I’m just putting my very brief notes on Audrey Watters’ presentation here, with a mind to return to them at some point.
- Teaching machines
- History of ed-tech – early to mid 20th century in the US.
- Context is important – throughout the book.
- Must look beyond just the tech itself.
- None of it emerges fully formed from the ether.
- Criticism of Sal Khan – exemplifies the hubris of tech entrepreneurs – their ideas are earth shattering.
- Book – one room schoolhouse by Sal Khan – ten minute video on the history of education in the US.
- Too short, too directed towards Khan Academy
- History is terrible.
- Another book – Never Mind the Laptops – Bob Johnstone.
- Examines the constructionist bent of edtech
- Despite claims, has not been followed in the US.
- Constructionism – from Piaget (Constructivism) -> Papert at MIT)
- Papert – best learning is through constructing something meaningful (on computers)
- Tells the history of edtech – as if teaching machines supplanted by the technology.
- Not sure what she means by this.
- Catalogues one technology after another – claim that this is progress.
- Claims that Tech and Teaching and Learning are getting better.
- Not certain that’s the case at all.
- E.g. constructionism supplanted things like behaviourism.
- Cognitive science – didn’t supplant behaviourism either.
- Chapter 1 – Guided by Pigeons.
- After chapter one, never mention behaviorism/ cognitivism etc again.
- Set up for many books on edtech
- But behaviourism is everywhere in edtech
- Classroom activities – immediate feedback of right/ wrong – Skinner believed this necessary.
- All forced to proceed at the same pace throughout the lesson – wrong sort of reinforcement – penalised the students who could move much more quickly.
- Led to the development of The Teaching Machine – perfectly matched
- Led to schedules of reinforcement.
- Skinner – heavily influenced by Pavlov – focused on animal rather than human behaviour.
- Behaviour -> was psychology.
- Skinner – contrasted with mentalism – Freudianism, Jungian analysis -> ideas about the consciousness.