Past, present and future of research on educational technology in the West

• Sciences and liberal arts
• Universal public education
• Progressive education
• Creative exploration
• Small-group collaborative learning
• Project-based learning
• Problem-based learning
• Collaborative learning and CSCL

transfer of facts → ability to construct knowledge & communicate understanding

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• mainframes
• custom applications for corporations
• generic desktop applications
• computer networking and groupware
• small apps for devices
• social networking media, cloud and ubiquitous computing

from isolated machines → social infrastructures

• techno-centric
• ergonomics and human factors
• human-centered design
• design-based research
• social informatics
• socio-technical design

expanded to stress how technology would be enacted, adopted, disseminated and used in practice

• 1950s: cooperative learning in groups
• 1960s: computer-assisted instruction (arithmetic drill etc)
• 1970s: intelligent tutoring systems (user modeling algebra misconceptions)
• 1980s: LOGO as latin - simple programming language that students could use to create small applications, student-centered approach, allow students to be creative. Still working individually.
• 1990s: CSCL (eg. CSILE)

from individuals acquiring facts to communities building knowledge

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• the individual mind is itself a social product, the result of interpersonal interactions
• there are group knowledge-building processes not reducible to individual mental processes
• a group can only build knowledge with the participation of individuals, to understand and collaborate

• Zone of Proximal Development - individual learning is different from group knowledge, children learn to do things in groups before they can do them as individuals
• in addition to testing what individuals can do, we should test what they can achieve in groups working together (how much of this is the result of the one specific group, which is context-specific and will not follow the students to the workplace etc, and how much of it gives a better idea of an individual's capacity in any group, which will be relevant when individual enters different groups in workplace?)

• technology to support group interactions
• people tried to design technologies in terms of technical issues, their solutions failed to be adopted and used because of social factors
• innovative software concepts inspire researchers, funding sources and users

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