Educational Foundations 1

Running head: EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATIONS AND TECHNOLOGY USAGE

Educational Foundations and Technology Usage

Peter C. Frank

Northern Arizona University

 Abstract

This paper examines the history of education and technology as well as the way

technology developed. It also looks at factors affecting technology, as well as, the

positive and negative impacts technology has had on society and education. The topics of

technology in the life of people, such as telephones, television, instant messaging, e-mail,

and chat rooms were examined. The topic of the knowledge and experience of educators

using the technology in schools today was brought out. It is explained that the technology

is only as effective as the educator employing it. The paper concludes with some

suggestions from the writer on what designers and manufactures of technology could

perhaps do to improve the negative aspects of technology.

 Educational Foundations 3

Educational Foundations and Technology Usage

History of Education and Technology

According to Petrina (2002), in 1924, psychologists Otis Caldwell and Stuart Courtis

envisioned:

“The School of Tomorrow” will pay far more attention to individuals than the schools of

the past. Each child will be studied and measured repeatedly from many angles, both as a

basis of prescriptions for treatment and as a means of controlling development. The new

education will be scientific in that it will rest on a fact basis. All development of

knowledge and skill will be individualized, and classroom practice and recitation as they

exist today in conventional schools will largely disappear. “The School of Tomorrow”

would use mechanical equipment, radios, and movies to reveal a world beyond the limits

of books and recitations. Textbooks would be constructed for individual success and to

underwrite a program of self-rehabilitation. Psychologists, through experiments in

laboratories and in schools of education would discover what everyone should know and

the best way to learn essential elements. In the surveillant spaces of “The School of

Tomorrow”, hygienically regulated students would learn essential items. (Petrina, 2002, pp.

75-111).

Factors Affecting Technology in Schools

Technology, computer technology in education in particular, has had a slow start. (Zhao

and Frank (2003) stated:

…[M]any educational researchers and practitioners, policymakers, and concerned citizens

[worried] about the frustratingly slow adoption of computers and other modern
 technologies in schools. Although computer technology [was] quickly spreading to almost

every part of our lives…, the introduction of technology in schools has been less than

successful. (p. 807)

This lack of success has been attributed partly to “computer technology itself….First,

there are conflicting ideas about the value of technology and hence conflicting advice to teachers

about how technology should be used in schools (Cuban, 1999).” (Zhao & Frank, 2003, p. 807)

Technology in Today’s Schools

In our schools today, “the most frequently used technologies are e-mail, telephone

systems, and computers in the classroom.” (Zhao & Frank, 2003, p.820) Today … teachers use

computers more in the classroom than in the computer lab…” (Zhao & Frank, p. 820). In my

school, for example, quite a few of the teachers have computer projectors that are used quite

frequently in conjunction with class lectures. Mathematics teachers are using smart boards in

their classes. PowerPoint®, Excel®, and Word® are but a few other applications being used by

faculties in schools. These applications are effective for lecture presentations, data gathering,

analysis, and graphing, and for construction of various paper and pencil assessments.

Assessments such as quizzes, tests, essays, or true or false exams.

Technology and Society

Online social networks are quite commonplace in today’s society. We have telephone

systems and television in our homes, and on our computers we have e-mail, instant messaging,

blogs, discussion groups and chat rooms to mention just a few. Many people enjoy the instant

communication capabilities this technology gives us. We can share ideas, information, data,

design ideas, and like Peter Barrett, chief technology officer and general manager of engineering
 Educational Foundations 5

for the Microsoft's TV Division at Microsoft Corporation, said, “…baby pictures, pictures of my

kids, and pictures of my friends and family.” (Barrett, P. & Rafer, S. 2008) Many people enjoy

participating in instant messaging; discussion groups like those used in this course, and chat

rooms. This writer has a particular fondness for chat rooms for that is the means by which he and

his lovely wife met.

As with everything else in our society, technology has its positive and negative impacts

on society. Reliability of the technology is a major point of consideration. If the technology has a

good record of reliability, it is then generally accepted as something good to have or use. On the

other hand a record of poor reliability can be the downfall of that same technology. A case in

point would be the copier at our school. It was purchased brand new, but saw so much use it soon

fell into a state of needing constant repair. It was usually out of service more than in, so faculty

started using other means to make copies. There were those that would go to the computer lab

and use their small desktop copier for small quantities of copies. There were those of us that had

scanners so we could simply copy right from our computer. It was not long before the copier saw

no use, even when it was repaired and working fine. Now it has been replaced with a refurbished

model and people are, after having it in place for approximately one month, beginning to trust it

to hold up.

Another positive impact of technology how it can help society. Imagine doctors here in

the United States sending x-rays and patient information to doctors in another country for a

consultation. The meeting is in real time so the doctors get the information they were seeking and

the patient gets the treatment needed. Paramedics in ambulances speeding to a hospital can call

ahead with vital information so a triage team can be waiting to render treatment thereby saving

valuable, perhaps life saving, time.

In education, teachers can use the technology to enhance their lectures. They can also use
it as a mind tool to let the students learn by doing, consulting, collaborating, and constructing

while the teacher stands by as a facilitator to the acquisition of the intended knowledge. The

negative impact this has is that if the teacher does not possess the necessary knowledge and

experience with the technology, then all is lost as far as the effectiveness of this technology as a

learning instrument.

Conclusion

In this paper it was brought out that early on in the history of technology, psychologists

saw a future where technology attentions would be drawn from the individual to a society as a

whole. We saw the impact of technology on society and education. There was also discussion of

the positive and negative impacts of technology on society and education.

In the opinion of this writer there will always be the good and bad points, or positive and

negative impacts of whatever technology comes along in the future. It matters not if it is energy

efficient transportation, artificial intelligence, or improved appliances in the home, the good and

the bad of those technologies is inherent in them. It is the suggestion of this writer that people

push technology’s designers and manufactures by whatever means available to come up with

more reliable technology. We must also drive our legislature to come up with legislation to make

the technology we and our children use every time we log on to the internet and search the World

Wide Web safer. There must be improved means to identify, prevent, and punish those that

employ fraud, scams, and predatory tactics on the internet.

If the technology available to our educators from elementary to higher education is to be

effective, then we must ensure that our educators are properly trained in the use of the

technology. We must therefore push our school district, superintendents, and local school

administrators to ensure that all faculty members under their control are properly trained.
 Educational Foundations 7

References

Patina, S. (2002). Getting a purchase on "The School of Tomorrow" and its constituent

commodities: Histories and historiographies of technologies. History of Education

Quarterly, 42 (1), 75-111.

Zhao, Y., & Frank, K. A. (2003a). Factors affecting technology uses in schools: An ecological

perspective. American Educational Research Journal, 40 (4), 807-840.

Barrett, P. & Rafer, S. (2008). Shrinking the planet. IT Conversations. Podcast retrieved from

http://itc.conversationsnetwork.org/shows/detail715.html