Educational TechnologyWhat Kind of History?

EDC&I 51030 Sept 2009

Definition?

• “…the scientific study of the practical or industrial arts” (Here, “education” = a “practical art”?)

• Oxford English Dictionary, sense 1.a

• “the application of scientific knowledge to the practical aims of human life”

• Encyclopedia Britannica

Possible Approaches-WHAT to Consider

• Devices– Film projector, computer, chalkboard

• Symbol systems– Writing, number systems, musical notation

• Theoretically based methods – Skinnerian programmed instruction, Ausubel

lecture method• Production systems

– Textbook writing and editing

Possible Approaches-HOW to Consider It

• Devices and their perfection over time• Heritage of ideas

– Behaviorism– Cognitive psychology/learning sciences– Critical theory

• Policy development and implementation• Social anthropology of classroom use

DEVICESBooks (manuscript and printed)

• The “original technology” for education?

• Complexity and expensive production limited access

• “Discipline” of copying as a “moral good”

• Mediaeval scriptorium

DEVICES The Hornbook

• Early aid to basic literacy

• Horn layer = “student-proof technology”

• Reusable, simple production

• 17th century hornbook

DEVICESEarly Textbooks

• New England Primer (from mid-17th c.)

• Picture-verse combinations aid memory

• Common cultural experience

• Primer from 1784

DEVICES Wall Charts and Maps

• Mid-19th century (Germany, Netherlands)

• Easy, large-class display

• Better printing technology allows easier production

• Kny’s botanical charts, ca. 1874

DEVICESThe Chalkboard

• Most successful educational innovation of the 19th c.?

• (And maybe 20th?)• Ease of use,

reusable, user-friendly

• (Except for teacher-back-turned problem)

DEVICES Clever Combinations

• Chautauqua Desk• “Swiss Army Knife” of

educational material• Part of larger

“movement” for self-improvement, home education

• Chautauqua desk, ca. 1916

DEVICESOverhead Projector

• Really?!? But this thing is so simple…

• Yeah, but: It spread around US classrooms faster than any other “device”

• Why?

SYMBOL SYSTEMSWriting systems

• From 4000 BCE• Codify knowledge• Cultural continuity• Systematize thought

– Papyrus with hieroglyphs

SYMBOL SYSTEMSInstructional text

• The Thousand Character Classic

• Ca. 520 CE, by Zhou Xingsi

• Explicit “instructional design”

• Meaning and sound represented

• Calligraphic version

SYMBOL SYSTEMS Mathematical Representation

• “Symbol systems” for representing knowledge

• Encoding, operations, etc.

• Reisch, Margarita Philosophica, 1508; Arithmetica instructing an

algorist and an abacist

SYMBOL SYSTEMS Other Representation Forms

• LABANOTATION– Represent dance

movements, including speed, direction, lights source, etc.

– Cf. musical scores– Other similar systems

for rhythm, etc.

SYMBOL SYSTEMSSo Do They Have Cognitive Effects?

• Orality vs. Literacy debate

• McLuhan’s theses• Tufte on PowerPoint,

etc.

• Walter Ong

THEORETICALLY BASED METHODSSkinnerian Programmed Instruction

• Skinner’s behaviorist learning theory

• Wide popularity in late 1950s-1960s

• B o r i n g . . .

PRODUCTION SYSTEMSTextbook writing, editing, revision

• From simple book to industrial complex

• Production team model

• Systems for regular revision

• Competition: OER

Possible Approaches-HOW to Consider It

• Devices and their perfection over time• Heritage of ideas

– Behaviorism– Cognitive psychology/learning sciences– Critical theory

• Policy development and implementation• Social anthropology of classroom use

Our Approach Here:View from the Past

Devices Emergence of new symbol systems to

capitalize on what those devices make possible

Incorporation of those symbol systems into educational materials, products, experiences

Research studies to determine if those materials (etc.) are effective

Our Approach Here:View from the Present

• Research studies (done in the past) • More contemporary studies or reviews that

address those or related themes • Understanding* of the contributions of past

work– * Knowledge and appreciation– Extension of existing lines of work– Avoidance of pitfalls and blind alleys!

What Else?

Comments, extensions, arguments?

Thanks!Steve Kerr