Welcome to the deep dive. You're here because
you want to get up to speed fast, right? Exactly.
And today we're tackling something pretty interesting.
Yeah, we're digging into this piece. Is hashtag
EdTech speeding back to the 1960s? It asks if
educational technology is really all that new.
Uh -huh. And for you, listener wanting to connect
the dots, this deep dive is kind of a shortcut.
We're looking at some, well, surprising links
between way back then and now. Seriously surprising.
Who knew ideas from the 60s about tech and schools
might actually, you know, resonate today? It's
definitely thought -provoking. So our mission
today, unpack those early visions. See what they
tell us about EdTech right now. Okay, so the
article kicks off in the early 1960s. What was
happening with computers then? Well, the big
thing was mainframes. Their prices, they were
starting to drop. Not cheap, mind you, but enough
that schools could begin to think about them.
Mainframes, though. Huge machines, right? Filling
rooms? Oh, absolutely. Nothing like a laptop.
They needed special rooms, technicians. It was
a whole different world. But yeah, that price
drop was key. Okay. And the article touches on
this. Like, were computers adapted for education,
or was education seen as a new market for computers?
A bit cynical, maybe? It's a fair question, actually.
New tech often comes with a push to sell it.
Economic drivers are always part of the story.
So the idea that maybe applications were dreamed
up, partly to create that market, it's plausible.
Right. Which brings us to this figure, Don Bushnell,
1963. He had some big ideas. He did. Published
in 64, his prediction was pretty bold. He basically
saw computers and all the related tech peripherals
supporting almost all the subsystems in what
he called the total school complex. The total
school complex. Wow. OK, so what did that look
like in his vision, like in the classroom? Well,
it sounds quite standardized. The idea was delivering
curriculum through computer terminals. Standardized
curriculum, OK. Yeah, and measuring learning
by whether students got the right answers compared
to like stored answers in the computer. So very
focused on correct answers. Exactly. It was framed
as being super efficient, you know, like how
other industries were starting to use computers
for efficiency gains back then. That same kind
of thinking. But the tech itself was so primitive
compared to now. I mean, you said technicians
programming by rewiring circuits were decades
away from a mouse or a graphical interface. Precisely.
That's crucial context. Bushnell's vision. It
wasn't about students and teachers directly poking
at the machine like we do. No, no, they'd interact
with the information via terminals, probably,
but the actual computer, likely humming away
in a dedicated room managed by specialists. The
interaction was mediated. OK, here's where it
clicked for me, reading this. Bushnell's vision.
It sounds a lot like some things we see today,
you know, kids spending ages on cloud -based
test prep sites or just drill and practice stuff.
That's the connection the offer makes and it
is quite striking. Is that really technology
integration? Just using computers as well answer
dispensing machines It feels limited compared
to say using tech for creation or collaboration
or balancing screen time with other activities,
right? And that's the core concern raised. Are
educators, are leaders maybe accepting this more
basic answer focused IT too readily? Does it
reflect maybe a need for a deeper look at what
kind of education students really need today?
Instead of just, you know, automating old methods
with new tools. Exactly. Are we really using
the potential of the technology? So wrapping
this up, the big takeaway seems to be that this
Early vision, born in the 60s, standardized,
computer -delivered, efficiency -driven it hasn't
entirely gone away. No, echoes of it are definitely
there in some current practices. It really makes
you question how far we've truly come in rethinking
education with technology. It's a good question.
It prompts you to think, well, critically about
what we're actually aiming for with EdTech. Is
it just efficiency or something deeper? Something
richer, perhaps. OK, so here's something for
you, our listener, to chew on. Take a look around.
How do you see technology being used in education
today? Does it line up with Bushnell's 60 -year
-old vision or does it diverge? And maybe more
importantly, what does that tell you about where
we might be heading? Great question to ponder.
Thanks for taking the deep dive with us today.