Chapter 3 Literature Review 3.1 Overview of chapter
3.2 The integration of IT in education
3.2.2 Historical development
The researchers generally agreed that the start of the utilisation of technology in education took place in the 1950s (Bitter & Legacy, 2008; Cuban, 2002; Lockard & Abrams, 2004; Morrison & Lowther, 2005; Roblyer & Doering, 2010). Jonassen, Peck and Wilson (1999) made the comment that the educational technologies have been traced back to the 15th century and later involved to the development of the “true
educational technology” in the 1950s–that is, the programmed instruction specifically to meet the needs of education. Different to Jonassen et al. (1999), Lever-‐Duffy and McDonald (2008) traced the application of educational technology back to the early 1900s and the advent of early movies. However, similar to other researchers, Lever-‐Duffy and McDonald commented that the first implementation of modern educational technology appeared in the 1950s–a programmed instruction
Morrison, Ross and Lowther (2009) stated that technology has long been viewed as the means to deliver instruction in the late 19th century, since the lanternslide
projector was introduced into classroom. This conception of technology has led the use of technology through the 20th century with the overhead projector, television,
and other related devices in the classroom.
Lockard and Abrams (2004) identified that the integration of technology within the education sector has been slower than other fields−such as business−since the 1950s. With the increasing percentage of computer systems in schools and the accessibility of the Internet, teachers should be capable to integrate IT in the technology-‐rich educational environments.
Bitter and Legacy (2008) claimed that the acceleration of utilising technology in education became significant starting from the late 1950s. Morrison and Lowther (2005) also declared that the USA commenced introducing technology into schools in the late 1950s, when the National Defense Education Act was launched. In the book
Integrating educational technology into teaching, Roblyer and Doering (2010)
presented a timeline for the historical development of educational computing activities and resources from 1950 to 2010. The timeline indicated the first use of computers in school, the use of computer assisted instruction (CAI) and the Internet, as well as the first introduction of the National Educational Technology Standards in the USA. Australian researcher, Nicholson (2007), however, explained that even though there is no single evolutionary tree of computer assisted learning, it could be traced back to the 1960s when a number of educational applications of computers
The application of IT has developed in different countries around the world. Robinson (2007) stated that the application of technology was limited in scope in North American schools in the initial stage, and now, with the federal government injecting large amount of funding and support to the schools, the contemporary integration of technology needs to be an integral component of education. In Britain, the rapid enrichment of IT devices in schools during this decade created new
possibilities for school education. This “e-‐maturity” environment of schools enables the teachers to consider the best use of technology and develop new pedagogic repertoires for the new effective teaching (Sutherland, Robertson & John, 2009). On the aspect of the development of IT facilities, the popularised mobile device and wireless internet connection, mobile learning (m-‐learning) and ubiquitous learning (u-‐learning) are seen in school education (Oliver, 2005).
A notable researcher in IT and education, Jonassen (2000), defined the historical development of using computers in learning into three stages–learning from computers, learning about computer, and learning with computers. In the age of learning from computers, a primary use of computers has been the delivery of computer assisted instruction (CAI). The CAI systems included the approaches such as the drill and practice, tutorials, and intelligent tutorials. In the 1980s, the age of learning about computers, learning computer skills was seen as mainstream in the application of computers in education. In the last stage, learning with computers, computers were defined as the technological learning partner to support the learning. A research study from Malaysia maintained a similar viewpoint that the role of computers themselves in the early days was seen as the objective of instruction. After learning theory has shifted from a behaviourist perspective to
cognitivistm, and now to the constructivism in school education, the status of computers has been shifted to become a powerful tool for learning (Nalliah & Jamaludin, 2001). This viewpoint based on the development of learning theory, was obviously different from other research which insisted that the development of IT applications in education is influenced by the development of technology facilities. In addition, the relationship between learning theory and the application of technology will be discussed in the following section—learning theory and the integration of IT.
Even though a number of researchers offer various comments on the start of the application of technology in education, most of them agree that it could be traced back to the 1950s, when computers were adopted in the education system. In addition, the creation of the Internet is a significant issue for IT development and its application. Along with the increasing availability of IT devices and accessibility of the Internet, it becomes a general trend to enhance teaching and learning via IT in the 21th century.