Educational Technology

David F. Feldon & William Morris

Educational visionaries and reformers have held high hopes for the use of technology to improve the quality of education. Distinct from technology education, which emphasizes technology skill development as a content area, educational technology is used to enhance or augment instruction in other subjects. With each innovation in communications technology during the 20th century, claims have been made that their use in classrooms would revolutionize the educational process, improving effectiveness, resource efficiency, and/or pedagogical approach. Advocates promoted the adoption of educational motion pictures in the 1920s, educational radio in the 1930s, educational television in the 1950s, personal computer use for education in the 1980s, and classroom use of the Internet in the 1990s. The general consensus of those who have studied technology's influence, however, is that these innovations have failed to engender either significant learning benefits or reform in mainstream schooling. Assessments of educational technology's value and effectiveness are in ...

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