Media in the Classroom: An Alternative History

Instead of forcing a pattern that attempts to liken technology with technology, this paper tells a number of individual, more complicated stories about how certain technologies entered the classroom and differed drastically in terms of their potential as teaching aids. In doing so, the paper investigates the historical, political and economic context in which each major classroom technology over the past century emerged. With these considerations, the paper ventures an alternative version of educational technology history that hinges on three factors: (1) the educational technologies that emerged throughout the 20th century had varying levels of potential in the classroom; (2) the historical, political and economic conditions of each emerging technology influenced the nature of the educational content transmitted over the respective communication mediums; and (3) the quality of educational content, not the technology itself, was a significant factor (and perhaps the most neglected one in contemporary research) as to why each technology did not succeed in the classroom. Highlights include: Film in the Classroom; Analyzing the Failure of Film Technology; The Failure of Film Content; Radio in the Classroom; The Potential of Educational Radio; The Growth of Commercialized Educational Radio; Television in the Classroom; and The "Success" of Channel One. In reviewing the history of the educational technology industries and the educational content that came out of these industries it becomes clear that teachers were concerned and constrained by their ability to produce or influence educational content, and by the limited and commercialized educational fare that accompanied each medium. (Contains 53 references.) (AEF)