Educational technology is using the knowledge, skills, and tools of technology to facilitate learning how to solve problems, use a skill or to achieve a goal that previous generations have known. Educational technology is applying technological advances to support the learning process. Prior to the age of the computer, examples of educational technology included the use of flash cards for Spelling, a slide rule for Mathematics, mnemonics for memorizing lists of things, or a protractor for Geometry. Many of the tools and shortcuts of previous generations were written in books or journals and stored in libraries but with the Internet, we no longer need brick and mortar buildings to house books, magazines and journals of the educated, we can access the texts, audio and visual files of prior knowledge to learn from others’ experiences. We can also read their blogs and web pages to capture their musings. We have opportunities to collaborate as we have never before. Our current educational system is behind the eight ball trying to catch up with our technology rich society partly due to the shortened life cycle of computer’s hardware and software. By the time a school system brings in new hardware, software and manuals for the software, the next version is out on the market making schools a step behind on teaching the latest and the greatest version. The traditional classroom is changing, but we can download software and manuals from the Internet and be up and running sooner than ever before.
During the 1950s era, the typical American family lived the “one” generation. We had one bread-winner, one parent who stayed at home, one company to work for from hire date to retirement, one car, our homes had one telephone and one bathroom. As our culture developed we added the luxury of television to our lives. Television changed from a luxury to a need and we needed more than one. As the television moves into a primary position in our life, we gain more of our culture and its teaching from the television. The computer follows the same pattern as the television.
As the Baby Boomer generation grew, the “one” generation became the “multiple” generation. We now had multiple incomes to support a household, multiple jobs within our career, multiple cars in our driveways, and multiple phones in our homes.
During the eighties, the American culture experienced the birth of the home computer. As the prices for a personal computer dropped with the IBM PC (and the clones), America had found its new obsession. This new gadget gave us ways to help pay bills, do word processing and even play games to amuse ourselves. Its cost prevented everyone from having one but it was getting filtered into our culture. School systems could not afford the luxury of them even though they could see the usefulness of them. As American businesses worked to automate their operations with computers, and the need for not only educated workers but computer literate workers was demanded. The American culture also was influenced by the video age. We had to have video in the form of movies on tape (Beta or VHS). Cable and satellite television broke into the market and we demanded more and more entertainment.
During the early years of the new millennium, the Age of the Internet started. Even though the Internet was used by colleges and many businesses to support research and development since the seventies, most businesses could not share in the wealth of their knowledge. As the tools to access the Internet’s connectivity became more available, more Americans joined in the frenzy of the web. Now not only were businesses expected to be connected on the Internet, everyone was invited to get on the Information Super Highway. Now all our gadgets needed Internet access - phones, computers, and gaming consoles as well.
Teachers no longer teach just the three basic Rs – reading, writing and arithmetic. Teachers also instruct on how to research what others have done, questioning their results and verifying their hypothesis with their own experimentation. Educators are coaching students to know how to solve problems with the resources that they are given. Educators help students use the tools of the digital age (computers, software and the Internet) to help them succeed in their educational and career goals. Students are doing research on the Internet and writing reports of their findings with word processing software when they are in the primary grades. Literacy for both computer and its software, are expected before a child reaches middle school age.
As great as the Internet is for facilitating learning, there are also downsides of the Internet - unwanted advertisements, misinformation, unverified information, flagrant plagiarism and a host of distractions that detract from the potential learning environment. Knowing it is harder to learn, unlearn and relearn something than learning it correctly initially, does not diminish the user from the use of the Wikipedia for fact finding. Many teachers discourage the use of Wikipedia and sites like it because of the misinformation that can be found on it, but it is a quick and easy way to look up something. As educators, it is important for us to teach our students the facts and drawbacks of the Internet, good and bad sites for references and the importance of forming our own opinion. We need to only take credit for our own ideas and we need to give credit when we are agreeing with someone’s musing.
I was trying to think of how our society feels about their “gotta-have” gadgets and I likened it to the adage, “Money can’t buy you love”. Personally, I changed this adage to be “money can’t buy you love but it can buy you all the things that you do love”. “Gotta-have” gadgets are like love. We feel great when we have all our gadgets, but if anyone or anything keeps us away from our toys, we are lost, we cannot function, and sometimes we cannot even get out of bed without them. I would like to create a new adage for our society – Gadgets cannot give you happiness but they make your life happier. Many of our gadgets that access the Internet, give us new tools to help us at home, in school and professionally. “They got an app for that” is a common phrase for the tools we can find and use on our smart phones and iPads.
I earned my bachelors degree in Computer Science during the 1980s. This was the era of the personal computer. There was a shift in many businesses to utilize the power of a computer. With the emergence of the IBM PC (and the clones), the cost of a personal computer decreased significantly. Microsoft DOS, Lotus 123 and Word Perfect became the tools of the new computer age and small businesses were eager to enter the Information Age of computers. As computer systems and software became cheaper and easier for the layman to use, our society had a new generation of computer literate people. The younger generations grew up with the new technology and the education system was lagging behind. With the shrinking lifespan of computers and software, our education systems have fallen behind in the tech race. Due to the length of time to get textbooks and software approved and purchased for our schools, the next generation is in the marketplace and our current books and software are obsolete. Teachers need to be able to teach students not only to be able to deal with change but also to thrive in the ever-changing world. The tools that we learn today, can be replaced tomorrow and obsolete the day after but the past experience can be used with the next generation of tools.