The emergence of educational technology

Abstract

This paper traces the emergence of Information Technology (IT) for educational purposes. It begins with a discourse on the relationship between culture and educational technology. A key premise is that culture is an important influence in education. Similarly, the evolution of educational technology is very much intertwined with culture. This paper traces educational development from the traditional times to modern times. Educational technology was initially viewed as technology in education, a sole focus on IT tools. Subsequently, a holistic perspective of the educational system was adopted, termed the technology of education. In this larger view, educational technology is informed by research from learning theories and other educational research. The paper elaborates on these theoretical underpinnings with some examples of educational technology before concluding with implications for practitioners and researchers. © 2008 International Federation for Information Processing.