A Short History of Education Technology

Education technology has a hundred-year record of confident predictions that did not come true. Each generation of machines, from film and radio to teaching machines, mainframe terminals, microcomputers, the web, MOOCs, tablets and now large language models, was announced as the end of the classroom as people knew it. Each was absorbed into schooling in a narrower and slower form than its promoters expected. The core ideas changed less than the costs.

The preview ends here. The full chapter is in the book.

In this chapter

2.1Before computers: the promise of revolution, 1910s–1950s
2.2Teaching machines and programmed instruction, 1924–1960s
2.3Mainframes: PLATO, Stanford and LOGO, 1960–1980s
2.4Microcomputers and edutainment, 1977–1995
2.5Connectivity and the learning management system, 1995–2010
2.6The for-profit university boom and crackdown, 1976–2019
2.7Free at scale: Khan Academy and the MOOC, 2006–2015
2.8The growth era: Chromebooks, free tools and Asian scale, 2015–2019
2.9Pandemic, peak and bust, 2020–2024
2.10Generative AI, 2022–2026
2.11What history contributes to judgment

← Chapter 1

Why Education Technology Is Hard

Chapter 3 →

How People Learn and What Technology Can Change