Educational Technology: History and Development

Sounds very academic, eh?

For today, I wanted to share to you the things I have shared in our class with my report on Educational Technology. Thus, we will stray a little bit from the usual posts and get educational. I sure wanted to write my personal experiences but what can I do? I had been occupied with school works. Instead of leaving my blog behind, I decided why not share what you learn here, Gail?

If you have insights on whatsoever I have shared here, please feel free to speak your minds. I would appreciate free flowing discussion of ideas and insights! Don't you agree with me on that one?

Anyhow, let us get things started! Since I was tasked to report about the History and Development of Educational Technology, I checked the source that given to me by our class professor. It was really informative to the point that it reminded me of the lessons I learned way back elementary years up to college. I think you would agree with me on this one once you are done reading all the information that were shared.

On the following slide, I made a recall on what educational technology. Although our professor described its meaning to the class and its difference from other technology, this was for the fact that a few of my classmates were absent on the first meeting. And I suppose not everyone in the class has the capacity to recall everything that were discussed on the last meeting, take me as an example.

The breakthrough of technology on different fields hence is very important as it has affected the quality of educational technology being applied to classrooms and even those out of the school activities that involves student learning. I also emphasized that technology is not only limited to tangible things but also through strategies that were made by different prominent men in education and even in other fields.

As part of the discussions, I did not just go over the timeline of Educational Technology but also the different stages. I must say, these stages can soon be added at the moment when there are new scientific breakthroughs and new strategies would be introduced in the realm of educational technology.

This is like climbing over stairs right? We might not be able to identify how many more steps we should be taking when our sight is not clear.

To be clear as well, I have emphasized that although there were different stages that were introduced, it does not mean older stages are becoming obsolete. Well, some may do, but the thing is some instructional materials are still very applicable and relevant for today's learners such as the audio-visual aids.

In today's setting in the Philippines, there are a lot of schools particularly the public schools that use cartolina and manila paper for visual aid. Models are also being used for exhibits by some science schools.

With the rise of electronic revolution, new educational technology materials were added. Kids on this generation may find some of the things very old. One time, my younger cousin asked me what a tape recorder is and then insisted that the object was way back a World War II memoir. I laughed at that idea but it made me thought that there has really been a rapid development of technology nowadays. The ideas that we only had when we were little such as touch screen phones had been a reality in 2010s.

As per discussion, the rise of mass media and electronic revolution has also allowed men to have learning technology with easy mobility. From heavier computers, nowadays we have laptops, netbooks, cellphones, tablets, and a lot more. Each of these allows you to access information just with the touch of your hand.

The fourth stage has allowed learners to use new different teaching strategies and even new activities that are specific for the needs of every individual learner. The old style has been gone and new teaching styles had been made.

The fifth stage of Educational Technology has allowed the users to access devices which are interactive. It has also allowed the learners and even the educators to connect with others around the world using the internet. Steemit for one is a product of such advanced technology.

Educational Technology seems very promising right, but it will become a bane once being used by those who have negative ulterior motives. If one eductech would be used as a propaganda to cause terror among population, it would really be very scary. Thus it is very important for one to identify whether or not a learning is for the greater or common good, or is it a propaganda to cause havoc and terror on mankind.

Educational Technology Timeline
The following slides will showcase the changes that had been introduced through time. I hope with this, you will learn to appreciate the technology that we have nowadays. I, for one, has been benefiting the advancement of technology. I could not imagine just doing an oral recitation always in the class just in case paper was not invented.

Cave drawings! As we tried to analyze the Stone Age Era, we could only learn a few from them because the means of trying to pass their knowledge at that time was through reading of drawing that were scribbled on the walls on different caves that were discovered and some stuff that archaeologists do to gather more information about men at this era.

Unfortunately, because these men needed to be mobile because the land they are living in they thought would not be enough to sustain them. Hence, it led for some information not to be passed to the future generations. This is one of the reasons why some information about the ancient civilization remained unknown because they do not have means to preserve it.

By the way, I used the illustration of Moana and Maui and a seafarer to differentiate among the two. Although Moana did not have the technology then men nowadays use, she was able to travel to different places as she learned how to navigate, well thanks to Maui for that one!

Let us do a bit of fast-forward though since the relevant information can be found on the slides, or in this case snippets from the powerpoint information that I made.

Ancient Civilization

At this point, system of writing had been introduced through pictographs such as hieroglyphs from the Egyptian civilization. Well, honestly speaking, I could not imagine still not having the English alphabet and use pictures instead to communicate to others in written manner.

As I have watched on a documentary about some ancient civilizations, I realized that the Indus Valley civilization was existing and a lot of their sites were still intact. Apparently, this civilization needed to move because according to one researcher, they follow the course of water.

The invention of the printing press was really promising. It led for the modern printers to be in reality. Can you imagine yourself then writing down everything to pass information to others just in case technology of printing press was not made and then modernized? Hard right?

The idea of team teaching has been promising to some researchers. Some researchers has viewed it as something that would be beneficial for the near future. A group or a pair of teachers would be handling the class, allowing for a more efficient output. The other teacher could look out for the students while the first would be carefully giving the instructions.

As someone who is taking Certificate on Teaching, I really love the creation of Bloom's Taxonomy. It has helped the educators to give emphasis on their directions for the students on some activities inside the classroom that would require them with Higher Order Thinking Skills.

Even nowadays, micro-teaching is much use especially when the faculty and teachers wanted to do some coaching. With this method, the teacher would record its performance in the class afterwards constructive criticism would then be given for them to become more competent.

Learners must thus maximize the usage of these different technologies particularly the online learning. It allows a lot of convenience among users across the globe. You can also reach out to others with the help of internet. With just few seconds, you can learn a lot from others across the globe compared to centuries ago

Be it education or learning in a formal or informal way, we must always give emphasis on education in our lives and the lives of the young minds.

We are living in a fast-paced world with ever changing principles, thus it is important for us to continue learning not just in schools but also develop the capacity to be hungry for new information.

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If you wish to view the powerpoint of the report, you can also access the file on this google drive link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DIeH2eKtyEhmVXIJmzAXo4I7f92wwHZ7/view?usp=sharing

^{@gailbelga or Johanna Gail is a free-spirited freelance artist. She took up Bachelor of Arts in International Studies in one of the Ateneo universities in the Philippines. She is currently a candidate for Masters in Public Administrations. She is also taking up Certificate on Teaching. She volunteers in various non-profit/nongovernmental organization which aims for human rights through political education. She draws and writes about the country to provide awareness and promote the Philippines to foreign tourists.}