assignment 1 history of education technology rocío prado

History of Education Technology

Some definitions of education technology

It is the use of technology in educational settings.

It represents both a process and the particular devices that teachers employ in their classrooms.

It is the study and ethical practice of enhancing e-learning, which is the learning and improving performance by creating and using appropriate technological resources.

According to the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) Definitions and Terminology Committee, it includes, but is not limited to, software, hardware, as well as Internet applications, such as wikis and blogs, and activities.

History of education technology

The first administrative organizations in schools to manage instructional media were school museums. The first school museum was established in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1905. Its purpose was to collect and loan portable museum exhibits, films, photographs, charts, stereographic slides to teachers for use in their classrooms.

By the first decade of the twentieth century, silent films were being produced for instructional use. By 1931, thirty-one state departments of education had created administrative units to take charge of films. Despite these efforts, films never reached the predicted level of influence in schools.

Some of the reasons given for sporadic use were teachers' lack of training in using equipment; the cost of films; inaccessibility

of equipment when required; and the time involved in finding the film that was adequate for a particular lesson.


Radio was the next technology to become popular. In 1920 the Radio Division of the U.S. Department of Commerce started to license commercial and educational stations. Soon schools, colleges, departments of education, and commercial stations were providing radio programming to schools.

However, radio did not have the impact on schools its advocates had hoped.


In the beginning, poor audio reception and the cost of equipment were cited as obstacles to use. When these problems were overcome, the lack of fit between the broadcasts and teachers' instructional syllabuses became the

crucial factors. Eventually, efforts to promote radio instruction in schools were abandoned when television appeared.


World War II provided a major incentive for audiovisual education. The federal government and American industry were faced with the difficult task of providing training for numerous military recruits and for new industrial workers swiftly and effectively.

In addition to films, the military used overhead projectors to support training in aircraft recognition, and audio equipment for teaching foreign languages.


Experience gained from the wartime use of these media led to their subsequent use in schools in the decades to follow.

Instructional television was the focus of attention during the 1950s and the 1960s. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) decided to set aside 242 television channels for educational purposes.


The next technology to gain attention was the computer. In the 1980s, the appearance of microcomputers led many educators to become enthusiastic about computers. By January 1983, computers were being used for instructional purposes in 40 percent of all elementary schools and 75 percent of all secondary schools in the United States.

Digitized communication in education became popular by the mid-90's, especially by means of the World-Wide Web (WWW), eMail and Forums.


There are two major types of online learning. The first one, based on either Computer Based Training (CBT) or Computer-based learning (CBL), was based on the interaction between the student and computer drills aided either by tutorials or simulations. Nowadays, the prevailing paradigm is Computer-mediated communication (CMC),

where the primary kind of interaction is between students and instructors, mediated by the computer.


References Baldwin, R. (n.c.), School Technology in

Education. Retrieved from: http://www.answers.com/topic/school-technology-in-education

Educational technology, Wikipedia. Retrieved from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Educational_technology#History