This book explores the effective use of information and communication technology (ICT) in teaching and learning. Concept-laden and practice-driven discussions offer insights into the art and practice of employing virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR), electronic devices, social networks and massive open online courses (MOOCs) in education.

Ultimately, the authors make a compelling case not only for this turn to learning but for creating new pathways for nonfaculty learning careers, understanding the limits of professional organizations and social media, and the need to establish this new interdisciplinary field of learning innovation.

Twenty-five years ago there was increasing optimism in policy, curriculum and research about the contribution that technology education might make to increased technological literacy in schools and the wider population. That optimism continues, although the status of technology as a learning area remains fragile in many places. This edited book is offered as a platform from which to continue discussions about how technology education might progress into the future, and how the potential of technology education to be truly relevant and valued in school learning can be achieved. The book results from a collaboration between leading academics in the field, the wider group of authors having had input into each of the chapters. Through the development of a deep understanding of technology, based on a thoughtful philosophy, pathways are discussed to facilitate student learning opportunities in technology education. Consideration is given to the purpose(s) of technology education and how this plays out in curriculum, pedagogies, and assessment. Key dimensions, including design, critique, students’ cultural capital are also explored, as are the role and place of political persuasion, professional organisations, and research that connects with practice. The discussion in the book leads to a conclusion that technology education has both an ethical and moral responsibility to support imaginings that sustain people and communities in harmony and for the well being of the broader ecological and social environment.

"This book examines a variety of pertinent topics that look at the present and future roles of technology in the classroom to assist educators, educational leaders, and instructional designers in establishing future-ready learning, today"--

"This book evaluated the incorporation of technology into educational processes reviewing topics from primary and secondary school to higher education, from Second Life to wiki technology, from physical education to cultural learning"--Provided by publisher.

How ed tech was born: Twentieth-century teaching machines--from Sidney Pressey's mechanized test-giver to B. F. Skinner's behaviorist bell-ringing box. Contrary to popular belief, ed tech did not begin with videos on the internet. The idea of technology that would allow students to "go at their own pace" did not originate in Silicon Valley. In Teaching Machines, education writer Audrey Watters offers a lively history of predigital educational technology, from Sidney Pressey's mechanized positive-reinforcement provider to B. F. Skinner's behaviorist bell-ringing box. Watters shows that these machines and the pedagogy that accompanied them sprang from ideas--bite-sized content, individualized instruction--that had legs and were later picked up by textbook publishers and early advocates for computerized learning. Watters pays particular attention to the role of the media--newspapers, magazines, television, and film--in shaping people's perceptions of teaching machines as well as the psychological theories underpinning them. She considers these machines in the context of education reform, the political reverberations of Sputnik, and the rise of the testing and textbook industries. She chronicles Skinner's attempts to bring his teaching machines to market, culminating in the famous behaviorist's efforts to launch Didak 101, the "pre-verbal" machine that taught spelling. (Alternate names proposed by Skinner include "Autodidak," "Instructomat," and "Autostructor.") Telling these somewhat cautionary tales, Watters challenges what she calls "the teleology of ed tech"--the idea that not only is computerized education inevitable, but technological progress is the sole driver of events.