Special Topic: History of Educational Technology

History of Educational Technology

The history of Educational technology leads us how the technology evolved in every generation. From Oral communication one of the earliest means of formal teaching was oral – though human speech – although over time, technology has been increasingly used to facilitate or ‘back-up’ oral communication. Written communication, the role of text or writing in education also has a long history. Broadcasting and video, British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) began broadcasting educational radio programs for schools in the 1920s. The first adult education radio broadcast from the BBC in 1924 was a talk on Insects in Relation with man. Television was first used in education in the 1960s, for schools and for general adult education.

Computer technologies In essence the development of programmed learning aims to computerize teaching, by structuring information, testing learners’ knowledge, and providing immediate feedback to learners, without human intervention. Computer networking, Arpanet in the U.S.A was the first network to use the Internet protocol in 1982. Online learning environments, In 1995, the Web enabled the development of the first learning management systems (LMSs), such as WebCT (which later became Blackboard). LMSs provide an online teaching environment, where content can be loaded and organized, as well as providing ‘spaces’ for learning objectives, student activities, assignment questions, and discussion forums.

Social media are really a sub-category of computer technology, but their development deserves a section of its own in the history of educational technology.  A paradigm shift, It can be seen that education has adopted and adapted technology over a long period of time. There are some useful lessons to be learned from past developments in the use of technology for education, in particular that many claims made for a newly emerging technology are likely to be neither true nor new. Also new technology rarely completely replaces an older technology. Usually the old technology remains, operating within a more specialized ‘niche’, such as radio, or integrated as part of a richer technology environment, such as video in the Internet.

Technology is commonly thought of in terms of gadgets, instruments, machines and devices. But in old generation technology is used to fulfill their feelings but not through in communication and in learning. In the past year letter are send through air mail and telegram. You in how many weeks and days to receive that letter but today only a one click through your cellphone and the message sent to the recipients. There is big difference from the old generation to the new generation.

Students today are unaware what the life is in the past generation. In this new generation they must know about it and let them experience through hearing, seeing and even in hands on through doing things without the use of technology. Technology is transforming education today, and it will continue to do so tomorrow.