THREE+DECADES+ANALYSIS

RUNNING HEAD: THREE DECADES ANALYSIS Michael Holmes Week 11 Application: Three Decades Analysis August 16, 2009 Walden University, Educational Specialists EDUC-7100-1/EDUC-8840-1 Evolution of Educational Technology in Society, Education, and the Workplace The Evolution of America Technology provides a basis for the historical basis for the historical analysis and interpretation of the diverse aspects of American educational technology and to trace its antecedents as it is evolved from ancient times to the present day. (Saettler, 2004) The three decades that will be highlighted in this paper will be the 1950’s to the 1980’s. The first decade I will analyze is the 1950’s where the1st Generation of Computers occurred which was known as the Univac which used vacuum tubes to control operations. The second decade I will analyze will be the 1960’s where the “Cognitive Revolution” ended then education and government turned to business and industry for solutions to educational problems. The third decade I will analyze will be the 1970’s where the 4th Generation of Computers occurred which used microprocessors which were a computer on a chip. These decades all positive and negative impacts on different paradigms such as family, business, transportation, communication, and education. During the 1950’s the 1st Generation of Computers was born which was known as the Univac which used vacuum tubes to control operations. Gerstien defines information technology by stating that it “refers to the collective means to assemble and electronically store, transmit, process, and retrieve words, numbers, images, and sounds, as well as the electronic means to control machines of all kinds.” (Seattler, 2002) This invention all people to use technology at their place of work where they could move away from paper records to help store information. Also these computers helped people who were in education learn to use a new technology. This began to change our society by introducing a new type of technology which changed people’s to thinking to how they could use the computer to help them at home and work. The second decade I will be focusing on will be the 1960’s where the “Cognitive Revolution” ended then education and government turned to business and industry for solutions to educational problems. The “Cognitive Revolution” took place from 1955 to 1965 and was a time period when the emphasis changed from procedures for manipulating instructional materials to procedures for facilitating learner processing and interaction. This decade affect many different paradigms as well. Technology and Education were affected by manufacturers developing learning machines that the learner could interact with. Society and Work was affected by having the ability to not only use technology for information storage but interaction such as receiving feedback. This decade saw education and government turning to business and industry for solutions to educational problems. The third decade I will be focusing on will be the 1970’s where the 4th Generation of Computers occurred which used microprocessors which were a computer on a chip. Microcomputers have brought about further miniaturization of components, increased speed, greater reliability, and have vastly increased storage capacities. This generation of computer had a major impact on technology by allowing technological advances in many different fields because of this increase in speed and storage capacities. The work paradigm was affected by business and corporate philosophies having the ability to change for the better because of the key advances in storage capacity and processing speed. Society and culture were affected by peoples thinking being changed of having the use of a computer in their because of the smaller components that were developed during this time era. This decade had a major impact on all of these paradigms because of the computer. These three decades which this paper focused on is a major reflection of the evolution of educational technology. These three decades saw the four different generations of computers and the impact they had on society, education, and communication. These three decades also saw the “Cognitive Revolution” which changed society’s thinking on manipulating instructional materials to procedures for facilitating learner processing and interaction. During these three decades education and government turned to business and industry for solutions to educational problems. These decades had a major impact on the evolution of American Technology. REFERENCES Saettler, P. (2004). The evolution of American educational technology. Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing.