User talk:Dr Tom Benjamin

The history of technological applications to education in the 20th Century ended with misgivings. The new resources available at the turn of the new Century were mainly to do with the explosion of the internet in the late 90s. There had been no shortage of technological resources in the post World War II era - biofeedback, desktop computers, and physical sensors to name a few. Statistical and engineering calculators had become disposable supermarket checkout items.

But the 21st Century resources began to focus on use of these tools for human communication. The computer came to be seen less as a calculation tool and more as a multimedia resource. The educational benefits of this become more difficult to trace as in some cases IT use became a subject in its own right, with the circularity of using it to assess its own contribution. Uses in traditional subjects were confounded as the real learning of maths, science and history was still limited by the human capacities. Computers were often spoken of with regard to their novelty as 'engaging' rather than reference to their use as tools in the actual learning.

This wiki will attempt to overview some of this history and focus future attention on cost-effectiveness in educational technology.