Oct 11 2010
History of ET – first perspectives
I was very interested to read the first resources for this module. I’ve taught computer history to my students before but it was from a business perspective. One very interesting resources that outlines the competition between Apple and Microsoft is PBS’s Triumph of the Nerds video set. I was also one of the many business educators that tried to reach and prepare students for the work world by teaching some of the most common applications. I really saw computers as having that role in education, primarily. Of course we have evolved along with the technology and now use computers in all our subjects (except English, where they seem to only see computers as word processors… a little sarcasm there).
Are major companies still trying to get a share of the education market? Yes, but my Business teacher background tells me that more often the world outside education drives technological innovation and we just happen to stumble upon its possible uses in education. But perhaps I am naive and old fashioned. Let’s see what the rest of the module brings.
One final remark – I am sitting at my laptop, earphones on, looking and listening to the resources that are provided. How different my learning experience is from when I was an undergrad student in the late 1970s.
