The incredibly boring yet important v2

The Incredibly Boring Yet Incredibly
Important History of Educational
Technology
(Reasoning with Educational Technology)
Même si l'histoire de la
technologie éducative
semble incroyablement
ennuyeuse, elle reste
extrêmement importante.
David Whittier, EdD, University of
Strasbourg, France, February 12, 2014

Why is the history of educational
technology boring?
• Hyperbole promises various
technologies will:
– Transform
– Revolutionize &
–Disrupt
Education

2/12/14

Whittier-Univiersity of Strasbourg
2014

2

Compared to the Hyperbolic
Language of Marketing, History is
Boring

2/12/14

2014

3

http://www.brookings.edu/events/2013/09/17-mobileWhittier-Univiersity of Strasbourg
2014
learning-transforming-education

2/12/14

4

But, The Claims for Educational
Technology are:
• Frequently
Exaggerated
• Made by many who
stand to profit

2/12/14

2014

5

Why should we study
history when there is
so much pressure to
―get up to speed‖
and be on the
―cutting (bleeding)
edge‖?
If we spend time looking back, how will we
ever have time to look ahead?
2/12/14

2014

6

Questions from Saettler‘s World
• In the history of educational
technology, we see
repeated failures to achieve
claims - Why?
• What can we do to avoid
repeating the failures in the
past?

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2014

7

Exaggerated Claims
• ―Classrooms and teachers are far too costly
and slow to meet the Information Age‘s
exploding demand for learning.‖
(Perelman, (1990). Luddite schools wage a wasteful
war. Wall Street Journal.

―There won‘t be schools in
the future. . . . I think the
computer will blow up the
school‖ (Papert, 1984).
2/12/14

2014

8

―Books will soon be
obsolete in the schools.
Scholars will soon be
instructed through the
eye. It is possible to
teach every branch of
human knowledge with
the motion picture. Our
school system will be
completely changed in
ten years.‖
2/12/14

•Thomas Edison, New
York Dramatic Mirror,
July 9, 1913 (Saettler,
1990, p. 98).

2014

9

Exaggerated
Claims

2/12/14

2014

10

With Educational
Technology We
Have the:
• Media Bandwagon
and the

• Everest Syndrome

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2014

11

Many do not know what educational
technology is and there are obstacles
to clearly defining the field:

Paul Saettler
2/12/14

• ―the meaning of
educational technology is
intertwined with:
– Fads
– Certain historical
conceptions and
practices
– Bound to specific
philosophical and
2014

12

1994 Definition AECT
• ―Instructional technology is the theory
and practice of design, development,
utilization, management and
evaluation of processes and resources
for learning‖
• Seels, B., & Richey, R., (1994). Instructional technology: The definition
and domains of the field. Washington DC: Association for Educational
Communications And Technology.
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2014

13

Questions ?
• What forces have shaped educational
technology in the past?
• What forces shape it today?
• How is the situation today similar to and
different from what has happened in the
past?
2/12/14

2014

14

Gartner‘s 2012 Hype Cycle for Emerging Technology
(or, the trajectory of Ed Tech hyperbole)

http://www.forbes.com/sites/gartnergroup/2012/09/18/key-trends-to-watch-in-gartner-2012-emergingtechnologies-hype-cycle-2/
2/12/14

2014

15

20
15
10
5
Series1
0
1
2
3

Series1
4
5

Effectively integrating technology into
education takes time – Why?
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16

Education is a process and technology is a
product

Utterback, J., & Abernathy, W., (1975). A dynamic model of process and product innovationOmega,
Volume 3, Issue 6, December 1975, Pages 639–656http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0305-0483(75)90068-7
2/12/14
17
2014

Historical Evidence?
• Throughout the history of educational
technology, from film, to radio, television,
the introduction and evolution of
computing and the Internet, and now Web
2.0, research continues to show that
educational technology is most effective
when directed and managed by good
teaching that makes the process of
interaction important to learners.
2/12/14

2014

18

―The most frequent failing of
technological futurists is to predict
the future with little or no reference to
the past‖ (Saettler, 1990, p. 538).
• A people without a
history is like the
wind on the buffalo
grass.
(Sioux Saying, ND)
2/12/14

2014

19

Understanding Technology as
Product and/or Process?
• In consumer society,
technology offers a
better, cleaner,
healthier, longer, and
especially, easier life.
• Technology is a
product offering a
―solution‖ to a
―problem.‖
2/12/14

2014

20

Is education a problem?
• There are many problems within
education that can be solved. However,
education itself is not a problem that
can be solved. It is an endless process.
Thus we begin the see the difference
between products in education and
products in consumer society.
2/12/14

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21

Process vs.
Product

• Learning is a process.
Hardware and software are
products. Technology
applications in educational
processes are different than
in society at large.

2/12/14

2014

22

Educational Media & Technology
(EM&T):
Products that support Process
• When EM&T is thought of as products,
without regard for process, history
shows much is wasted.
• The education in EM&T is about
designing, building, implementing, and
evaluating products that support
teaching and learning processes.
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2014

23

―One weakness in the technologists‘ model
for curriculum development is that it does
not give sufficient attention to
implementation of the
and the
dynamics of innovation. Just developing
a more effective
is not enough
(McNeil, 1981).
John D. McNeil, Curriculum A Comprehensive Overview
(Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1981) p. 51

2/12/14

2014

24

Highlights of
Carpenter‘s 1956
Research on
Educational Film
―4. Note-taking by student during the
showing of a film should be
discouraged because it distracts
them from the film itself‖ [what is the
technologists advice on note-taking
today?]
―5. Successive showings of a film can increase learning‖
(and allow for note-taking).
―9. After a film has been shown, its major points should be
summarized and discussed lest students form
misconceptions.‖
―10. Follow-up activities should be encouraged to provide
2/12/14
carryover of generalizations‖ (Saettler, 1990) [Note the25 of 31
2014

Air Force Film
Research Program 1956
• ―It is clear from the available studies that they hold
significant implications for the use and design of
instructional films and related media. However, it is a
puzzling fact that this extensive . . . program failed to
influence film production‖ . . .
• Kanner suggested that ―film production personnel
typically resent researchers who attempt to influence
the film-making process . . . It is clear . . . that there
is a need for a close working relationship between
research and film production personnel‖
(Saettler, 1990,Whittier-Univiersity of Strasbourg
p. 247).
2/12/14
26 of 31
2014

Teacher as
―Integrater‖

―Present knowledge indicates that audiovisual aids are the most effective when
integrated with the continuing program of
learning. Thus the teacher as integrator
becomes the key factor in the success of
classroom TV‖ (italics added) (Dockterman,
1988).

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28

Television [Screens?] or Teachers?
• ―Rather than taking his or
her place, television
makes the teacher more
important than ever . . .
adequate classroom
facilities and competent
teachers are essential to a
successful program of inschool television
instruction‖
•

http://www.lexisfm.org/lxapps.a
sp

(John Mercer and Sam Becker, ―The
2/12/14
Disenchantments of Educational TV,‖ in Audio-Visual
2014

29

Adopting technology in the
classroom:
―Most teachers did not change the
way they taught in order to accommodate
the motion picture, television, or even the
chalkboard.‖
―Teachers latched on to
what worked for them, and
varying pedagogies led to various
degrees and types of uses
(Dockterman, 1988, p. 94).
2/12/14

http://www.asu.edu/clas/chicana/seminar.ht
ml
2014

Consumer Media v. Educational
Media
• Audiences
Consume
• Learners Interact

2/12/14

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31

Process versus product across time and
technologies
• from the chalkboard to the textbook to the
overhead projector, and then into film, radio,
TV, and now to computing, video, and the
Web, products that support learning
processes are key to educational
technology.
• From the instructional perspective, key
issues are flexibility and teacher control.
• There is an emerging concept of the ―free2/12/14
agent‖ learner, where the key issues shift 32
to
2014

―Instrumentalists‖ and ―Expressives.‖
• Many proponents of the use of film in
education could be called instrumentalists;
―they viewed the motion picture as an
instrument to speed the transmission of
content.‖
• Dewey ―derided the
philosophy, that the end of
instruction is the giving of
information and the end of
learning its absorption.‖ John Dewey,
2/12/14

―Cut-and-Try School Methods,‖ in The Survey
2014
(September 6, 1913) pp. 691-2.

33

The use of technology in
education.

• ―The computer program
must not require a
certain type of
pedagogy to be
successful.
It must provide a way all to
gain satisfaction, even if the
two outcomes are very
different‖
(Dockterman, 1988, p. 137, italics
added).
2/12/14

2014

34

• ―Properly applied the computer can
help the teacher do what they do.
Ultimately, this is the first criterion
for what constitutes successful
classroom technology.‖
(Dockterman, 1988)

Flexibility is key.
Photo:
http://www.geocities.com/rierar/sydney.html

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2014

35

Methods and Design Produce
Products That Support Process
• By 1928, Joseph Weber
―adapted Herbart‘s
‗instructional step‘ plan by
dividing his methodology
for film use into six steps‖
(Saettler, 1990, p. 113).
http://snl.depaul.edu/
writing/AmericanDre
am.html
2/12/14

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36

Weber‘s Methodology for Using Film in
Education
1. Preparation
2. Presentation
3. Informal discussion
4. Supplementary
showings
5. Formal recitation and
assimilation
6. Check-up ensures multiple
Weber‘s method
contacts with what was to be
learned.

1776-1841
Weber‘s method
derived in part form
Herbart‘s four-step
instructional method
(Saettler, 1990)

Valuing Method with Educational
Technology
• Methods for interaction harness
technology-based products to support
process.
• Process ensures interaction and
facilitates assimilation of content.
• Any technology can be adapted to
support process.
• Teachers are generally very good at this
– when they have time!
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Over-Optimistic Anyone?
―One of the biggest problems with the
literature in this field is its overoptimistic emphasis on how effective
technological reform actually is at
improving schools, where subsequent
studies fail to bear out such results‖
(Dockterman, 1988, p. 5).

Echoes of Edison’s 1913 “Folly,” Saettler’s historical
account, Cuban’s Cycle, and Gartner’s Hype Cycle.
2/12/14

2014

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Exhilaration for
New Technology

Teacher
Bashing

Scientific
Credibility

Disappointment in
Practice

Cuban‘s Cycle describing the ―media
bandwagon‖ in educational
2/12/14
2014
technology. (Cuban, 1986)

40

• Constancy in
Teachers Buffer Change teaching is seen
either as
opposed to, or
as a way to
gradually
introduce
change. It
protects children
from unproven
ideas with
(Belleck, P., NYT, Jan. 17,
technology that
2009)
2/12/14
41
treats them as
2014

The TIME Variable
Significant time is required to
effectively utilize technology for:
• Preparation
• Delivery
• Follow-up discussion and
interaction
• Student Presentation
• Making connections to other
classroom activities.
• Assessment

2/12/14

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42

Research Shortcomings
• Research in
using
technology
too often
measured by
quantity or
frequency of
use rather
than quality
of the
results.
2/12/14

2014

43

What other explanations are there for
the relatively low impact of
technology to improve learning?

Whittier, 2011
2/12/14

2014

44

•

•
•
•

Postman‘s
World
Technology is a branch of moral philosophy,
not of science (Goodman, 1972).
Technologies are biased and each one ―plays
out its hand.‖ Function follows form.
The medium is the message (McLuhan, 1964).
Some technology encourages people to be
incoherent andWhittier-Univiersity of Strasbourg
illogical. (Postman, 1992).
2/12/14
45
2014

Postman‘s Challenge to
Education
• ―To become educated means
to become aware of the
origins and growth of
knowledge and knowledge
systems;
to be familiar with the intellectual and creative
processes by which the best that has been
thought and said has been produced” (Postman,
1992, pp.185-186).
2/12/14

2014

46

Technology brings us the
―Omnipresent Present‖

2/12/14

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47

“As Pascal said, „it is only by knowing
our condition that we can transcend it.‟
• Our technology brings
us the omnipresent
present. It dulls our
sense of history, and if
we are not careful it
can destroy it‖ (Boorstin,
1974, p. 123).

2/12/14

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48

Postman‘s Challenge
What is needed is “an
education that stresses . . . the
continuity of the human
enterprise as corrective to the
anti-historical, informationsaturated, technology-loving
character of Technopoly” (p.
189).
2/12/14

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49

The ―omnipresent
present‖ quality of
technology inhibits
the historical
perspective on what
makes technology
most effective in
education. Thus, we
see the repeated
mistakes over time of
too much emphasis
on products and not
2/12/14

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50

When Products support Process.
Use Technology to:

a reason for knowing

2/12/14

• Engage learners in a
authentic tasks;
• Create reasons for
knowing. (Knowledge of
science becomes a
means to an end and not
an end in itself).
• Address the need to
know in order to discover
(Whitehead, 1929)
51
2014

Design Criteria
Educational technology most
effective when it is:
• Easily accessible and easy to use;
• Pedagogically Flexible - adaptable to
different styles of teaching and learning,
chunk-able;
• Supportive of teacher control – pacing.
• Content must be closely - perfectly aligned with curriculum goals. Ease of
revision.
2/12/14
• Interactive - learners engage with the
2014

52

Designing Instructional Technology from
Dewey‘s perspective.
• Creates learning
experiences that:
– ―furnish problems,
motives, and interests
that necessitate
recourse to books for
their solution,
satisfaction, and
2/12/14
pursuit‖ (Dewey, 1900/1990,
2014

John Dewey - June 4, 1928 Education - Politics

What software would Dewey design?
• Technologies today offer
the possibility to
– ―furnish problems,
motives, and interests
that necessitate recourse
to books (and the Web/
data/ evidence/research)
for their solution,
satisfaction, and pursuit.‖
Whittier-Univiersity
– (Updating Dewey‘s 2014 of Strasbourg

2/12/14

54

Technology-based Resource Design
Criteria through Dewey‘s eyes

harvardsquareli
brary.org

• “Make the child feel the need of
resort to and command of the
traditional social tools--furnish him
with motives and make his
recourse to them intelligent, an
addition to his powers, instead of a
servile dependency” (Dewey,
1900/1990, p. 113).

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55

Explanations: Effective Teaching is a
“Wicked Problem” (Mishra & Koehler,
2007). It is:
– Incomplete, contradictory,
– Unique and contextual
– Complex interdependencies
– Non-linear
– Solutions hard to discern, and
when found, often create new
problems and sub-problems
2/12/14

2014

56

Effective teaching with technology is
an even wickeder problem
– Rules change
– Technologies
change
– Structure in
balance with
Dialogue
– People want easy
―solutions‖ to
―problems‖
(Mishra & Koehler, 2007)
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2014

57 of 33

Will iPads be Different?
• ―It appears that the use of iPads in middle
and high school classrooms is no different
than film, radio, and television. The
technologies' effectiveness is directly
related to the teacher‘s skill in integrating
into their lessons / in the classroom.‖
2/12/14


(Kim, J. EM&T dissertation research in progress, Dec. 11, 2013).
2014

58

Surely Games Must be Different . . .
• One of the biggest barriers to the success
of game-based learning is the difficulty
teachers face implementing games in the
classroom.
• We've found that the main issue is the
lack technological infrastructure and
digital resources in schools, which we
can't solve.
(Bullock, B.,(2013). EM&T Graduate and LGN Overlord,
Personal Communication).
2/12/14

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59

TIME to Design,
Implement, and Evaluate
Instructional Technology
―Time is another huge barrier.
Teachers need time to play
the games themselves and
then design thoughtful lesson
plans that support the
learning process and
outcomes.‖ (Bullock, B., (2013).
2/12/14

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60

Responding to the Evidence
The Teacher (Instructor, Faculty) as Designer
of Instructional Technology at BU-SED

2/12/14


(Whittier, 2009)
2014

61 of 33

Reality of Educational Technology?
“If technology is to be
understood, either in
ancient or modern
terms, it should be
seen as a system of
practical knowledge
not necessarily
reflected in things or
hardware” (Saettler, 1990, p. 3).
2/12/14

―For us believing
physicists the
distinction between
past, present, and
future is only a
stubbornly persistent
illusion‖ (Einstein,
1955).

2014

62

• What is similar and what is
different in the use of and
influence of present computer
network technologies, mobile,
wireless, web 2.0 in comparison
to other technologies used
throughout the history of the
field?

2/12/14

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63

Explanations?
• ―If schools cannot change fast
enough to keep pace with the
advances in learning
technologies, learning will leave
schooling behind.‖
• They ―envision a new kind of
education that decouples
learning and schooling and
extends learning throughout life‖
(Collins & Halverson, 2009).
2/12/14

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64

• The authors
suggest we
―redefine the very
notion of ‗school‘
abandoning
myopic moves to
integrate
technology in the
classroom.‖
• Shuchi Grover —
TCR, November 10,
2/12/14
2009.
2014

65

Responding to the Evidence
• Creation of the Teacher as Designer of
Instructional Technology (Whittier, 2011).
• Teachers and Professors know the
processes they must guide.
• They know the abilities of their students.
They know the ―situational constraints‖
(Cuban, 2001).

• They implement products that support
process.
2/12/14

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66

What to Do?
• Build Academic
Technology at the
intersection of pedagogy
and technology (not IT).
• Develop teachers and
faculty as Designers of
Instructional Technology
by giving them time and
educational technology
support
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References - 1
Boorstin, D., (1974). Democracy and its discontents. New York:
Random House.
Collins, A., (1991). The role of computer technology in
restructuring schools. Phi Delta Kappan. September, pp. 28-36.
Collins, A., & Halverston, R., (2009). Rethinking education in the
age of technology: The digital revolution and schooling in
America. New York: Teachers College Press.
Cuban, Larry (1986). Teachers and machines: The classroom use
of technology since 1920. New York: Teachers College Press,
Columbia University.
Cuban, L., (2001). Oversold and underused: Computers in the
classroom. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Dewey, J. (1900/1902/1990). John Dewey: The school and society; The
child and the curriculum. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

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References - 2
Dockterman, D., (1988). Tools for teachers: An historical analysis of
classroom technology. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Harvard
University
Einstein, A., (1955). Letter of condolence to the family of his friend Michele
Besso, March 21, 1955 (Full text in Einstein Archive 7-245 in German)
Mishra, P., & Koehler, M. (2007). Technological Pedagogical Content
Knowledge (TPCK): Confronting the Wicked Problems of Teaching with
Technology. Society for Information Technology and Teacher Preparation
(SITE) Proceedings, pp 2214-2226. Association for the Advancement of
Computing in Education (AACE). Norfolk, VA.
Postman, N., (1992). Technopoly: the surrender of culture to technology.
New York: Knopf
Saettler, L. P., (1990). The evolution of American educational technology.
Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited, Inc.
Whitehead, A. N., (1929). The aims of education and other essays. New
York: The Macmillan Company.
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References - 3
Whittier, D., (2009). Measuring history: The teacher as Website developer.
in Maddux, C., (Ed.) Research Highlights in Information Technology
and Teacher Education 2009. Chesapeake, VA: Society for Information
Technology and Teacher Education (SITE).
Whittier, D., (2011). The Teacher as Designer of Instructional Technology:
Summarizing over 10 years of teacher education to use technology.
Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education (SITE)
Proceedings. Chesapeake, VA: Association for the Advancement of
Computing in Education (AACE).

Further Information:
David Whittier, EdD, Clinical Associate Professor
Boston University, School of Education
Boston, Massachusetts, USA 02215
dbwhittier@gmail.com
whittier@bu.edu
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