Educational Technology Timeline

Description

The focus of this timeline is to demonstrate the improvement of education through the use of technology. Jerome Bruner, an influential educational theorist best known for his study of human cognition, devised a set of principles related to curriculum development: 1. Instruction must be concerned with the experiences and contexts that make the student willing and able to learn (readiness). 2. Instruction must be structured so that it can be easily grasped by the student (spiral organization). 3. Instruction should be designed to facilitate extrapolation and or fill in the gaps (going beyond the information given). <http://tip.psychology.org/bruner.html> As technology becomes readily available, teachers will be able to facilitate such principles within their classrooms. Access to the Internet, Web 2.0 applications, interactive software, and digital hardware will engage students, help them make connections with text, and enable them to research and explore in greater depth. It is difficult to predict where educational technology will take us given the rapid growth in the field. New strategies to incorporate technology resources in the classroom are emerging every day. The next ten years will be challenging due to the lack of funds available to purchase computer equipment, as well as the limited amount of time teachers have to devote to staff development opportunities. Despite such challenges, it is necessary to evaluate accomplishments in the field of educational technology to determine their long-term effectiveness and impact in improving instruction. Within the decade of 1995 to 2005, teachers around the world began connecting in ways never seen before. Access to the Internet and multimedia equipment expanded learning beyond the constraints of the classroom walls. It is interesting to look back upon some of the technology tools we take for granted in 2008, but were a true novelty a decade ago.