. At the time, teachers only focused on teaching students how to use computers. The standards were then evolved in 2007 where the focus was to using technology to learn. I can see that technology evolution moved rapidly in this era, whereby technology were made more accessible to everyone, not just people who were directly involved in the industry. The emergence of technology tremendously benefited everyone to the point that it was integrated into the educational sector, which still continues until now.
The fourth era, and probably not the last one, is the mobile technologies era, which started in 2005 until now. This era witnessed the rise of social networking sites like Friendster, MySpace, YouTube and Facebook. About 65% of American adults used social networking sites at this time for various reasons; work, politics and sharing information (Perrin, 2015). Social networking sites are still evolving with the introduction of new sites like TikTok in 2016. The first e-book, Kindle, was also introduced in 2007 by Amazon, which in my opinion, revolutionize people's dependency rate towards technology like mobile phones and computers. Partnership for 21st Century Skills created framework in 2008. This Framework describes the skills, knowledge and expertise students must master to succeed in work and life; it is a blend of content knowledge, specific skills, expertise and literacies (Literacy, 2014). In 2010, the first handheld computer, iPad, was introduced to the world by Apple. This remarks another level of technology evolution as these computers are now made portable. People don't have to be in a specific place to have access to computers. Besides handheld computers, touchscreen smartphones were also introduced in 2010 by Apple with the creation of iPhone (Jackson, 2018). People can look into websites through them and are less relied to desktop computers now.
References
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