Educational technology: promise unfulfilled

I have on my shelf a book whose very title says more about the excessive optimism surrounding new technologies than I can ever express. It is called CDROM the New Papyrus (Lambert and Ropiequet, 1986). Such hype is typical for new technologies, and in no area is it seen more keenly than in education. In their proclamations of wonder regarding any new technology, educators often resemble the character Bingo Little in P G Wodehouse. He fell in love, seemingly at random, and each time declared it to be the real thing, and when it was pointed out that this was not the first such occurrence, would deplore the thought that those previous infatuations could be compared to the depth of feeling this time.

There is still no clear evidence that educational technology improves student learning. Tom Russell’s (1999) by now famous The No Significant Difference Phenomenon compiled all the studies that compared modes of delivery: for example, distance versus classroom, and online versus face to face. The overwhelming conclusion was that the mode of delivery made no difference to student performance, so it is the content and not the medium that seems to be important. However, there are also studies which demonstrate an improved performance using some educational technologies (and indeed the No Significant  Difference Web site now has a less well populated Significant Difference counterpart).

As a colleague once commented, this is a case of good news, bad news. The good news is there is no significant difference. The bad news is there is no significant difference. So if you are a distance educator it undermines any criticism that face to face education is somehow better. However, if you have just invested heavily in new educational technology it might also suggest that there is little gain to be made from this. It should be pointed out that a number of people (eg Phipps and Merisotis, 1999) dispute Russell’s findings,
arguing that the papers gathered are questionable and thus any conclusions drawn from them are equally inconclusive. Let us, for now, pass over the debate about the impact of technology upon learning achievement. It is the impact upon teaching practice where educational technology seems to have been much less significant than the investment, discussion and optimism surrounding it would warrant. The reasons are varied: for instance, a focus on buying hardware rather than integration, and a lack of training for teachers, undoubtedly contribute to this.

Despite the promise of new technologies, and the excitement that accompanies them, the bulk of educational practice has remained largely unchanged. The face to face lecture is still by far the dominant form of teaching. While computers and various computer based tools may be used to supplement traditional teaching, this can be seen as an extension of the laboratory based classroom. So why, despite a great deal of investment and many innovative, beneficial implementations, is teaching at all levels much the same as it was hundreds of years ago? Is it because the face to face lecture is really the best way of teaching?

Pronouncement of the death of the traditional lecture always seems to be a consequence of a new technology, and yet it persists stubbornly. Personally, I have a lot of time for the lecture. When done well it really is an engaging and inspiring experience. So why are so many people seemingly anxious for its demise? The truth is that it is all too often far from an engaging or inspiring experience. We have all sat through lectures that seemed to have no direction, and resembled an unconnected series of words from which you could fathom no
meaning. The repeatability and quality assurance of a lecture is difficult to ensure. Technology is seen as a means of improving productivity, efficiency and reliability. There are also other factors that often combine, making the need for investment in educational technology seem unavoidable. I shall look at these in more detail later, where the motivations for adopting an online approach are examined.

I want to look at some previous educational technologies, and analyse why these failed to have the impact on education once predicted, and why the Net will have a more significant impact. The two previous technologies
I will use by way of example are broadcast media and multi-media CD ROM.
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