Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
1 Integrating technology
in classrooms: from the
microcomputer to 'the cloud'
Overview
The objective of this chapter is to provide the reader with an historical overview
of events, which led to the wide-scale expansion of the use of technology in class-
rooms in the UK; to review past uses of technologies in schools and to examine how
computing technology has been introduced into the classroom over the past three
decades.
Gaining an understanding of this history will provide a context from which sub-
sequent developments can be understood. The chapter draws on research into the
identifiable phases of technology adoption in schools and from the perspective of
practitioners, whose voices on the history were captured in the research conducted
by Hammond et al. (2009).
The history of technology in education is charted through an account of how
computers first came into schools, the changes in hardware and software which fol-
lowed and then the introduction of the micro-computer and, more recently, mobile
technologies. These changes were experienced by practitioners as phases in devel-
opments which, although not necessarily distinct, were nonetheless definable by
changes in processing speed, reliability of storage and connectivity, diminishing
size and portability coupled with increasing personal ownership of sophisticated
mobile technology devices. However, while the use of technology in UK schools
has changed dramatically over the last three decades, what has not changed to any
significant degree is the nature of schooling and teachers' ideas about learning and
teaching.
Introduction and context
From the introduction of mainframe computers in the late 1960s, mainly in higher
education, to the introduction of micro-computers into schools in the early 1980s,
from storage on cassette tape to more reliable disc drives and cloud computing, from
Acorn to PC machines, from standalone to networks and wireless hand-held devices,
Search WWH ::
Custom Search