Teaching Machines

Teaching Machines

Author: Audrey Watters

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 2023-02-07

Total Pages: 325

ISBN-13: 026254606X

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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.


How the University Works

How the University Works

Author: Marc Bousquet

Publisher: NYU Press

Published: 2008-01-01

Total Pages: 301

ISBN-13: 0814791123

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Uncovers the labor exploitation occurring in universities across the country As much as we think we know about the modern university, very little has been said about what it's like to work there. Instead of the high-wage, high-profit world of knowledge work, most campus employees—including the vast majority of faculty—really work in the low-wage, low-profit sphere of the service economy. Tenure-track positions are at an all-time low, with adjuncts and graduate students teaching the majority of courses. This super-exploited corps of disposable workers commonly earn fewer than $16,000 annually, without benefits, teaching as many as eight classes per year. Even undergraduates are being exploited as a low-cost, disposable workforce. Marc Bousquet, a major figure in the academic labor movement, exposes the seamy underbelly of higher education—a world where faculty, graduate students, and undergraduates work long hours for fast-food wages. Assessing the costs of higher education's corporatization on faculty and students at every level, How the University Works is urgent reading for anyone interested in the fate of the university.


Never Send a Human to Do a Machine's Job

Never Send a Human to Do a Machine's Job

Author: Yong Zhao

Publisher: Corwin Press

Published: 2015-07-01

Total Pages: 127

ISBN-13: 1452284644

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Do what you do best and let technology do the rest Technology has transformed lives. Why then, has it not transformed education? What needs to change to ensure integration that empowers students and enhances teacher depth? Learn how to let technology cultivate student autonomy, creativity, and responsibility while focusing on lessons that hone higher-order and critical thinking skills. See technology as a complement rather than a replacement Embrace its creation potential over consumption Encourage personalized learning, autonomy, and creativity over outcomes Celebrate digital competence over curriculum improvement Focus on tech-pedagogy over product usage


Education Tools for Entrepreneurship

Education Tools for Entrepreneurship

Author: Marta Peris-Ortiz

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2015-12-16

Total Pages: 250

ISBN-13: 3319246577

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This book examines education in entrepreneurship through an action-learning environment that uses educational innovation tools. It explores various education tools, technology tools and pedagogical methods being implemented into university curriculums around the world. Entrepreneurship in society is rapidly gaining popularity as entrepreneurial activities aimed to create social value are fundamental in the development of an innovative, sustainable economy. This notion has been encouraging universities to incorporate entrepreneurship-related competencies into the curriculums of almost all subjects. Thus, developing an action-learning environment with educational innovation tools, technology tools and pedagogical methods is becoming increasingly important to universities. Students must be fully prepared to face the many challenges in the world and to help develop an innovative and sustainable economy. Universities should therefore promote active learning through innovation so that students can become active participants in their learning. Featuring contributions and case studies from academics, researchers and practitioners from around the world, the is book provides international perspective into entrepreneurship education and innovation.


The Work of the Future

The Work of the Future

Author: David H. Autor

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 2022-06-21

Total Pages: 189

ISBN-13: 0262367742

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Why the United States lags behind other industrialized countries in sharing the benefits of innovation with workers and how we can remedy the problem. The United States has too many low-quality, low-wage jobs. Every country has its share, but those in the United States are especially poorly paid and often without benefits. Meanwhile, overall productivity increases steadily and new technology has transformed large parts of the economy, enhancing the skills and paychecks of higher paid knowledge workers. What’s wrong with this picture? Why have so many workers benefited so little from decades of growth? The Work of the Future shows that technology is neither the problem nor the solution. We can build better jobs if we create institutions that leverage technological innovation and also support workers though long cycles of technological transformation. Building on findings from the multiyear MIT Task Force on the Work of the Future, the book argues that we must foster institutional innovations that complement technological change. Skills programs that emphasize work-based and hybrid learning (in person and online), for example, empower workers to become and remain productive in a continuously evolving workplace. Industries fueled by new technology that augments workers can supply good jobs, and federal investment in R&D can help make these industries worker-friendly. We must act to ensure that the labor market of the future offers benefits, opportunity, and a measure of economic security to all.


The Evolution Of Modern Capitalism - A Study Of Machine Production

The Evolution Of Modern Capitalism - A Study Of Machine Production

Author: John Atkinson Hobson

Publisher: Read Books Ltd

Published: 2019-10-11

Total Pages: 234

ISBN-13: 1528788974

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First published in 1902, “The Evolution Of Modern Capitalism” looks at the effects that the industrial revolution had had on contemporary capitalism, focusing primarily on the introduction of machinery into production. Contents include: “The Structure of Industry Before Machinery”, “The Order of Development of Machine Industry”, “The Structure of Modern Industry”, “The Formation of monopolies in Capital”, “Economic Powers of the Trust”, “Machinery and Industrial Depression”, etc. This fascinating volume will appeal to those with an interest in the history of modern capitalism and is not to be missed by collectors of Hobson's seminal work. John Atkinson Hobson (1858 – 1940) was an English social scientist and economist most famous for his work on imperialism—which notably had an influence on Vladimir Lenin—as well as his theory of underconsumption. His early work also questioned the classical theory of rent and predicted the Neoclassical "marginal productivity" theory of distribution. Other notable works by this author include: “Evolution of Modern Capitalism” (1894), “Problem of the Unemployed” (1896), and “John Ruskin: Social Reformer” (1898). Many vintage books such as this are becoming increasingly scarce and expensive. We are republishing this volume now in an affordable, modern, high-quality edition together with an excerpt from “Imperialism, The Highest Stage of Capitalism” by V. I. Lenin.