Written by For me, this was a weekend of celebrating Passover with friends and family. I’m not particularly observant of my religion, but I do enjoy this holiday because it is all about looking back and remembering the struggles of our ancestors in the fight for freedom.
So, tonight, I find myself pondering the history of educational technology. If we think of technology integration as at least partly about freeing children from the strictures of the traditional, behaviorist, stand-and-deliver forms of pedagogy, then I think now is as good a time as any to think about and recognize the pioneers of educational technology; those individuals who have helped to make schooling a bit more current and relevant.
The name that immediately comes to mind is Seymour Papert. It’d be hard to argue the impact and the legacy that Papert has had on our field. Chris Dede, now at Harvard, has also been a trailblazer. From a policy standpoint, I’d like to also recognize Brenda Williams, who has been the Director of the Office of Technology in the West Virginia Department of Education seemingly forever. Williams is one of the founding members of SETDA, and under her direction, West Virginia has been a lighthouse state with respect to coherent, consistent and effective statewide ed. tech. policies.
For whatever reason, I’m having a little trouble coming up with more names (maybe b/c it’s now midnight after a long weekend?). I also don’t particularly like these sort of lists because worthy inclusions will inevitably be left out. But, I’ll throw it out to the blogosphere. Who do you think of as the true pioneers as the field of educational technology?
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