Response to "A short history of educational technology" and "Soft is hard and hard is easy: learning technologies and social media," by Jon Dron

 

When I first embarked on this class, I was more focused on modern-day technology then the timeline that helped us get where we are today. I did not think of the Greek and their lectures as having an impact on our computers and videos, but I was mistaken. Tony Bates, the author of "Teaching in a Digital Age" points out that many of the technologies we found in our classrooms were created for ulterior reasons, such as overhead projectors for World War II. While I did experience overhead projectors during my schooling, I had no idea that they were first created and used by the military. 

This chapter by Bates gave me a greater appreciation for educational broadcasts, starting with BBC. I had always known about educational broadcasts, from PBS to NPR, but never had paid them much attention. I realize the revolutionary precedent that BBC created to help further educate the population. These broadcasts were a catalyst for creating more information that was easily accessible, graduating eventually to YouTube and social media. This chapter was nice to gain background knowledge and start to form a timeline of how technology has changed over the years. 

I enjoyed Jon Dron's distinction between soft and hard technology. While Bates provided a general overview, Dron goes more in-depth on the distinctions we can make between different types of technology, saying that "a microwave oven is not the same technology to a cat as it is to a human," (Dron, 2019, p. 33). Dron simplifies his distinction by stating that "The human role, if any, in a hard technology is to follow someone else’s orchestration, while in a soft technology it is to perform that orchestrationm" (Dron, 2019, p. 35). Dron emphasizes that while to some a technology may be easy or hard, depending on experience, the outcome and usefulness of the tool can be different. I enjoyed his continued use of hard and soft to describe different aspects of technology. 

While Dron described hard and soft technologies and the idiosyncrasies, Bates provided a rough timeline sketch and background knowledge for us to have a better understanding moving forward. Both readings are going to be pivotal moving forward as we continue to learn about the use of technology in the classroom. While we may find technology easy, someone who does not have a vast amount of experience of exposure may find it difficult. Conversely, as technology continues to progress, we as teachers could be struggling to keep up in our understanding and usage of new technologies. 

As I was reading the different articles, I was reminded of a Ted talk by Jason Brown I watched a few years ago about incorporating technology into the classroom. In our world currently, access to information is at our fingertips and everyone seems to be obsessed with their smartphones. As teachers, how do we tap into this curiosity and use phones to our advantages? I agree with Jason Brown that technology is growing and will continue to grow. It is a resource that, when used properly, could greatly assist our students with learning.