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.

Streaming, Sharing, Stealing
Streaming, Sharing, Stealing

Author: Michael D. Smith

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 2017-08-25

Total Pages: 229

ISBN-13: 0262534525

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How big data is transforming the creative industries, and how those industries can use lessons from Netflix, Amazon, and Apple to fight back. “[The authors explain] gently yet firmly exactly how the internet threatens established ways and what can and cannot be done about it. Their book should be required for anyone who wishes to believe that nothing much has changed.” —The Wall Street Journal “Packed with examples, from the nimble-footed who reacted quickly to adapt their businesses, to laggards who lost empires.” —Financial Times Traditional network television programming has always followed the same script: executives approve a pilot, order a trial number of episodes, and broadcast them, expecting viewers to watch a given show on their television sets at the same time every week. But then came Netflix's House of Cards. Netflix gauged the show's potential from data it had gathered about subscribers' preferences, ordered two seasons without seeing a pilot, and uploaded the first thirteen episodes all at once for viewers to watch whenever they wanted on the devices of their choice. In this book, Michael Smith and Rahul Telang, experts on entertainment analytics, show how the success of House of Cards upended the film and TV industries—and how companies like Amazon and Apple are changing the rules in other entertainment industries, notably publishing and music. We're living through a period of unprecedented technological disruption in the entertainment industries. Just about everything is affected: pricing, production, distribution, piracy. Smith and Telang discuss niche products and the long tail, product differentiation, price discrimination, and incentives for users not to steal content. To survive and succeed, businesses have to adapt rapidly and creatively. Smith and Telang explain how. How can companies discover who their customers are, what they want, and how much they are willing to pay for it? Data. The entertainment industries, must learn to play a little “moneyball.” The bottom line: follow the data.

EBOOK: Flexible Higher Education: Reflections from Expert Experience
EBOOK: Flexible Higher Education: Reflections from Expert Experience

Author: Elizabeth Burge

Publisher: McGraw-Hill Education (UK)

Published: 2007-10-16

Total Pages: 172

ISBN-13: 0335234852

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"It is both uplifting and challenging. It offers tales of great persistence, self-belief and belief in the community of learners these pioneers were seeking to engage with and influence. It is a wonderful narrative which should be compulsory reading for all those aspiring to influence the shape and content of post-secondary education in their own nations." Widening Participation and Lifelong Learning "Quite simply, this is essential and inspiring reading to prepare the next generation to lead distance education." American Journal of Distance Education What did forty-four leading-edge distance education pioneers in higher education experience and learn over their careers? What concerns and research ideas could they pass on to younger colleagues to consider? What do seven expert commentators find in those lessons and experience that might promote theory-building and practice enhancement for post-secondary education? This unique book analyzes the work of over forty pioneers who helped drive key late twentieth century changes in access to, and learning in, higher education, via distance education. It examines how they defined their challenges, made decisions, coped with traditionalist resistance, developed new teaching and learning models, used various technologies, felt the excitement of innovation, and, above all, respected adult learners’ goals and contexts. The book also assesses the relevance of that experience and skill to today’s contexts. Seven international leaders in adult, distance and higher education assess the pioneers’ reflections to glean the ideas of most relevance for contemporary teachers and administrators. Flexible Higher Education provides key reading for post-secondary educators who are interested in learning and teaching design, technology use, quality assurance, learner access and inclusion, innovation in higher education and respect for reflective wisdom. Commentators: Michael Collins, Sir John Daniel, Yvonne Hillier, Michael Grahame Moore, David Murphy, Diana G. Oblinger and Barbara Spronk.

Flexible Higher Education: Reflections From Expert Experience
Flexible Higher Education: Reflections From Expert Experience

Author: Burge, Elizabeth

Publisher: McGraw-Hill Education (UK)

Published: 2007-10-01

Total Pages: 192

ISBN-13: 0335217761

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This unique book analyzes the work of over forty pioneers who helped drive key changes in access to higher education, via distance education. It examines how they defined their challenges, coped with traditionalist resistance, developed new teaching and learning models, and, above all, respected adult learners’ goals and contexts.