What role have technologies played in learning throughout history?
Chip Bruce
(chip@uiuc.edu)
(ready to use)
Coauthors
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Heather Booth, hbooth@uiuc.edu |
ASK
Subject Areas
| Education, Educational Technology, Information Science |
Grade Levels
| 9, 10, 11, 12, Undergraduate, Graduate |
Unit Keywords
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history, education, computer science, library science, learning technology, history, past, future,lithistory |
Open Directory Category
Rationale of the Unit
| This is an exploration of the ways that technologies have been used in, indeed, have defined the nature of learning in different time periods and contexts. |
Background and Resources
Headrick, D. R. (2000). When information came of age: Technologies of knowledge in the age of reason and revolution, 1700-1850 . New York: Oxford University Press.
Sites on the use of technology in education
Center For Technology Innovations in Education CTIE is a research and development center at the University of Missouri dedicated to the reform of teaching and learning methods at all education levels through the innovative application of technology.
Education - How technology fits in - and changes - the classroom. The Center for the Study of Technology and Society is a nonprofit research and educational group based in Washington, D.C.
EdCITE A database of research and case studies on the effective use of technology in education.
Education Gateway Database of sites searchable by grade and subject area for curriculum materials, ideas, homework help, lesson plans, projects, and resources for gifted and talented students. Also includes some of the success stories of those who have integrated technology into the classroom, as well as professional development resources.
ISOC - Interactive Socrates Projects Database Projects supported by the Socrates program for international cooperation in education and research. Projects are categorized according to target group, theme, subject etc. Focus on new technology in learning and distance education.
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Activities and Open-ended problems
Option 1: Create an inquiry unit that connects a set of elements in the timeline, describing the connections and why they're important. Include a graphical display if you have the tools to do that. For an example, see "mapping the sea" (pp. 108-113 in Headrick).
Option 2: Use the web or other sources to locate an event in the history of learning technologies that is worth noting on the Learning Technologies Timeline. Some examples might include:
- The development of LOGO
- The first use of time-sharing in education
- The first widely-used word processor
- The PLATO system
- The first programmed instruction (in book format, not computer)
- The first use or various major uses) of networking by teachers
- The first microcomputer-based probes in education
Try to pick a topic that no one else chooses, but that won't always be possible. If you choose an existing topic, give credit to the original entry and show how yours extends what the previous author has written. Create a (HTML) timetable entry with your name, a title, the date of the event (including month and day, where possible) , a news article about the event, and links to other relevant events.
Then, make a second page about an imagined future event (be inventive!), with a title, date, a paragraph about the event, and links to other relevant events. The two events, past and future, do not have to be directly related.
Option 3: Write a critique of the timeline itself (as a technology, in terms of the entries it contains, ...). See for example, the critique by Junghyun An, which is posted on the timeline page near the top.
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Dialogues, Discussions, and Presentations
- Read Headrick's When information came of age... , pp. 183-193. Small groups discuss and report on one of four phases:
- Early postal systems
- European systems before 1840
- The 1792 Post Office Act
- The railways and penny postage
Questions: - What surprises did you encounter?
- What factors affected postal use?
- What were the affordances and the constraints of each technology?
- How and why were decisions about technological developments made?
- What parallels do you see with current technologies?
- Read Headrick, pp. 96-141. Form small groups to discuss the role of maps
- in political processes;
- in sociocultural change
- in economic terms
- in terms of knowledge
Questions: - What is a map?
- How have maps been used in this area?
- How has the role of maps changed along with new technologies for map production?
- How might widely-accessible, user-friendly, fully-developed geographical information systems change these processes?
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Assessment, Related Questions, and Story of the Unit
Share your discoveries about the timeline in the class web board.
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