Friday, January 24, 2014

Everything Old Is New Again

I found this article from the great blog Paleofuture to be really intriguing and interesting.

I was particularly struck by the number of designs for remote learning through technology over the past hundred years. What struck me more than anything was our myopic view of what is "disruptive" in education. Just look at the radio book, and then compare it to the almost daily press reports about the role that tablets will play in schools.





It's a good reminder that knowing about the past, particularly in educational technology, needs to be a critical part of our work.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

It seems essential to in fact study the past. Isn't knowing why something didn't work an important part of problem solving for future applications? Are we destined to repeat our past mistakes or failures?

Unknown said...

It seems essential to in fact study the past. Isn't knowing why something didn't work an important part of problem solving for future applications? Are we destined to repeat our past mistakes or failures?

Gerald Ardito said...

Kira, I agree. And I am continually stunned how the newest, coolest thing seems to be related to, or a continuation of, something else. You should see the marketing materials around pencils from around 1900 and how they were going to revolutionize learning in the classroom.